53 Comments - Anon 7 - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:11 pm: Romney. He is the most qualified, the most capable, and has the best chance of winning. - Just Observing - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:18 pm: Probably Gary Johnson — he is running as a Libertarian — he best reflects my views as he is a fiscal conservative, socially liberal, free-market guy. http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/ - Adam Smith - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:21 pm: Good to know that John Zahm has found a candidate to lamprey onto. Just as Obama could never have won if he’d traveled the country saying what he REALLY wanted to do, none of the hard right Republicans can get a plurality in enough swing states to win if they are pushing the in-your-face tone that alienates independents. Santorum got creamed in his re-elect in a swing state (albeit in a bad GOP year) because he could not hold on to suburban independents. The far right doesn’t trust Romney because he is not blindly obedient to their litmus tests. But he has an ability to stand as a viable and reasonable center-right alternative to Obama. Looks again like the dogmatists are hell-bent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the name of a social ideology that does not have majority support. If Obama gets another 4 years to drive the US into insolvency the right wingers will have only themselves to blame. - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:23 pm: I’m a Ron Paul guy. His message meshes with my lines of thinking. He performs well in debates and speaks his mind. And he draws in the youth. The national GOP needs a youth infusion and Ron Paul can bring it. - Homer J. Simpson - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:23 pm: Don’t call me crazy, but I’m backing Ron Paul. If you want to keep getting the same results then by all means keep doing the same thing. If you really want things to change then maybe its time to look at someone who is a little different. - Cincinnatus - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:24 pm: Unfortunately, I will only be able to answer this question on March 20, 2012, about 5 minutes after I leave the polling place… - Anon - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:25 pm: Obama. Believe he has done the best job possible in trying to stabilize our economy. Despite the implied beliefs of many, there is no magic wand solution to instantly fix our economy. I believe slowly but surely we are on the right path. I also agree with him on social issues, and believe he has been running a decent foreign policy. Gotta give a shoutout to Jon Huntsman as well. Real stand up guy that is realistic when it comes to social issues. His experience as ambassador to China would be very valuable. If I were a Republican I would be supporting Huntsman, and would even vote for him over Obama in certain extreme circumstances. - Stones - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:26 pm: Obama. He’s been wonderful when it comes to foreign policy. He inherited a bad economy which was not going to turn around in 4 years no matter who was elected President IMHO. - Cheryl44 - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:26 pm: Barack Obama. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:28 pm: I am voting for Rick Perry. He is the Richard M. Daley of the GOP field. You just don’t know WHAT he is going to say, HOW he will say it, and isn’t afraid to forget the facts. I miss Daley, so I am hoping and praying Perry makes it to Illinois just for the “Q & A” Perry magic … (Officially, I am undecided, which puts me in the vast majority right now) - View from the Cheap Seats - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:29 pm: This GOP field is terrible. Period. - OneMan - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:36 pm: The Newt folks also got a bit of a late start as well.. - Wensicia - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:36 pm: Obama. What I’m hearing from the right will force this country back into worse economic times and damage the social advantages achieved the past few years. - GMatts - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:43 pm: Jon Huntsman - if he does well in New Hampshire, more people will take notice of his positions which are conservative, but not far right. There is something odd about the thought of 2 Mormons duking it out….As for Rick Santorum, he forces me to recall my Latin: Santirum, Santarum, Santorum… - JBilla - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:47 pm: I’ll vote Ron Paul in the primary if he’s still in the Race. Otherwise, time to bring in Obama’s second term for a landing. I hope he gives us something on the currently very regressive Federal Corporate Income Tax, which Romney will be good for. - ChicagoR - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:48 pm: Obama. Passed health care reform (which was weaker than I would have liked but still better than nothing), repealed DADT and dealt as well as possible with a crap-sandwich of an economy, which dealing with a certifiably nuts