The Eww Factor

Scott Hardie | December 21, 2007
There are plenty of polls going around that help you line up your political stance with the major candidates. What do you learn about yourself from this one?

I learn that I'm closest to the Democratic candidate I know the least about (Dodd), and of the Republicans, I'm closest to the one I like the least (Giuliani). I suspect all of the liberal users here will wind up closest to Giuliani of the Republican candidates.

Anybody know a good poll out there that measures the candidates not in terms of the opinions you'd like them to have, but the personality and character traits that you'd like them to have? It's awfully hard to quantify that, and it sounds black and white, but there are candidates who are quick to act while others are cautious, and candidates who are self-assured while others seek consensus, et cetera. To me, a number of these traits are much more important than merely whether the president agrees with me about certain pet issues.

Aaron Shurtleff | December 21, 2007
Mike Huckabee? Huh. That I wasn't expecting...

Lori Lancaster | December 21, 2007
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Eric Wallhagen | December 21, 2007
Interesting... Giuliani first, followed by Biden, Obama, then Clinton...

Lori Lancaster | December 21, 2007
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Scott Hardie | December 22, 2007
Nah, I just meant "eww" as in "I just realized I'm the most like Chris Dodd." Or Giuliani. Or Huckabee. Whoever creeps you out.

I do want a poll that reveals which candidates own pet tarantulas and love tripe. It will probably be Dodd again, though, damn it.

Lori Lancaster | December 22, 2007
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Jackie Mason | December 22, 2007
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Erik Bates | December 22, 2007
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Kris Weberg | December 28, 2007
Kucinich, closely followed by Dodd and Gravel. My closest Republican candidate is Ron Paul, but he's quite far down the list. Nothing in common with Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter, or Romney.

Scott Hardie | January 3, 2008
Huckabee now has a second commercial in which he appears in front of a Christian icon. (link) If his campaign survives Iowa today, I give him two weeks until a commercial depicts him nailed to a giant cross, wearing a crown of thorns.

Amy Austin | January 3, 2008
Sadly, in the election bringing us the first-ever black and female candidates, I am most in like with the cute white guy. ;-p ;-D At least my poll results reflect that it does, in fact, lie with the issues... ;-D I got Edwards, Kucinich, Biden, Clinton, *then* Giuliani (ha!), Dodd, Obama, Huckabee... with McCain & Paul pulling up the rear (in that order).

Tony Peters | January 4, 2008
Biden, Obama, Rudy......after that it falls off to the point of all being the same and all being mediocre

Jackie Mason | January 5, 2008
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Tony Peters | January 5, 2008
yeah I could almost like Huckabee except that he's fricken loony...but it's not like the present religious freak is that much better.

Steve West | January 5, 2008
I have a certain amount of respect for any political candidate who stands by what he believes in and says when asking for a vote, "This is what you'll get." Politics is filled with candidates who will say anything just to get votes and then has a term filled with unfulfilled promises. I'll vote for any man or woman who stands by their convictions despite compromise being the easy route as long as I know beforehand what those convictions are. That's why I voted for you! You said this and now it's happening. Thank you!

I have no naive expectations that this will ever happen but I long for it. What's Peter Ueberroth doing these days?

Scott Hardie | January 5, 2008
Agreed. I don't like the religious influence on Huckabee, but at least he's honest about it, and I know not to vote for him. I can't help but notice how much Huckabee and Romney target one another – Romney has to distance himself from his religion just to quell suspicion that it will influence his voting, but Huckabee emphatically embraces his own and earns a groundswell of support for it.

Clinton coming in third was wonderful. I don't dislike her, but her campaign has always had a air of inevitability, and now she'll actually have to work to gain support. If Obama wins the presidency, at least we'll have four years of great speeches.

Tony Peters | January 5, 2008
Oh I dislike her, I can't stand her attitude that she's gonna be the next president, she's not as charismatic as her husband which to me is her major turn-off. I'm actually happy that she lost and lost so badly, I predicted her as the next president a few months back and I would absolutely love to be wrong about that.

Scott Hardie | January 6, 2008
In conversation tonight:

"You just know, if we elect a black president or a woman president, there's going to be an assassination attempt either way."

"Yeah, but in Hillary's case, it won't be because she's a woman."

Tony Peters | January 6, 2008
that is cynical likely true but cynical none the less....conversation around my office (lots of extremely conservative military types) go more along the lines of if Hilary gets elected she will be the last democratic president for a generation....not sure I believe that but I do think she has a greater ability to continue the fracturing of america that bush has started