Tag: endorsements

Endorsed

I believe that Mitt Romney is the best candidate for the country today. He has the experience of leading in both public and private capacities. His life is not littered with evidence of personal instability. He has the support of his family and the attention of the media. My confidence in his ability to be an effective leader for our nation is such that I have even donated to his campaign (a first for me). No other candidate or potential candidate appears to be as well suited for this job in our time.

Top Tier

As much as I like Mitt, I recognize that there are some other top-notch candidates out there. I would feel positive about the prospects of our nation if any of these top candidates were president.

Barack Obama has the charisma to energize people around him. He is intelligent and seems willing to go beyond appearances of what the political establishment endorses and choose to follow what he feels to be the best course on the issues. I believe that his time in the Senate has been enough to expose him to the realities of politics without being long enough to turn him into a jaded insider.

Mike Huckabee seems to be everything that Mitt Romney is except that he does not inspire so many people, nor garner the same media attention. He has the experience as governor to know how to lead and a life that demonstrates his convictions. In a different time he might even be a better candidate than Mitt, but today is not that time.

Tom Vilsack is another candidate who I would endorse as readily as Mitt, but he has dropped out of the race because he could not gather the media attention to keep his campaign afloat. He would make a fine addition to any ticket. In fact, he should be at the top of any ticket if he were still in the race himself.

Second Tier

Second tier candidates are those who I think could make decent but not noteworthy presidents. With some, such as John McCain and Bill Richardson, I had hoped to find top tier candidates. Their weaknesses in campaigning suggest that they are not so well prepared as those in the top tier. Others in this category include Joe Biden, Sam Brownback, Christopher Dodd, Rudy Giuliani, and Tommy Thompson. If he were still running I would have placed Jim Gilmore here as well. This is also where I would expect to place Fred Thompson if he formally entered the race.

Third Tier

Third tier candidates are those who are technically qualified so that I think they could be President, but who would likely be poor presidents. These include John Edwards, Daniel Imperato, Bob Jackson, and George Phillies. I would have included Hillary Clinton here, though as a front runner many would think me biased. Instead I felt that I could not endorse her because her history and the passion that many have against her essentially guarantee that she could not be effective. All the other candidates here would at least have hope of becoming effective.

Not Endorsed

If your favorite candidate is not listed above I would be surprised if they were also not listed among those I could not endorse. Those are Steve Adams, Donald Allen, Alan Augustson, John Bowles, John Cox, Mike Gravel, Jon Greenspon, Bob Hargis, Duncan Hunter, Mike Jingozian, David Koch, Steve Kubby, Dennis Kucinich, Charles Maxham, James Mccall, Ron Paul, Wayne Root, Joe Schriner, Christine Smith, Michael Smith, and Tom Tancredo. My reasons for not endorsing them can be found on their individual posts.

I did not have high expectations when I began investigating Governor Huckabee. I knew he had been a governor, but before I started actively looking at him as a candidate I had the impression that he was just another aspiring politician who lacked the media advantage of the more well known candidates. I was totally surprised by what I found. After more than a decade as governor I could expect him to have sufficient political experience to be President, what I could not anticipate would be the way that he presents himself. He comes across as approachable, knowledgeable, and willing to serve the country.

Because he lacks the media appeal of other candidates I am confident in predicting that the media will, unfortunately, not give his candidacy the attention that he deserves. I endorse Mike Huckabee for President.

If becoming President were like getting a job – getting the right previous experience and hoping that it is a better fit than any other potential hire – as some of his campaign ads humorously depict, Bill Richardson would easily have the most impressive resume among the candidates. Wanting to go beyond the resume I took the time to seek input about Governor Richardson from current residents of New Mexico. Even considering the other intangibles which affect the worthiness of a candidate it is easy for me to endorse Bill Richardson for President.

As a former Governor of Virginia and former head of the Republican National Committee, Jim Gilmore certainly has the experience and connections to make a credible President. His positions are reasonably vague so that he does not stand out from the crowded field, but he does not disqualify himself either.

I can endorse Gilmore For President.

Tommy Thompson is an understated candidate. He does not enjoy the camera presence that would be very beneficial to his campaign but he seems to be a very capable leader and has a record of making things happen. He has a long record of political service in various capacities which would give him some beneficial perspective on the office he is seeking. I was tempted to give him extra credit for being the Secretary of Health and Human Services because of the insight that would give him on the issue of healthcare, but I realized my mistake. No president should be elected based on one issue or a narrow agenda. Besides, that would be a disservice to all of Governor Thompson’s other accomplishments.

I endorse Tommy Thompson because he is not a single issue candidate.

As with all of the major candidates, my evaluation of John McCain simmered in the back of my mind for a long time. The roller-coaster of my feelings about his candidacy was hardly unusual. I have long liked the fact that McCain seems to be functionally independent of his party affiliation. As the campaign season matured I was disappointed to see more positions which seemed calculated to appeal to the base rather than driven by independent common sense. I have come to the conclusion now that my disappointment was driven by personal disagreement with the positions.

I believe that McCain chooses his positions based on personal conviction even when they are unpopular. There is a consistency in his message between those things that appear to be party-driven and those things that appear more independent. I think that it is his party that has walked a crooked line while McCain was holding fast to his personal convictions.

Seeing that, it became easy for me to endorse John McCain for President.

Well, I decided to tackle a second endorsement today because some endorsements are very easy to go and find a candidate who should not be endorsed. I expected that to be the case again today. After looking into Bob Jackson again (a commenter pointed me towards him some time ago) I was looking for reasons not to endorse him. I don’t think his chances of winning are even worth considering. As I thought about it I realized that I had no substantial reason to not endorse him. He understands the system and knows what he would like to do. I finally went back to review the criteria I had made for giving endorsements and found that Bob qualifies for my endorsement.

I think he could do a good job if he were President and I think he deserves votes.

In search for a candidate who understands the need for smaller government? Mitt Romney fits that description. He is publicly committed to not raising taxes, and to finding ways to cut spending. He believes that we can solve some of the same issues that others have used to call for raising taxes, or rolling back tax cuts, without increasing spending. As governor of Massachusetts he used his veto power against excessive spending. The question is, if he were President would he be more effective with his vetoes than he was as Governor – where every spending issue he vetoed was overridden by the legislature.

That could be used to dampen my enthusiasm for Mitt, but I overlook that in the face of his track record of getting things done in business and government settings. He was successful in business before he was called upon to salvage the 2002 Olympic Games – which he did quite well. After the Olympics he served as Governor of Massachusetts where he was successful in implementing a statewide universal health care initiative, even if he was not able to make his veto stick to other spending items.

With core values that generally appeal to me and a record for getting things done in everything he has set his hand to, I find it easy to endorse Mitt Romney for President.