Congress. All the ideas the Rs are putting forth would take us in the wrong direction. - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:50 pm: I’m not just saying this because I’m a Republican. I don’t think this cycle’s GOP field is weak or terrible. I think 2007-2008 was worse. But “rock star” names like Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio and Sarah Palin - yeah, she’s a star, albeit a dim one - certainly weren’t going to run. You have to run with what you have. The Iowa caucus results show some serious fissures in the GOP. - DuPage Moderate - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:54 pm: I’m going to hold my nose and vote for Romney. He’s the only one who can beat Barack. That said, Paul most aligns with my thinking but he’s a little to “crazy old man” to elect. Further, the abolish the Fed talk is just nuts. Huntsman is incredibly likable but he has no hope. So…Romney it is. We need to get rid of Barack before he turns the USA into Illinois - as we’re seeing the results of his stand-up leadership here. - walkinfool - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 3:54 pm: John Huntsman was the best GOP candidate, for his executive, economic and foreign relations knowledge. The only one still with a chance to get the GOP nomination, who wouldn’t also be a complete disaster for the country, is Mitt Romney. In the end, Obama is better than Romney. - k3_Spfld_Chi - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 4:02 pm: Huntsman is the most qualified person to be Pres including Obama. If he doesn’t win the nomination then I am going to nominate him for Supreme Being of the World And Such . . . or Iroqouis County Clerk. I wish he would have faired better but it is dreadfully bad. - Bemused - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 4:23 pm: What the results in Iowa say to me is that at least 75% of the GOP voters there do not like any one candidate you want to name. Yet one of that field will at some point win over the independants that will decide this election? I think the only real winner of this primary election will be the Media outlets who get the ad revenues. As for my eventual vote, I do not see anyone in the GOP group I would go for. - amalia - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 4:31 pm: Obama. - southernillinois - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 4:39 pm: Obama because I think he’s done the best job possible given what he walked into. Interestingly enough I was in a McDonalds in southern Illinois today getting coffee and this table of older men were talking about the election and how they all hated Obama but then agreed they would vote for him again because there was no one else. - Katiedid - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 4:45 pm: I completely agree with everything Anon @3:25 said, both for Obama and Huntsman. - Sunshine - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 4:47 pm: A Romney/Huntsman ticket could win. I like Ron Paul but think his stand on Iran makes lots of folks a bit uneasy. Makes me a bit uneasy too. - Bill White - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 4:47 pm: According to the Board of Elections, Ron Paul filed this afternoon, after the post went up. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 5:06 pm: I will say this … Romney/Santorum/etc, will need a strong Southern Governor-type as a VP and Haley Barbour might be the elixer. The GOP needs to secure VA, GA, AL, FL, and both Carolinas this time, and a Barbour on the ticket will go a long way to make the Electoral College formula for Obama more difficult. I am still undecided, but if those mentioned above consider Barbour and Barbour accepts, it will get a heck of a lot harder for Obama than it will be if any of the above chose someone like Biden as the running mate on the GOP side. - Going nuclear - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 5:16 pm: The Republican field is mostly brutal; and Romney will say anything to get elected. Among the candidates, I think an Obama/Huntsman race would be the best bet for the country, but Huntsman seems to be going nowhere. Thus, Obama will get my vote. I think he’s done a pretty good job on the foreign policy front and tried his best to help get the economy moving again, although I’ll admit there is only so much that government can do. - Cincinnatus - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 5:16 pm: Sunshine, Romney/Rubio is a much stronger ticket, even though it would lack the foreign policy gravitas of Romney/Huntsman. - Cheryl44 - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 5:19 pm: Rubio is in the 1/9 New Yorker saying no way to VP. - railrat - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 5:32 pm: was for Santorum…until I saw Zahm on his wagon, now its Romney by default - Conservative Veteran - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 5:40 pm: I support Buddy Roemer. He’s conservative, and he’s the only candidate, in that race, who has been a congressman and governor. - PublicServant - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 5:44 pm: