One year to go!

Today is the first Tuesday in November. It is election day. In another year, we will know who the 44th president of the United States will be.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that the 2004 Iowa caucuses were held and third-place finisher Howard Dean unleashed his famous scream that some believe cost him a shot at the presidency. But within two months, the first ballots for president will be cast in Iowa and New Hampshire, quickly followed by primary contests in Michigan and Florida and South Carolina. By the middle of January, the front-runners in each party will probably be established, and the year-long battle for the White House will be on.

Many of you who read this will be eligible to vote in November 2008. What do you think of the candidates in each respective party? If you are a Democrat, it seems all but certain that Hillary Clinton will be the nominee. Opinion polls show her closest competitors, Barack Obama and John Edwards, trailing by at least double digits. On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and John McCain seem to be the front-runners, although many consider Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul to have a lot of support as well.

In this blog, express your preference for a given candidate. I’ve provided links for each of their names so you can research their positions a little bit before responding.

The right to vote to choose our leaders is a privilege that not everybody in the world (and, historically, not everyone in the United States, for that matter) possesses. I hope that in the year ahead, you will be attentive to the presidential campaign because the person we choose will lead the country possibly until you graduate from college, marry, and start a family!