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Graham: Graham has been in politics since 1966, and has never lost an election. An avowed centrist, Graham has been one of the most vocal critics of the Bush administration's handling of September 11. His questions on that issue alone rush him to the fore of important people in American politics today.
Dean: Here is a doctor who was right about the war back when a lot of other candidates were wrong, whose 60-day wait-on-the-war policy, if adopted, probably would have furthered the argument that no war was necessary simply by dint of the fact that time was on the side of those of us who were right, who is a compromise candidate regarding guns, thus taking the NRA out of the game in the West and South.
Gephardt: After 26 years in Congress, here is a man who knows the process. Recall that it was Johnson, and not Kennedy, who knew how to manhandle the Congress to get progressive policies passed. This is because Johnson knew that body like the back of his hand. Gephardt has stood for years with Unions, with teachers, for ideas like an international minimum wage which would begin the process of reversing the damaging process of pro-corporation globalization, and for the bread-and-butter Democratic issues that define us for who we are.
Braun: Having a woman running for President is historic and important, no matter where your opinions fall. Ditto the fact that she is an African-American. Here presence kicks down barriers that have dogged this nation for its entire history. Braun was a staunch critic of the Iraq war, and sponsored several progressive education and civil rights bills, was a staunch advocate for stricter gun control laws, while in Congress.
Kucinich: Here is a man that speaks boldly from the stump about opposing the Iraq war, about taking money from the Pentagon war machine to actually help the people, who has fought the utilities that steal from us and leave us in the dark, whose election to the Oval Office would, quite completely, change the world.
Sharpton: "I am running to take out the DLC, which I call the Democratic Leisure Class, because that's who it serves -- the leisure class and the wealthy," said Sharpton. Anyone who has seen him on the stump - he spoke vehemently at every anti-Iraq-war rally in Washington DC - knows the man can light a fire in a crowd. Sharpton heads a civil rights organization entitled the National Action Network. Sharpton's strength has been traditionally underestimated in his past primary campaigns for New York City Mayor (losing by a surprisingly close 40% to 32% vote in 1997) and US Senator. In recent years, Bill Bradley pursued his endorsement in 2000 and some of the NYC Mayoral hopefuls openly courted his backing in 2001, thus proving that his clearly controversial status is offset by his standing within the activist community.
Edwards: The bright new face on the national landscape, Edwards' pro-choice, environmentalist, pro-health care reform record makes him a standout on the liberal-to-populist range of candidates. He also deserves massive praise for ousting GOP incumbent US Senator Lauch Faircloth in what was a stunning upset victory in 1998. Edwards is from the South, which makes him worth his weight in electoral gold.
Clark: Though he is not a declared candidate yet, Wesley Clark stands as a formidable possibility. His foreign policy esperience is daunting, thus making him immune to the "McGovernization" process the GOP will try to foist on the other candidates. Though he is not talking in detail yet, there is enough data out there about his opinions on domestic policy issues to make him very worthy of support, or at least a long hard look. He also, by the way, scares the cheese out of the war-shouting GOPers who know that is the only leg (fear) they have to stand on.
Lieberman: A consistent recipient of high ratings from virtually all progressive-issues rating services, including the all-important issue of women's reproductive choice, Lieberman would be in the same category as Gephardt regarding support for many of the issues that Democrats hold dear.
Kerry: Here is a man with years and years of experience in the foreign policy realm, whose environmental voting record is second-to-none, who earned medals for his service in Vietnam and for getting wounded in that service, who was a bulldog in chasing down the Iran/Contra fiends, whose mere presence in the Oval office will do wonders to repair our standing with the world.
So there it is.
Of course, each and every one of these candidates have their problems, both real and imagined. Any DUer can make an equal list of all the dents, problems and disasters that come along with any and all of these people.
That is not the point.
The point is that, in our advocacy for the candidates we like, we tend to take a glass-half-empty look at the other candidates in the field. My own preferences are clear: I think Kerry has the best shot, but I am an avowed advocate for every candidate in the race. Yes, each and every one of them.
My reasons for this?
Dick Cheney
Don Rumsfeld
Paul Wolfowitz
Richard Perle
John Bolton
Andrew Card
Robert Zoellick
Lewis "Scooter" Libby
John Ashcroft
Karl Rove
Colin Powell
Condoleezza Rice
John Poindexter
Paul Negroponte
Eliot Abrams
Gale Norton
Elaine Chao
Spencer Abraham
Harvey Pitt
John Snow
Tom Ridge
Tommy Thompson
Henry Kissinger
George W. Bush
Each and every one of these people is or was part of this administration. All of them continue to hold influence, with the probable exception of Bush. Compare the records of these people individually and collectively to the records of the candidates I have listed above.
I love the candidate.
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