Obama/Clinton (either Hillary or Bill). There aren’t going to be any medicare/social security cuts, before we get the tax structure we had during the Clinton surplus. - Earthworm Jim - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 6:09 pm: I’d love a Gary Johnson presidency, but that’s unrealistic at this point. Until March, I’ll be holding my nose hoping the field somehow, magically, gets better. - DuPage Moderate (really!) - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 6:11 pm: I’ll quite happily vote for Obama again. I’ve been saying for some time that there is no Republican who can get the nomination who can beat Obama. There are Republicans who can beat Obama, but they can’t get the nomination. So the current disarray in the GOP is the best thing that ever happened for Obama. - ZC - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 6:15 pm: I used to think Marco Rubio was the right running-mate for Romney, but now I’m not so sure. He would be great news in Florida. But it will lead to weeks of press hand-wringing about Romney’s actual positions on issues of concern to most Latino voters, which aren’t great (DREAM Act, immigration, but also just in general funding for education, health care, etc.) and will open Romney up to claims of symbolism over substance. I’m not saying it =couldn’t= work … Dangerous to over-predict this stuff. But, Romney’s team has to approach this very carefully. In any case, no matter who Romney picks, I’ll be backing Obama. As the GOP used to point out, the federal government just cannot create many jobs, and the GOP opposes the temporary jobs Obama could be creating. The idea that we could be creating more jobs with a more “pro-business Republican” isn’t well supported because from 2001-2008, the job record was also really lousy (2009 is the absolutely, positively, horrible, no good, very bad year for jobs creation, though, the one that Dems try to pin on Repubs and vice versa). - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 6:22 pm: I actually don’t think the nation will fare much differently under Obama or Romney, who is looking like the default R candidate, or Huntsman who seems to not be in the running. The other R’s, exception Paul (see below) will probably press for a Reaganesque legacy and wind up with a Nixonesque if elected. Just for fun, I’d like to see a year of a Ron Paul presidency, with the caveat of having Orson Welles’ time machine as an escape valve in case it turned out with unintended horror consequences. I am usually in favor of a divided Congress with razor-thin margins for either party (necessitating the compromise that seems to be in short order these days). If it looks like Congress is going to sway too far one way or the other, it might influence a contrarian vote for president from me. - Esquire - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 6:32 pm: Gingerich claims credit for “the Clinton surplus” since the Congress handcuffed the administration on spending. Having to wait and see who to support after the candidate filings are completed. - steve schnorf - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 6:53 pm: When the time comes I will almost certainly vote for the candidate still in the race who I believe has the best chance of being elected in November - Wilson Pickett - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 6:59 pm: I find myself sitting on a fence between Romney and Gingrich. However, in the last couple of days I find myself leaning more toward Newt’s side of the fence. The recent endorsement of Mitt Romney by John McCain has made me pause and caused me to lean a little more towards Gingrich. I probably would be more at ease with Mitt Romney except for his constant pandering to his audiences. Mitt Romney comes off looking like Eddie Haskel from “Leave It To Beaver” (You look very lovely tonight, Mrs. Cleaver.)Perhaps I should consider that character trait as simply “being “a smart politician” but I can’t. Instead, I find myself wishing for a leader who could manage to inspire me. Barack doesn’t do it. He is a nice guy but the helium has leaked out of his balloon over the past 3 years. It turns out that Axlerod and his sales staff promised me a product that they really didn’t available to sell. I find myself believing that Gingrich could prove to be that “warrior/poet” that we have all been looking for to lead us. He just needs to #1) control his temper, #2) minimize his ego, & 3) avoid creating a George W. smirk on his face whenever he says something clever. - Anonymous - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 7:10 pm: ==Orson Welles’ time machine== Try H. G. Wells. - bored now - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 7:23 pm: definitely will be proudly voting for obama. the best and smartest president in my lifetime. did what he said he’d do, and that wasn’t easy. we are very lucky to have a president capable of understanding — and addressing — the complexities of a globalizing economy, especially after the absolute disaster that george w bush left the country. wouldn’t want to be him, but glad he’s in the oval office protecting this