Independents, please speak up

I'm a proud Democrat. I'll be happy to tell you who I'm voting for and why (you can probably guess). There are several of us (Fenian is one, Good Doc is another) on this board.
There are some on the other side, like Yawn, Heyabbott, Zagoshe, etc., who fall on the other side of the spectrum (hope I am not offending any of them by lumping them together).
But I'm really curious what the independents or undecideds think about the election.
As it looks like it's McCain vs. Clinton or Obama, does one Dem or the other make a difference for you?
What is your big issue?
Why can't you just blindly follow a party like the rest of us?
As always, this thread is sure to turn ugly at some point, but hopefully I/we can gain some insight before that happens.

 

Actually, I think Zag hates both parties equally.

 

You may be right. I just know he's vehemently disagreed with me.
If Zag sees this thread, he should feel free to correct me.
I was actually wondering about you as I typed that. I know you're an Obama guy, but that's about it.

 

For some strange reason, when I first registered, the clerk's office messed up and I couldn't vote in the primaries in 2004. I switched everything to Democrat the day after Dubya was reelected.

 

Obama guy. I was formerly a Republican for fiscal reasons; I always thought the GOP could take its social agenda and shove it ... but then I discovered Hunter S. Thompson in college and never looked back.

 

So what you're saying, KY, is you were an accidental independent?
Not exactly what I had in mind, but interesting nonetheless.

 

Technically I'm an independent, since I've never declared party affiliation here and my last state had open primaries for both parties.

Course I also find the Democrats to be far too conservative for me, and the GOP . . . buncha fascists in my world.

 

Okie, pretty much. I was 17 when we registered in a US civ, but i don't know how they screwed up.

 

Was raised as a socially conservative Republican, and probably would still be that way if it weren't for college (... and, you know, college pot.)

Now, I'm a GDI, and proud of it. The GOP is too intolerant -- and lately, religiously based -- for my tastes, and the Dems are too dysfunctional.

My social views are now almost entirely liberal, and I usually vote for Democrat candidates unless a Republican can win me over, but my financial views -- both macro and personal -- are still somewhat conservative.

 

So you're a libertarian, but you can't admit it or won't commit to it.

 

And...?

 

See, Buck, I'm the same way about socialists. I describe myself as a creeping socialist, because I'm not a socialist, but anytime you hear a program described as creeping socialism, it's something I support.