I have no idea who I'm going to vote for. In my state, you go in, tell them which ballot and vote for the primaries.
I don't know who I want to vote for. I am probably going to vote Democrat. I hate the current administration, and have issues with lots of what it's done (particularly regarding civil liberties) and hope to see some of that undone. I voted democrat last time, too. Even though it was my least favorite of the "realistic" candidates that wound up running. For me, it was a which-one-do-I-dislike-least vote, and I hate those. In general, I try to vote for the person rather than the party. So this time I've got to evaluate my candidates more closely (btw, thanks for the link on their stances on issues).
The problem is that I don't know where I stand on all the issues. I know where I stand on the Iraq war, on civil liberties, on abortion, and energy and environment and welfare and various other issues. I don't know where I stand on the economy, on taxes, on healthcare, or on social security. I know something needs to be done, but I'm just not sure what the best thing is. I'm not knowledgeable enough to evaluate the information and reasonably predict the outcomes of any given course of action.
The worst of it all is that I can't stand to watch a debate. I've tried to watch with my sister a time or two. Inevitably, one of three things happened.
1. Candidate repeats, almost verbatim, the information on his/her website over and over again for every question.
2. Candidate beats around the bush but never actually says anything, never answers the question.
3. Candidate ignores question and slings mud at opponent. I hate mudslinging. (BTW, we have some of the worst mudslinging in our state elections).
Of all of these, I take #1 as my favorite because they are at least answering the questions, even if they aren't giving any more in-depth information. I recall one candidate last time did this - his were always full of numbers and percents and such for the improvement he'd brought about in his home state. Boring to listen too, especially since he never gave a "how" or discussed the differences in a statewide v. nationwide effort (while I was watching anyway), but at least it was info, even if was the same stuff I'd already read.