country… - Skeeter - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 7:25 pm: I am supporting the President since I’m pretty pleased with the job he has done. Bailing out the auto industry was necessary, HCR is good policy, and he’s aggressively attacked terrorists. That being said, I wouldn’t be too upset if Romney won. In the past he’s been a moderate and hopefully would return to those roots. As importantly, I haven’t seen a lot of people (Other than maybe tea partiers who hate everybody) who hate him. We could use a President that people might not like, but few hate. It would be good to return to times when so many didn’t hate the president, even if it means a less than perfect candidate wins. - Plutocrat03 - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 7:33 pm: Any of the Repub candidates but Paul or Gingrich would work for me. - Kasich Walker, Jr. - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 7:41 pm: Jill Stein marched on Madison and supports Green Party values, but I’d vote for Pat Quinn if he ran for President. The guy got elected as governor after serving, somewhat reluctantly, as Lt. Governor under Blago and he is walking a fine line attempting to keep business in IL while addressing the concerns — education, healthcare, quality of life issues exemplified by support for Millennium Reserve-Calumet project — of Illinois residents. - Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 8:39 pm: ==Orson Welles’ time machine== Try H. G. Wells. That’s what happens when I post at work, multi-tasking - Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 8:46 pm: Obama. As has been pointed out above, he has done much of what he said he would do. I would like to see the tax structure go back to where it was in 2000 (it is probably pie-in-the-sky), and only Obama would be willing to do that. I also think the heathcare plan needs to be fully implmented, and that won’t happen under a Republican. Plus, if we are going to have a Republican Congress we need to have a Democratic President to avoid the kind of train wreck that the stuff passed between 2001-2007 resulted in. - John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 8:51 pm: >>>>was for Santorum…until I saw Zahm on his wagon and what’s all this about Al Salvi? - Independent - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 9:36 pm: I’ll vote in the GOP primaries for Huntsman. He is the most sane and intelligent GOP candidate and the best potential statesman of the pack. I think there is an element in the MSM that enjoys focusing only on the kooks in the GOP field, which is part of the reason why Huntsman is not gaining traction. When the air is inevitably let out of the Santorum balloon I hope the MSM finally gives Huntsman a real look. - gg - Wednesday, Jan 4, 12 @ 10:13 pm: Ron Paul! I was watching Chinese TV three weeks ago. A Russian diplomat was in front of the Chinese National Council. He was saying Russia and China should join missle defense to protect Iran and Pakistan against the US and Israel. Yes, Ron Paul is a crazy old man. If I can watch this on Chinese TV, why can’t I see it on CNN. If Ron Paul had a chance of winning, we would be bombing Iran today. I see no difference in Romney or Obama. Just my opinion. gg - Left Out - Thursday, Jan 5, 12 @ 8:05 am: Romney by a nose (I am holding my nose). However, considering the list of those in the running, the true best person, ‘none of the above’, is not on the ballot. - wordslinger - Thursday, Jan 5, 12 @ 8:16 am: –The GOP needs to secure VA, GA, AL, FL, and both Carolinas this time, and a Barbour on the ticket will go a long way to make the Electoral College formula for Obama more difficult.– Willie, you don’t really think Alabama and South Carolina are in play, do you? Or even Georgia? Right now, I’d vote for Obama, although if Mitt wins I’ll be interested in seeing where he ends up in his sprint to the middle. He was by most accounts a pretty good governor. Huntsman is a solid candidate, too. Domestically, Obama was right to continue the bailout of Detroit, as today’s wonderful sales figures demonstrate. But I think Obama really missed a chance to make a giant leap on jobs and infrastructure when he had a Democrat Congress. I’d also have liked to see the justice department pursue criminal, rather than civil, charges against the Wall Street gangsters who wrecked the economy. But when you have to raise $1 billion to run for president, not much chance of that, I guess. Obama’s winding down the wars, which is good. But I’m also alarmed by the Obama administration taking upon itself the power to assassinate American citizens overseas who have not been charged with treason or any crime at all. Congress has to explicitly deny any president that power. - BW - Thursday, Jan 5, 12 @ 8:36 am: I love Ron Paul, but he has too much of that crazy uncle in the corner. A part of you knows that he is probably right about many of the economic policies that he talks about, but you really aren’t ready to listen to him because you don’t want to be the other crazy one in the family at Christmas. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.