I'm really really trying to narrow down my choices. But every time I think I've settled on someone, they do something I don't like, and the others look better. It's a bit like ground and background! I realize my expectations were probably too high. Remember that when Gore ran, many of us (including me) got very annoyed at him. Now he's a hero to the very people who were pretty underwhelmed during the 2004 election.
So I thought I'd go through pluses and minuses and invite other fence sitters to join in. I'm starting with the three front runners because I know them the most, but I would welcome similar information on the rest of the Democratic field.
First it goes without saying that all 3 front runners are extremely smart and capable -- so I won't put that in the listings. Starting with the presumed front-runner:
Hillary Clinton --
Factual Pluses: experience; good voting record; voted against both Roberts and Alito; good personal record of years of working for issues I care about (i.e., children and families).
Personal Pluses: strong manner, solid speaker; is a woman (sorry guys, but this does mean something to me -- my daughters are very excited about it); Bill campaigning for her.
Factual Negatives: voted for Kyl-Lieberman; voted for authorization of Iraq invasion; refusal to take personal responsibility for the latter (I would like to hear her say not just that she was misled, but also admit that she did not ask the right questions); corporate & other insidious influences on her campaign; recent articles about staged questions at campaign events.
Personal Negatives: too composed and rehearsed; too likely to say what she thinks people want to hear or to avoid answering; from the Northeast.
Barack Obama --
Factual Pluses: excellent voting record; opposed war from beginning; chose community work rather than high paying jobs;
Personal Pluses: charismatic; great speaker; is Black (once again, sorry guys, but it is exciting to have an African American in the race; it's about time!); from the midwest.
Factual Negatives: lacks experience; until recently has run a relatively cautious campaign; stopped talking about the war in 2004 and 2005; gave "cured" homosexual McClurkin a stage and a mike -- and campaign handled it very poorly; brought up Social Security "crisis" (giving cover to Republicans) as a way to attack Clinton -- and had to backtrack like mad.
Personal Negatives: none I can think of at the moment, although some have gone after him for his middle name and exposure to Islam (though that should make him more able to negotiate).
John Edwards --
Factual Pluses: strong stand on poverty (the only candidate really talking about this); strongly antiwar and takes personal responsibility for vote to authorize; self-made man; fought and won suits against corporations.
Personal Pluses: attractive and appealing; great personal history; wonderful wife; Southern.
Factual Negatives: voted for war authorization; lacks experience; recent campaign ads & statements that emphasized his White Maleness; is a White Male (sorry guys...); recent statements waffling on immigration issue; taking federal matching dollars (which limits his ability to spend $ on advertising, etc.
Personal negatives: press attacks on hair (can't think of any others -- maybe someone else could fill in information here.