MuadDib

The democrats have a very real and not necessarily difficult shot at the presidency this coming election. Bush's numbers are dropping and he's beginning to alienate his won party with irrational decisions about legalizing all current illegal immigrants and not releasing 28 pages of 9/11 documentation. He's also taking unnecessary stances on non-issues such as gay marriage in order to further alienate himself from the left (as though thats necessary).

What lost the dems the last election is one of two things. Either the introduction of real liberal canidate that split the democratic vote in many states or the fact the the only real canidate was merely a Bush light. This defies the rules of the game if you're playing to win. There are two ways to win an election, first you either appear similar to the status quo in the majority of issues and then stake your ground on non-issues that are popular to edge the incumbent out, or second you present a real difference... a real choice and go after the issues and let Americans side were they may. I have my preferences here, but the important thing is that you must do one or the other. If you have a real choice canidate from another party (read: Green) then you can't ride the fence into the oval office.

There are two canidates that have a chance in this election if you look at all the canidates public statements and books. First, Howard Dean who goes along with prinicple one. He is the psuedo-liberal everyone sees on television critiquing the war and the tax cuts and so on. People know who he is, he has the appearance of progressiveness, and he has tons of cash from the many businesses he is in the pocket of from his day as governor of Vermont. Then we have the Seabiscit-like long shot Dennis Kucinich. This man is the real deal. A true progressive in the make of the late Paul Wellstone. Highly intelligent, truly blue collar, no business connections, and an honest to God reformer for the last 4 terms he has served as a congressman going clear back to his days as mayor of Cleveland. Unfortunately, no one know who he is, he does not have physical stage appearance not a cut throat political attitude. He isn't camera friendly. Someone earlier categorized him "a angry short man" and did so in popular public opinion.

It saddens me greatly that people rely so heavily on the sound bytes from television and pragmatic politics to make their voting decisions, but thats life I suppose. Either canidate (along with possibly Kerry or Edwards) could easily defeat Bush in the general election if all other canidates bow out gracefully and hopefully pick a fellow former-canidate as a running mate. In the end nothing is going to change in America unless Americans start doing their own homework on the canidates, get involved, and elect Kucinich. However, this is about as likely as G.W. going a month without some misspeaking ending up on the Daily Show with John Stewart. So I won't hold my breath waiting for America to pull it's head out of it's ass and sit back and wait for the inevitable standard issue politician to win from either side and have nothing to change. I think I'll go pack and get ready for my long trip to Canada where the people who actually take part in politics at least are mildly responsible citizens/adults.

Peace