The Vote in Iowa....

Well, it's Huckabee for the Republicans, and Obama for the Democrats in Iowa, the kickoff for the primary season. I can't believe that the primaries have begun when the champagne glasses from New Years Eve are barely dried and put away. Gosh, Christmas isn't even over yet -- it's only the tenth day of Christmas and we still have two days left until Epiphany. And our once-late California primary has moved from June to February 5th. Way too early. Ugh.

Obviously as I am as dyed-in-the-wool Republican as they come, mostly because the Republicans have made it much easier for little self-made businesses (like Keith's) to prosper with tax breaks and other breaks. I also agree with the Republican (mostly) pro-life stance, and with their idea (even if they don't follow through) that government should be smaller and be there only as a safety net for those who need it rather than the supposed answer-to-all-our-ills. And homeschooling. Democrats rarely support homeschooling as they are always the ones trying to either regulate it more or stop it all together; I read about it weekly in e-mails from our national homeschool legal association. And the war -- we've gotta finished what we started, and after having three nephews over in Iraq (and one there now who gave up an assignment in Hawaii to volunteer for Afghanistan/Iraq), it's personal when I see those people on the corners waving their anti-Bush signs that ask for his impeachment and revile the lives lost and the freedoms won for the Iraqi people. So, with the way I think and feel about all these issues, I definitely find myself in the Republican camp, and Keith is even more so.

So... Huckabee. Keith is a total Huckabee fan. However, I keep thinking that his name sounds much more suited for Arkansas than for Pennsylvania Avenue. President Huckabee????? I feel like I need a hay straw betwixt my teeth and dung-covered cowboy boots on my feet just to speak his name. Not a real issue to hold against a candidate, I know, but, hey, I'm allowed to be as unreasonable as the rest of the electorate, right? But as my favorite Republican is not going anywhere this time around -- Alan Keyes, that is -- I guess that Huckabee is the fall-back guy for the moment. I watched Huckabee "pull a Bill Clinton" on the Tonight Show last night, playing along with the band on his guitar. I'm not sure that a Baptist preacher will make a good president, or that he has enough foreign policy expertise. But I like his idea, weird and revolutionary and perhaps impossible though it seems, to toss out the IRS and use the "Fair Tax" (sales-based tax). I don't know if it will ever fly, but it sounds good. And I agree with him on the vast majority of the issues. And he does make me laugh -- that may be his most important quality. We haven't had a comedian in the White House before, unless we've watched Man of the Year. And we all know how THAT turned out. Sigh ... I just hope that the next President manages to close the dang border that lies just fifteen miles to the south of where I now sit....

Huckabee sounds like a very nice guy. Very funny, very quick. I would probably enjoy sitting down to talking over the issues with him. But will he make a good President? I don't know. All I do know is that I like the other guys even less than I like Huckabee, with the exception of Alan Keyes, of course. Winning Iowa will put Huckabee in the nation's sights, and he'll either perish or survive. He was exactly right when he said last night on Leno that anyone who can't stand seeing his own blood should never run for President. Too true. Far too true, unfortunately. I like that he pulled back from airing attack ads in Iowa, although realistically I don't know how long he can refrain from doing so, despite my intense dislike of negative campaigning.

We'll see how Huckabee does in the months to come. At this point, I suppose that he has my vote in our February 5th California Primary. And perhaps I'll be more excited about him by then.

Perhaps.

I just don't like campaigning. I shudder at the idea of any sort of conflict (retch, really), and the Presidential campaign is chock full of nothing but. Months and months and months of he said, she said, they say, you say. Mud is slung from every direction, sometimes sticking and sometimes not. Somehow in November we'll have narrowed down the pool to a mere two candidates, one who terrifies me and one whom I'll vote for. I'd rather just skip right to November 4 and not see or hear a single campaign ad or receive a single flyer in the mail. And I definitely don't want to have to throw away all of those letters stuffed with scare tactics and pleadings for funds because the world will come to an end if the "other guy" wins. (Talk about ruining the environment with paper waste!!!!! Let the poor trees live!!!)

So come, November 4. Come NOW. Let's get this baby overwith.