Which is MOST important to you?

What is the point of electing someone solely because they can win if, upon winning, they will be incapable of doing a good job?

does anyone really know who that is yet?

I hope we find out pretty soon.

In the meantime, I'm voting for Kucinich in my very late primary.

If you don't compromise a tiny bit to break the race or gender barrier, then it will always be hard for blacks and women to get the funding and support necessary to run a campaign. When the door is open, then more and more qualified people of color and women will run for the Presidency. I'm not saying you should support Alan Keyes, but in my view if one thinks that the black or woman candidate have 95% of what the white male candidate has, then one should consider taking an affirmative action.

so... why is Affirmative Action necessary in picking our nominee this year?

How many others are there? Blacks and women are severely underrepresented in the political sphere. It's still a largely white male world. Yes, progress has been made, but after 230 years, my God, don't you think that the candidates in both parties should reflect the diversity of the US?

I certainly don't think any of them didn't get the nom due to their skin color or gender.

And no, I think the candidates should reflect the values of the party.

That's first and foremost, but there is a range of values. As long as women and people of color can't demonstrate their electability, they are less likely to run and less likely to get funding. Why else would we have such a disproportion of white men in politics? Surely you don't think that white men are simply better politicians, do you? I think it's because of institutionalized prejudice, and that's what I think we need to overcome. If we do, then our choice of candidates will increase two or three fold, since it will include a proportionate number of women, people of color, gays, etc., groups which are largely excluded right now.

President, therefore, I want our nominee to be the one with the best chance of winning. I believe it is imperative that we have a Democratic President along with a Democratic majority in Congress if we are going to get our country going back in the right direction.