somebody asked me who for president in 2004. i want to like howard dean soooooo much -- but his bullshit gun-control pussyfooting is not for me. read his quote on the link, or look around a bit (maybe here, too?), and you'll see. he's got an 'A' rating from the eminently hateable NRA, and a states'-rights position that basically assumes americans can't be educated about the effects of guns in their communities. i don't care whether my north dakota neighbor's hunting rifles are different than some L.A. gang kid's plastic 9mm. both guns make it more likely that said neighbor, or said gang kid, will kill her partner or children or self. period.

there's also the fact that dean is pro-capital-punishment, which is totally indefensible on a variety of analyses.

...and then there's the part where he's staunchly pro-choice, a vocal opponent of hawkish foreign policy, and one of the few politicians in the country who understands and talks about the ways our environmental policies interact with our foreign policies. i want to like this man, but i'm going to keep searching. whom to investigate next, however, i do not know...any suggestions?