Nor-Man Gold-Man read a coming out Email from me, and so did Thom Hartmann.
http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2011/03/another-conservative-who-was-mugged
Thing I usually start off with is, because of the gun issue for a very long time I was confused about my orientation.
I still remember my first vote, in 1986, for Steny Hoyer, Barbara Mikulski, and William Donald Schaefer (former Democratic Governor of Maryland). I must have switched parties sometime in '88 or '90, and I cannot recall why. Maryland made one declare their party affiliation to vote in the primary, but they demanded one switch many, many months in advance.
In '92, I switched to vote in the Democratic Presidential Primary and was watching the debates, but I missed the deadline to switch by a couple of weeks. Clinton caught my interest right away during the debates, but I ultimately was favoring Paul Tsongas. I really liked Jerry Brown's piss and vinegar approach at that time, but I didn't think he stood a chance.
The GOP and conservatism, particularly the libertarian slant in the GOP, is extremely addictive crack. Even here on DU, one sometimes hears those who praise Ron of Paul, Duke of AynRandia. Some are GOP trolls, but I believe some are real leftists who actually think Ron Paul is a better choice than Barack Obama. That kind of thinking is some very dangerous meth, and just like real meth it can kill you, literally.
Mittens in New Hampshire, but South Carolina will be tougher to predict. I'm going to go with Santorum floating to the top for a Win, Ron "Monkey Pancakes" Paul to Place, and Crotch Perry to Show. If Crotch drops out, then Nutty Newtie will Show.
Given the appearance of some irregularity in the Iowa Caucus, I would say Karl Rove is in full election purchase mode and Mittens is his horse. Although Mittens seems like the one most likely to produce a Third Party panacea--probably by Ron Paul--and thus an easy Obama re-election, the power of Karl Rove's purse is scary. One need only remember the purchase of the 2000 election.
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