Well, my personal impression of Edwards is that I think he's a phony and don't trust him. It's nothing to do with the "want to have a beer with" factor. Which I never got WRT Bush. I instinctively distrusted him from the get-go, and the incident that solidified my distrust and dislike into pure loathing was his obvious glee at his gubernatorial power of executing criminals that came across in one of his debates with Gore. I'm not even necessarily always opposed to the death penalty (though I'd rather it be abolished just because I think if even one innocent person is executed, that's one too many, and it's better to execute no one than to run that risk), but if you hold the power of life and death in your own two hands, it's not something to laugh and smirk about.

And I'd never vote for Kucinich even if I thought he had a chance of winning, because he just doesn't speak for me. Jim Webb is the politician I feel most in synch with these days, FWIW.

Well, I probably will vote for Kuchinich too. The nice thing about the caucus system in Washington state is that it is approximately PR - meaning that you are not wasting your vote by voting for a candidate with no chance.

I don't trust the ability to character read electronically. Everybody running for office is playing a role. With Clinton "likely to bomb Iran" trumps a lot of otherwise positive characteristics.

I have to admit to not being real excited by anybody on whatever side in the election. I was hoping very early on that Obama could be that guy, but it hasn't worked out that way.

A hawk just flew by right in front of my window. Awesome.

(I did not wait around to find out whether he thought it was an aliens-UFO or a scary-government UFO or a "Dude. Weird light in the sky. Oh well, back to the beer!" UFO.)

Yeah. UFO just means unidentified flying object. I've seen those.

I don't find Edwards slick at all. I wonder how much impressions of candidates are shaped by the press.

See, I find Edwards kind of soothing, and sometimes Hilary seems like a pod person. But I will vote for Kuchinich.

Oh my god, is Jilli around? Apparently her rock star crush and my rock star crush regularly get together to read comics and play Warhammer, and I think I'm experiencing a glee overload.

I wonder how much impressions of candidates are shaped by the press.

I watch the debates to avoid just this - they're all still performing, but at least it's unedited.

Yeah, not excited by anyone either. But Clinton is my least favorite of the biggies on the Democratic sides of aisle. Yeah, she is an awesome person in many ways. But she is also the most hawkish on foreign policy. (And foreign policy is where the President has the most power.) She is not great on domestic policy either; supported the bankruptcy bill, generally even more in bed with the biggest corporations than even the other candidates. Most of her advisors on the domestic side are big time corporate lobbyists. Many are union busters. If she gets the nomination I'll support her as a lesser evil - but really she represents the least change from the old Democratic establishment that handed the election to Bush.