The Current Crop of Candidates

[richlevy]

After the fiasco of the last two elections, I have been holding out hope that the next election will be an 'issues' debate between two experienced and intelligent candidates with broad support within both parties. Instead of a 'lesser of two evils approach, to be presented with a difficult choice between two candidates, either of which I believed to be a suitable candidate.

I just seem to get the impression that the most substantive candidates seem to be the 2nd tier in both parties.

I think Hillary is smart, but I think she has a polarizing effect.
I really like Richardson on paper, and so far he has not disappointed me, but as with all 2nd tier candidates, the question becomes would he change if he moved up to the 1st tier.
Obama talks a great game, but so did GWB to his party faithful. I just would like to see a longer Obama resume.
McCain has been a disappointment ever since he derailed the 'straight talk express' and became another politician selling himself for the prize.
Romney and Guliani seem to be trying to reinvent themselves every minute.
Fred Thompson is wisely keeping his mouth shut, which automatically makes him a viable candidate. I heard that appearance aside, he was a "gentleman's C" kind of legislator, putting in a fair but unremarkable effort and carrying a light to modest workload.

Obama really does appear to be the 'take me as I am candidate'. My issue with him is the great unknown. He spoke out against the war, but he wasn't in Congress at the time and he was speaking as a private citizen, not as someone who had to make a real decision on incomplete (and now known to be faulty) information.

I'm hoping that the 2nd tier can hang around in reserve for a while.

If I could pick my own nominating debates, it would be Richardson against Hillary for the Democrats and between Ron Paul (or Tom Tancredo) against Mike Huckabee for the Republican nomination.

I'm almost sorry Cheney isn't running. I'd like to see conservatives like Paul or Tancredo rip into him for pretty much everything he's done.