US Presidential race 2008!

I have been following the US Presidential race in the limited free time I get. For any Indian, the politics here may not look very different but the elections are definitely way different here and it is not entirely because of the presidential system. The way the primaries are elected is very complex and takes great amount of effort, dedication, resilience and what not to be running for president of US of America. Most candidates announced that they are going to run as back as Feb last year, which means they have been debating on issues with fellow men for about one year and hope they will stay on to fight the other camp for rest of the year. It is amazing how the candidates hold on to what they believe so that they are not called a flip-flopper; John Kerry was believed to have lost the 2004 election as republican strategists started branding him a flip-flopper. Mid-term elections were very much indicative of the fact that Americans are looking for CHANGE. American public is way too frustrated about so many things with the Bush's Govt. and wants to see a change in Washington.

War, immigration, social security, abortions, gay(same sex) marriages, stem cell, spending and economy are the issues not necessarily in the same order of priority to everybody but I think most Americans worry more about gay marriages and abortions than spending and economy. There are very interesting candidates in this race. I particularly liked Mr. Ron Paul, the congress man from Texas running for presidential nominee of the republican camp. He is somebody who is against policing the rest of the world, respects constitution, against taxes and has some radical ideas that if read out of context will be mistaken for what he is. For instance, he said in some context that CII and IRS should be closed down and that baffles not just an average American but all. But, the context was something neither people care to know nor media wants to tell. Despite the efforts of all main stream media to down play or not play Mr. Paul, he has surged in polls and became so popular among the youth and even set a record for collecting highest donation dollars in a single day. He is all over Web, I should say. Youtube has tonnes of videos and it is so informative to listen to him.

Barack Obama is another candidate to watch out for in this race from the Democratic camp. He is extremely passionate, very talkative and if he managers to win, he would be first African American president of States. I am not really that impressed with rest of the lot. Hillary does look promising and if she wins, she will be first female president of America. None of the republican candidates other than Ron Paul look impressive or promising at this stage.

But, the race is just started and it is beginning of the end for most candidates. Joe Biden from dems already announced retirement from running after Iowa caucus. As of now, in both the camps, there are 3 candidates fighting for the primary and it would be very interesting to see who stays on. I like Ron Paul's candidacy more than anybody else but it is difficult to win elections with such a persona. Fiscal Deficit is estimated to be 60 trillion dollars and America needs a president who can bring in some discipline in spending and do something about deficit. Watch David Walker in youtube to know what the reality is! I wish Indian constitution had something of this sort to have good bureaucrats work longer than the term of politicians.