I guess it is some sort of big deal.

Forgive me if I am just not that excited.

As someone who has been active in the Republican Party, run for local office as a Republican, supported Republican candidates, served on the local Republican Committee, and gone door-to-door for other Republicans, this election has been difficult to experience.

I have always felt like the Republican Party was where my allegiance rested.

But I look at candidates John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee (is he still in this race??), and I look at President George Bush and the Republicans in Congress, and I see a party that does not reflect the principles that I signed up for.

And I find myself hoping that the Republican Party loses.

It is not enough to win with the wrong principles.

Today’s Republican Party does not fight for limited, Constitutionally-derived federal powers.

Today’s Republican Party does not fight for limited government spending.

Today’s Republican Party does not fight to protect the rights that the Bill of Rights was designed to safeguard.

The one candidate in the Republican race who does represent all of those principles has been blocked out by the Republican establishment and the media.

That candidate is Ron Paul.

I rejected the idea of supporting Ron Paul earlier in this primary season because I was looking for a candidate that could unite the party around our traditional principles.

That candidate was Fred Thompson.

But the party voters rejected former Sen. Thompson.

Now, the party faithful rally behind Mitt Romney, a candidate whose record in government wholly contradicts everything he has said in this campaign, and John McCain, the maverick who has dogged conservatives for years with his decidedly un-conservative activities in Congress.

It is any wonder that my support for a Republican Party resurgence is waning?

Truth be told, I hope that Ron Paul runs as an independent and we witness the birth of a new party in American politics.

I am not talking about another failed third party. I am talking about a revolution. A new major party.

The death of the Republican Party and the birth of something new, something better, something that encompasses the clamor of a yet unrepresented group of Americans that wants to see the power of the federal government reined in and a return to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I really liked the open format in the first half. The candidates really got to expand on their responses.

I recorded both debates, but I only watched the Republican one. I saw parts of the Democratic one, but truthfully, I don’t really care, yet, since I won’t be voting in the Democratic primary.

This was my first time seeing all of the candidates in a full debate. I saw parts of the Iowa PBS debate, since it was on when the kids went to watch their afternoon shows, but with three kids who just found out that a bunch of yammering politicians were on instead of their shows, well, you can guess it was hard to watch much of it.

I am glad that ABC lowered the threshold of participation. To be in the debate a candidate only needed 5% in any national or New Hampshire poll.

The Republicans were (alphabetically) Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson.

This was my first chance to see what a condescending dink Mitt Romney is, unless you count the marijuana video.

I am sorry. I try to stay above board and not call names, but there is no other way to put it. The guy is a first-class jerk.

If that was all, I might be able to overlook it, but he’s absolutely heartless (even for a Republican) on illegals already in this country, and he actually said, “I like mandates,” when talking about health care.

This is a Republican debate, Mitt.

Speaking if illegal immigration, I honestly thought Giuliani had the best answer on that topic, though not a unique idea. I just thought he articulated it well.

Ron Paul, who I have liked in the past, came off as kind of a wing-nut. He was right on with so many issues, but he has that fringe candidate anger that I find unsettling.

Besides, his foreign policy is a little naive. I am no neo-con, but one must be realistic about the threat that exists. Pulling all of our troops around the world home will not end the jihad.

John McCain did pretty well, but he is letting Romney’s attacks get to him. He seemed ruffled. I don’t think it hurt him, though.

I don’t really have much of an opinion about Mike Huckabee’s performance. I thought his answers sounded too rehearsed and I didn’t really get much out of it. He was, however, on Fox News Sunday. I have a lot to say about that interview, but that warrants a new post.

The highlights of the evening were the countless jabs that McCain, Huckabee, Giuliani, and Thompson all got in against Romney. There were some zingers in there. I think that even Charles Gibson laughed at times.

I think Fred Thompson, the runaway favorite here at She’s Right, did well. The highlight for me was his response to the question posed by President Bush regarding the candidates’ guiding principles.

Forward to 2:34 to see it. I transcribed some of it here:

Our first principles are based on the Constitution of the United States…understanding the nature of our government, the checks and the balances, the separation of powers that our Founding Fathers set up a long time ago. There’s a reason for that. They knew about human nature. They learned from the wisdom of the ages. They set the government up according to that. They set the powers out in the Constitution of the federal government and they basically said if the powers aren’t delineated in this document, then they don’t exist. And then we got the Tenth Amendment that says if they’re not delineated, they belong to the people and to the states. That’s fundamental to everything else.

This is exactly why I support Thompson.

People – mostly liberals – talk about the Constitution being a living document. It was not meant to be for the very reason that Thompson brought up. Even though our times might be different, one thing has remained the same since the dawn of time, and that is human nature. Human nature is essentially the same, no matter how enlightened we like to think we are. That is exactly why we need to stick to the limitations set forth in the Constitution and not sell our freedom for perceived benefits of federal programs.

Well, tomorrow’s the big day: the New Hampshire primary.

My predictions: McCain will win handily, followed by Romney. Giuliani will barely squeak by Huckabee for third. Thompson will do better than the 1% polls show him with, but not enough to place in the top slots.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not usually good with predictions.

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For certifications like 350-001 and 642-523 , you only have to go through the syllabus of 642-825 and 646-203 once. That would be more than enough. With these courses behind you, you can also proceed with 650-251 and 70-297. Even 70-620 is not that hard anymore.

I said in my last post that I support Fred Thompson as the Republican nominee because I think that he is the only candidate that offers something to each of the factions within the GOP base.

I have also said that my support, in general, has been torn between Fred Thompson and Ron Paul, so I want to talk a little about Congressman Paul.

While I do not think that Ron Paul is the man to rebuild the Republican Party, I do think that we need him in the presidential race. We need to hear what he is saying. Both parties have sold out to the big government mentality – Constitution be damned – and most Americans are not even familiar with Ron Paul’s libertarian ideas.

He has the money. He has the networks of volunteers. He has the internet presence.

My hope is that Ron Paul will run as an independent.

Now, you may think I am just hedging my bets here, since conventional wisdom says that Fred Thompson won’t win. Maybe I am. But I want to see Ron Paul in the race regardless of who wins the nomination for either party.

I think American needs to hear what he has to say.

Rand Paul will be speaking about his father, Ron Paul, the race and the message of liberty.

Monday, Oct. 1st 7:00pm
The Fire House Gallery
135 Church Street
Burlington, VT 05401

Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim takes a look at the most visited campaign websites for the week ending September 8, 2007.

He may not be running (at least not yet), but I have to include Electric Venom’s post, “PETA Picks on Gore.”

Chicken anyone?

Over at Town Hall, Cal Thomas talks about “The non-candidate: God.”

There is one person who is definitely not running, but may be invoked as the ultimate adviser. That would be God.

Also at TH, Larry Elder opines about Oprah, Obama and “hope” for black America.