That pretty well sums it up for me.
Who do you like as an alternate to Rudy? Fred Thompson? Can he beat Hillary?
In the general election I'll vote for any Republican whose name is not McCain. With that one exception, I will not sit home if my guy is not the nominee.
But so far in the primary I'm leaning toward Hunter. I was listening to him on the radio tonight, he impresses me. I've read interviews with him, and he strikes me as intelligent, and the right guy for the tasks in front of us.
So far, he's my preference. The down side is that not that many people are familiar with him, so far he has no name recognition. When I mention him to friends or family, I get blank stares. I think that will change as time goes along. But that is clearly his challenge.
I've listened to Gingrich talk about war issues and he clearly gets it. We all know about Gingrich's negatives, and he is sometimes a bit too smart for everyone's good. But I remember how he beat Clinton like a drum back during his "contract with America" days, and enacted his entire program, and left Clinton bruised and battered (and taking credit for it, you'll remember). So I like him. He's clearly flawed, but I like him.
So far Romney seems a bit weak in the knees to me, though he's a fairly attractive guy, I'll give him a chance. But I'm not high on him.
I haven't heard Thompson speak on any of the issues yet, so I'm reserving judgement. He seems like a decent guy, and one of the other FR folks has given me a list of links to read through, to get me up to speed on him, so I've got some homework to do. In fact if you run across any printed interviews, I would appreciate if you pass me the link.
Even Giuliani, who I disagree with on several rather key issues, I'll vote for him in the general, no doubt about it, if he's the nominee. But he's not my choice by any means. I will not vote for him in the primary under any circumstance.
or Obama?
That's the question. Maybe.