[Dutch]

It was around this time when I started to notice that Bill Clinton would be an interesting candidate afterall and that lead him to 8 years. I get that feeling here for Kerry.

1. John Kerry - I have to admit the poll numbers are helping me form my opinion, but he sure seems to be the most "presidential" of the runners now. And he didn't fall down playing hockey, a big plus.

2. Wesley Clark - I thought Clark had a chance, but he's too wishy washy, I doubt the report about the "Undecided for Clark" sign. He's a great speaker when he's in control. He tends to give the appearance of not really caring about campaigning, and this is kind of a trial rehersal of how hard are you willing to work....he seems very disinterested in proving himself and wants to go the distance on his reputation alone. His reputation is shaky.

3. Howard Dean - Dean is a liberal, and thankfully there aren't enough of them in the news media and hollywood to overrule the moderates who were frightened off by his, "I have a scream" speech (that FoxNews so gratefully coined it).

4. Joe Lieberman - Lieberman just isn't presidential quality, he's too wrinkly and it's the wrong time for a Jewish President as far as our foreign affairs policy goes right now. The Middle East would never accept a peace plan written up by Joe. I personally agree with many of his centrist ideas and he is a strong willed individual with a genuine sincerity about him. But, timing is everything and this wasn't his time.

5. John Edwards, he's alright, but again, Presidential quality is lacking. Is that a growth on the side of his lip? Dude, you wanna be Prez, you need to get that lasered off. But he does have a lot of quality energy and seems to answer to the critical press well (O'Reilly No Spin Zone was a success).

6. Al Sharpton - He's no Jesse Jackson when Jesse was cool. He good for some interesting sound bites, but is he really interested in what's best for the USA? Who knows, and that's why he's just a also ran contender.

Do any of these guys really have what it takes to be successful in 2004 with the challenges that will undoubtedly be facing us in the later half of the decade?