Now that Rudy Giuliani has effectively been eliminated as a serious contender for the Republican nomination I feel as though I have no home to go to in the US Presidential election. With John Edwards withdrawing this afternoon, Giuliani surely won't be too far behind.
So the contest comes down to Romney or McCain v Obama or Clinton. I would never support Romney in a month of Sundays, Mondays or Tuesdays. His policy platform seems to change by the minute and is too much of an identikit candidate for my liking. If the West Wing were casting for an actor to play the American President he'd be perfect. But there's something about him that just doesn't ring true.
So on the Republican side I will support John McCain, albeit incredibly reluctantly. I just don't see the ideas, the optimism, the can-do attitude that I think such a candidate needs. But I'll take him over Romney.
On the Democratic side it's quite simple. Hilary Clinton represents everything I despise about machine politicians. And her husband's campaigning tactics in the last few weeks have deservedly done her enormous damage. He is not the man he was. He doesn't have the political 'touch' he once had. She may still win the nomination, but she will be badly damaged in the process.
And so we come to Barack Obama. At the risk of being called a 'traitor' by Donal Blaney, I like what I see. He certainly talks the talk, but I still have doubts about his judgement. He's made several errors so far in taking bad policy positions, but he seems to have this Reaganesque ability to shake them off as if he were made of Teflon. Hillary doesn't seem to be able to land a punch. Whenever she starts having a go, he smiles as if he is almost taking pity on her. Maybe he is.
So for me, it's Obama v McCain. My tribal instincts will no doubt win in the end and I'll reluctantly support McCain, but if Obama starts coming out with a more sensible policy platform, you never know.
Tomorrow I fly to Washington DC for ten days. Don't worry - the blog won't just be covering US politics for that time, but obviously I'll want to share with you what I learn.
