I have softened my position on her a little bit recently. I still don't like her but if she is the nominee, i will take her over the republican. At this point, i just can't waste my vote on a third party candidate, when we need to get the republicans out of the white house this badly. Maybe she wouldn't be the best president but i could live with her.

Agreed. I actually like Hillary, as much as I could like a pseudo-liberal centrist Democrat (pretty much the same feelings I have about her husband). A new Clinton White House in conjunction with the current House leadership could create a very strong Democratic presence in Washington. Make no mistake about it, as far as cunning in politics goes, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi are at a significant advantage against most of their male rivals and colleagues.

We won't get everything we want under their leadership. But they're the type of leaders who could set the stage for someone who will get us what we want.

Gotta tell ya, I like how you guys think.

We won't get everything we want under their leadership. But they're the type of leaders who could set the stage for someone who will get us what we want.
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Huh?

I'm not so sure about that... Although I'd vote for Hillary over any of the repubs, I do not relish going through another round with the righties over another Clinton presidency.

How can they set the stage for someone who will get us what we want? I'm afraid that Hillary will simply set the stage for another conservative backlash... as opposed to someone with less history/baggage...

I live in Iowa and will be participating in my local caucus... which at this time seems to be HEAVILY favoring Obama - most of the local heavy hitters seem to be stepping up for Barak... of course who knows what will happen in the coming 12 months.

You can forget anything conservative, even a backlash for the rest of this decade and most of the next.
The "conservative party" is gonna be spending all their energy simply trying to not go extinct.
At the very least the "conservative party" is gonna have to redefine and rebuild it's self, and that takes time.
Considering the last 8 years, (7 under Bush and the last Clinton year and how the Repugs trashed it) the "Liberal Party" would have to manufacture some pretty colossal fuck ups to lose the free gift they have been given. (Not that this is impossible)

I live in a very blue part of the North West. From here, though she's clearly not my first choice, or my second, or my third, as fourth pick, she's not all that bad. ( [IMO] Kucinich, Gravel, Edwards, Clinton, Obama.)

I wouldn't be so quick to write the conservatives off - their nest is badly messed with Bush, but Rovian techniques have been very effective in swinging Americans to the conservative side... but I do hope you are right - unfortunately I don't have a lot of faith in the Progressives to not manufacture some colossal f-ups.

I wish I thought Kucinich was electable - his platform scores the closest of any of the candidates to my own. I don't know much about Gravel - he is a non-entity in Iowa. Edwards is running pretty strong, but is getting blow away by the Clinton/Obama money train here in Iowa.

Why is Obama last on your list? Locals are supporting him because of the diversity of people he has attracted to support his campaign... I'm leaning towards Obama with Edwards and Clinton close behind