Here's the Democratic Candidates, Folks!

Here they are, the primary

candidates lined up

for their rogues' gallery photo by Issues Committee photogra-

pher, Helen Moe, who is usually published in more prestigious media than our Blog. like the Police Gazette, for instance. Since jobs are scarce in a Republican administration she accepted our offer of two votes, not one, in forthcoming elections as payment for her services.

Our Club did not host a televised debate on November 24 at our monthly meeting, but we did the next best thing. Seven of the leading Democrats competing for the party nomination for President were represented by seven prominent local Democrats, all members of our Issues Committee. Though our Club does not endorse or plan to endorse any one candidate at this time, we wanted all Club members and guests to know where each candidate stands on a number of vital issues facing our country. The issues and each candidate's background and position on each issue were presented along with an expert Power Point presentation devised by committee member Gordon Buchi doing double duty as a presenter as well.

In alphabetical order (we are nothing, if not fair) the first candidate, Joe Biden, was represented by Jack Dreyer, who presented Biden's biography and stand on Iraq, healthcare, education, energy and the environment, national security, immigration, and the economy. Not to be outdone, Hillary Clinton in the person of Linda Forcey took off the gloves (not the long opera ones) and came out slugging with her programs on the same issues. There was no time for rebuttals from Biden, but you can be sure that he would have made some before Chris Dodd disguised as our own Jack Lowman took center stage to give his solutions to the same issues. Then Harold Gibson, back from Ohio, did a commendable job of imitating John Edwards on the campaign trail even though Harold lacks a y'all Southern accent. Gordon Buchi next switched hats and became Dennis Kucinich for a few minutes to give that Ohioan's viewpoints on the topics. In what turned out to be the only case of trans-gender identification of the program Betty Bainbridge, who doesn't resemble Barack Obama at all, still managed to make herself believable as she expounded on the issues that most concern him. Finally, the last candidate, Bill Richardson, who left his sombrero and mariachi band at home, was in reality Norman Kurland who concluded the presentations to a chorus of ole, ole, ole.

The audience was squirming to get into action by this time and the Issues Committee Chair, Hal Bratt, gave them their chance. Every presenter left the non-existent podium and dispersed among the tables to present copies of all the candidates' programs and a survey card on which every audience member rated the candidates on each issue plus their electability as the Democratic candidate for President. A strong positon was ranked as a 5 and a weak position was rated a 1 in the estimation of our audience. Those ranking the highest on their positions were Kucinich with 3.9, Obama 3.9, Richardson 3.9. Following in descending order were Clinton 3.8, Edwards 3.8, Biden 3.6, and Dodd 3.4. When the candidates' electability was considered there were some changes. The top candidate was Obama with 4, then Clinton with 3.8, followed by Edwards 3.6, Richardson 3.3, Biden 2.9, Dodd 2.3, and Kucinich trailing with 1.5. The results of the straw poll to choose which candidate the audience members would prefer to clinch the nomination (you read it here, folks, before you saw it anywhere else in the news!!) the winner was Obama with 29% of the vote followed by Clinton with 26%, Richardson 18%, Edwards 13%, Biden 7%, Kucinich 5%, and Dodd with 2%. Is it any wonder that Obama and Clinton are battling each other in such a close race? Stay tuned!