On presidential candidates: where were you four years ago compared to today?

[Bucky]

Three basic categories of picking candidates (enthusiastic supporter, soft supporter, and still undecided); two different election cycles. Do the math and you see there are 3² possible variables. So I ask you:

Four years ago, I was...

[msongs]

1. howard dean, the REAL anti war candidate nt

[Drunken Irishman]

2. I was strongly for Howard Dean.

2004 was going to be the first presidential election I was old enough to vote in and I was a big Dean supporter. I did a ton of work on his campaign locally and was devastated when he lost in the primaries. I invested so much time into that campaign from almost the start, as I started following him in late 2002. This time though, I don't know what to think. I like Obama, but I also like Dodd and it's tough for me to really get behind a candidate. When I vote in the local primary, I doubt it'll be with as much enthusiasm as I had for my Dean vote, even when it didn't mean anything as he was nearly out of the race by the time my local primary came around.

[XemaSab]

3. I can't make a direct comparison

I was just starting to learn about the candidates this time four years ago. I think it was in October sometime that I really sat down and did my research, and quickly became a hardcore Deaniac.

I feel like I know enough about all the candidates now to know that I am underwhelmed by all of them, but I am leaning towards Obama because I think he's capable of producing a sea change in anti-Americanism abroad, particularly in the middle east. I think he's also got as much experience as any of them, and the charisma to take it all the way. I'm really not excited by his energy plan, however. Like, really unexcited.

If Gore came into the race I would be a hardcore Gore supporter, no questions asked.

[Mojambo]

4. Enthusiastic for Dean then, soft (but getting harder) for Edwards now.

And yes, I know how dirty that sounds.

[hedda_foil]

5. Enthusiastic for Dean then. Enthusastic for Obama now

[Beaverhausen]

6. Deaniac then, Edwards supporter now

The Gov was the first candidate to actually get me active! Well, him and the damned Iraq occupation.

[Justyce]

7. Ditto -- Deaniac now supporting Edwards.

[Bucky]

8. Interesting so far. Kicking for more results

So far, my suspicions are confirmed. I think this year's crop is weaker than 04's and that our most popular are not among our best. How bad is it? I'm leaning Biden. That speaks volumes to me.

[SaveElmer]

9. Supported Dean in 2004, supporting Hillary now...nt

[nosillies]

10. Can we have one for "was enthusiastic but am now disillusioned by the process"

I don't know which, if any, candidate I'll vote for next year. I'm a Floridian, and none of them seem to care about my vote, so at this point, none of them deserve it. Hopefully someone will do something to make me and many other Floridians change our minds.

[Bucky]

11. That's more or less option 3

Ha-ha. You're in the majority. Bet you're not used to hearing that!

You may be emotionally disillusioned with the process, but I bet intellectually you still hold onto hope. Otherwise, why would you be here on DU?

[Catchawave]

12. Just as enthusiastic as I was in 2003 :)

:hi:

[illinoisprogressive]

13. I was starting to support Dean. Now I strongly support Obama

I did not pay much attention in the summer as it was my crazy time at the garden center.
I was just looking a bit but, kept going to Dean.

[jillan]

14. 4 years ago I was talking non-stop about Kerry.

But it was three years ago when I started wishing Biden would run.
I was enthusiastic 4 years ago...but more knowledgeable about my candidate this time around,
cuz I have been following him longer.

[karynnj]

15. I was strongly in support of Kerry or Dean, preferring Kerry slightly

until I read Tour of Duty, saw both Kerry and Dean on CSPAN and researched their careers. I was somewhat less supportive of Dean as I learned more - especially after I spoke to some Vermonters when we spent a few weeks in Vermont at the end of the summer.

The big difference though was NOT in what I saw in Dean - I could have still happilly supported him, but in my opinion of Kerry, which soared from he sounds good to thinking that he could easily be the best President in my adult life - I was only 13 when JFK died. As he won the nomination, reading more of the less known parts of his life - I realized that this was the first time I was completely enthusiastic in the GE. (I could have been for McGovern, but it was very clear we were losing.) Gary Hart was the only primary candidate I felt that way about.

2008 is a big let down. I am leaning to 2 candidates, Dodd, who has no chance and Obama. With Obama, it is almost by default - he is eloquent and it seems that the people I trust most in the Democratic party on terrorism and/or military- Lake, Hart, and Clark seem to favor him. The only other people I would put in that category are Kerry and Clark - and neither of them have signalled who they are for. So, it is more a feeling that he would select a good team. But, when I start looking at the team, it is clear this is a choice of the head, not heart.

[AnotherGreenWorld]

16. I was an enthusiastic Kucinich supporter. Now I support Obama, though still like Kucinich.

I also despised Howard Dean four years ago. And I still do today.

[Bucky]

18. I was pretty tepid toward Dean when he was running. I like him tons now.

I thought back when he was running for president that he was concentrating far too much fire on establishment Democrats and not enough at the Republicans who were the core problem. He was always more concerned with making the party stronger than with running the country. That's a turn off in a presidential candidate, but exactly what we need at the DNC.

Someone with power is finally giving the Carvilles of the world something to worry about. The party is the people and Dean really is shifting that focus back to the grassroots with his 50 state approach.

[Yukari Yakumo]

17. Indifferent then, trying to remain neutral now...

... but the various cults of personality that have sprung up around here is making it hard not to be turned off to certain candidates.

[AlCzervik]

19. For Dean and a friend bought me some of the best campaign posters that are still

hanging in my garage.