Beyond Opinion

If what happened today (at 2007 June 22 8:52 am in Chester, Virginia) is any indication of what is going to come in this campaign, it does not look good. I just got harassed today by a campaign staffer for Barack Obama asking for a donation to their cause. Whaaa?? It isn't even 2008 yet. 2007 isn't even half over. Yet these candidates are already going after my pocketbook. And not just any candidate, mind you. I would expect this happening maybe from Hillary Clinton, but not from Barack Obama. So far I have viewed Barack as one of the best candidates in the race, with a fresh new look and fresh ideas, such as that there is no such thing as "blue states" or "red states".

But when they start calling me in the morning, asking for my contribution, and not accepting no as an answer over and over and over again, it does not look good at all for the candidate whose supporter called, or even for the entire campaign. Am I now to expect that I will get similar harassing calls from Hillary, Richardson, Edwards, Giuliani, Romney and all the rest, and maybe even Bloomberg as well? I mean this woman would not stop, even when I told her it was far too early. I even mentioned Edwards by name to her, saying he has not called me yet.

OK, this is it. Right now I am keeping score. So far the score is Obama 1, the other candidates 0. This I will take into consideration in determining who I vote for in 2008 November. This score will not be a factor as far as major issues are concerned. I will not vote for someone who does not believe in evolution, or for someone who believes in denying gay couples the right to marry, or for someone who will keep persisting in this ridiculousness in Iraq that has torn apart the country, simply because their opposition kept harassing me with campaign requests. But it will make a difference among candidates who differ little, such as Edwards and Obama. Therefore, right now, the candidate I favor the most is John Edwards, with Obama, Bill Richardson, and Dennis Kucinich well behind, tied for second. But this could change by election day. And please, candidates. No more solicitations for support until 2008 January. And Mr. Obama, please fire this campaign lady.

PS. By the way, while preparing this blog for posting, I found a serious problem with Mitt Romney. His campaign site, www.mittromney.com , throws a video in your face immediately with Mitt Romney speaking his stuff. To me this is not acceptable. No site ever should have for its initial page anything with sound. It startles the viewer, and it may annoy people in the area of the person using the computer. Remember that many people will be visiting these sites from library computers. Please don't pollute sacred silent library space with inane campaign blurbs. Take that video down immediately, Mr. Romney. And by the way, this intrusion makes Mitt Romney the worst of about 20 candidates running right now. I won't even hyperlink his name to his site.