Here’s how I’m leaning:

Obama > Hillary
Obama > McCain
McCain > Hillary
Hillary > Romney, Huckabee, etc.

I think John McCain might be the most balanced of all the candidates (of both parties). He’s got political experience, he’s a maverick, he’s a war-hero, he’s respected on both sides of the aisles. Also, I like what he says about Iraq: we broke it, we bought it. I think it’ll cost him the election, in the end, but I do believe this country has a responsibility to the people of Iraq, and that leaving the country too soon will be a mistake.

While I like some of Ron Paul’s libertarian policies, his isolationist beliefs trouble me, and in addition, I don’t know what to believe about the racist publications put out in his name. While I want to believe his explanation — that they were ghost-written published using his name without his permission — I don’t understand why a politician of all people wouldn’t have taken action against them as soon as he found out his name was attached to them.

Mike Huckabee scares the shit out of me. Rewriting the constitution so that we can become a theocracy? Let’s all chant: “Hell No Huckabee!” Let’s hope history repeats itself: McCain won South Carolina, and the Republicans who’ve won that state’s primary since 1980 have won their party’s nomination.

I don’t get Mitt Romney’s appeal, except that of the field of Republican candidates, he’s the one who looks most like Mark Trail.

Rudy Giuliani, I think, needs to read the writing on the wall. His entire campaign seems to be run on September 11th, 2001. I don’t think anyone wants four years of Rudy throwing that in our faces. “I’m keeping you safe! 9/11, bitches!” Same with Fred Thompson. I think he believed all the hype about himself prior to his entry. Both Fred & Rudy seem surprised that they actually have to campaign.

All John Edwards has anymore is bitching. Someone on CNN called him a “professional Presidential candidate”, and it doesn’t seem like he’s been a very successful one. If Edwards doesn’t drop out after Super Tuesday — especially if he does as well as he has been lately (and I’m using “well” loosely) — then he’s too proud to know when to quit. I don’t know why Dennis Kucinich is still in the race. Maybe to show off his hot wife?

I’m not too fond of Hillary Clinton. Electioneering and bitching in Nevada aside, my opinions started to turn from her when her post-caucus Iowa speech came across as “Don’t you know who I am? I’m the Hillanator! Vote for me!” She seems more than a little perturbed that in an election year she thought would be historic for having the first woman as a mainstream candidate with a very real chance at the Executive, the nomination cycle started with her getting her booty kicked by the first black man as a mainstream candidate with a very real chance at the Executive.

This is a great year to be an armchair political junky. I’m taking Super Tuesday off from work and I’m planning on keeping the boob-tube tuned to CNN, with a bowl of popcorn in my lap, and a tall frosty glass of milk on the sidetable.