Arriving Somewhere

I stumbled upon a political quiz that is designed to help you identify which of the 2008 presidential candidates is closest to your own ideology. I haven’t been following the race very closely as of late except to notice how often Clinton and Obama bang heads. Even so, there are only a couple surprises to me on this list…

You can take the quiz at: http://www.selectsmart.com/president/2008.html

1. Theoretical Ideal Candidate (100%)
2. Ron Paul (67%) R
3. Christopher Dodd (61%) D
4. Barack Obama (59%) D
5. Kent McManigal (campaign suspended) (57%) L
6. Alan Keyes (54%) R
7. Dennis Kucinich (53%) D
8. Mitt Romney (50%) R
9. Al Gore (not announced) (49%) D
10. John McCain (48%) R

11. Chuck Hagel (not running) (48%)
12. John Edwards (46%)
13. Wesley Clark (not running, endorsed Clinton) (46%)
14. Mike Gravel (44%)
15. Fred Thompson (43%)
16. Joseph Biden (43%)
17. Michael Bloomberg (says he will not run) (43%)
18. Alan Augustson (campaign suspended) (42%)
19. Tom Tancredo (42%)
20. Hillary Clinton (42%)
21. Bill Richardson (41%)
22. Rudolph Giuliani (41%)

I was surprised to see Chris Dodd at #2 and Dennis Kucinich at #7 as I don’t know much about those guys. I guess I should check them out. This certainly doesn’t help me figure out which party to register with for the primaries… with 3 Republicans, 3 Democrats and 1 Libertarian matching my beliefs at 50+%. It looks like I’m in trouble if it comes to a Clinton vs. Giuliani final election.

While you shouldn’t depend on any survey to choose your vote for you, it does help to narrow the focus some. I don’t believe in voting for the guy most likely to win from my party - I vote my conscience.