Presidential Match

Found another Presidential Match site that has you rate various issues and, in a nice twist, at the end it lets you rank the general categories (ie: Social Issues, Security and International Policy, etc.) by personal importance. It then lists the candidates by how closely they match what you’re looking for:

1 Kucinich Score: 100%2 Sharpton Score: 89%3 Kerry Score: 88%

4 Clark Score: 82%

5 Dean Score: 82%

6 Edwards Score: 79%

7 Lieberman Score: 69%

8 Bush Score: 3%

Not at all surprising that Kucinich came in first. Sharpton and Kerry running neck and neck speaks more to the general nature of the survey (ie: Sharpton has no specific economic plan) but I was most interested by the equality of Clark & Dean.

Early last year when I first started paying attention to the candidates – sparked by the impending war and MoveOn.org’s internet primary – I had flirted with reflexively supporting Dean, impressed with his outspokenness. A little research (and I do mean a little as it really didn’t take much to get the lowdown on him, which is what pissed/s me off the most about so-called progressives that were/are supporting him without knowing anything other than his opportunistic anti-war stance) led me to Kucinich, the little known, surprisingly progressive congressman from Ohio who was not only against the war but was actively organizing opposition to it in Washington, as opposed to using it to raise funds for a stagnant campaign. You know the rest of that story, though…

Fast forward to today, barring any damning news that pops up in the next few weeks as the media begins to target him more closely, I’m starting to see Clark as my plan B. I’m still researching him but his lack of political experience, while refreshing, is frustrating my efforts. If nothing else, accepting that KucinichSharpton and Lieberman represent the opposite ends of the Democratic spectrum, and that the differences between KerryDeanClarkEdwards are relatively minor, I’ll take the political neophyte with the vague platform and real leadership experience over the other guys’ any day. Plus, he’s the only one I can see credibly taking on Bush in a country where half the people are still inexplicably supporting him.

Something about Kerry has rubbed me wrong from way back and I think Salomé nailed it tonight when she said she didn’t want to see another millionaire in the White House. That he’s hedging on releasing his financial and lobbying records doesn’t help, either.

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.