emperors I

Clear the gun decks! I’ve decided to use a 100-point scale to track the candidates careening along the Presidential trail. The current grades will be in two columns: the first being who I would vote for, the second being who I think the public is leaning towards in each party. It’s like those Oscar previews that have the “will win” and “should win” predictions. I catch the polling data (not habitually, but enough to know the current's movement) but I’m going to try to use my own magic divining noodle to pulse the nation. Here are the opening numbers:

Democrats	My Vote	The Nation
Clinton	21	50
Obama	22	30
Richardson	40	8
Edwards	10	10
Dodd	1	0
Biden	5	2
Kucinich	1	0

'Publicans	My Vote	The Nation
McCain	90	60
Giuliani	5	20
Romney	4	10
Brownback	0	5
Hunter	1	5

As for the Democrats, Richardson is by far the most favorable in my book. He’s served seven-terms as congressman, is a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N, a former Secretary of Energy, chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and a two-term governor of New Mexico. The Cato Institute rated him the sixth most fiscally responsible (or leader in fiscal policy) governor in America in their 2004 biennial report (the highest rated Democratic governor)… and he has degree in law and diplomacy from Tufts University. As he reveals more and more of his positions over the coming months I’ll have a better idea if I still consider him the best candidate. Neither Clinton nor Obama has the depth of experience and Hillary, based solely on her six years as a Senator, has shown very little. Obama’s lead over her is negligible because I see more integrity (or maybe it’s less scripting) in him. I think that Democratic voters right now are set on either Clinton or Obama so Richardson has a ton of work to do. Hopefully he fares better than Vilsack.

The Republicans? Giuliani is a non-starter for me and obviously Romney is even less a player in my book. Neither candidate has ANY chance of beating McCain regardless of the posing and preening. NO CHANCE. I think the country counts it a closer race than I do but if I were a Republican, McCain is the only viable candidate. The fact that I consider Brownback further down the list than Duncan Hunter says something. Brownback now has two name drops in consecutive entries…he’ll get no more.

Weekly predictions: Biden, Dodd, and Hunter will drop out of the race by April 15th. Brownback will shut it down by May 1st.

T