It's official. The presidential primary season is heating up.
Here's my take on the candidates and where I think we'll stand next November.
Hillary Rodham Clinton looked to be the front runner for the Democrats in the early going. But as the race heats up, so does Barack Obama's campaign progress.
I have loads of problems picturing Clinton as a viable candidate for president, especially because she's a horrible public speaker. Sometimes, I can actually detect shades of a female Dick Nixon in her speeches. It's like she's a robot that was accidentally programmed without a personality.
But nothing is worse than having to listen to her viewpoints on our nation's health care woes.
Considering Clinton receives more money from pharmaceutical companies than any other candidate, I wouldn't be surprised if she started showing up for speeches wearing huge Pfizer jackets and passing out sample packets of Prozac and Viagra.
On the Republican side, John McCain is the obvious front runner. After his most recent primary victories, it looks like the nomination is a lock.
I never liked McCain, mostly for the fact that he quietly maintains the persona that he's a risk to the Republican Party. Yet, in his 25-year career in Congress, his voting record has consistently been pro-life, in favor of big spending on defense and generally supportive of large tax cuts.
But most of all I think that having a 71-year-old president is unrealistic at best. At 71, McCain should be the starter at a golf course or a greeter at Wal-Mart, not the leader of the free world.
In the media, the big issues with Barack Obama are his inexperience and a proposed agenda without substance. But come November, I predict that Obama will be the man in the White House for the sheer fact that his charisma and political savvy will allow him to run the smoothest campaign.
And finally, the last candidate secretly hiding in the wings. The candidate that no one thought would appear in this race. The man of the millennium, President George W. Bush.
Any elementary school kid could tell you that after having served two consecutive four-year terms, President Bush is not legally permitted to run for a third. But after everything we've experienced in the past eight years, I'm not going to let him put anything by me.
