The Fix’s Chris Cillizza did a fantastic piece and following video on what is at stake for this Super Tuesday! And from iVillage, Everything You Need to Know About Super Tuesday! (exclamation point mine).

Now go forth and vote!

I ask because I have a little secret for you: There is no perfect candidate. There is no perfect President.

You won’t find him (hopefully one day *her*) in this election or the next. To think that there should be a President with whom you can agree on every topic is not only naive but it also goes against the basic tenets of democracy. There should always be something the leadership is doing that pisses you off, gets you fired up, and makes you want to voice the need for one change or another. I’d much prefer to say that though I choose Barack Obama as my candidate for 2012 that there are things about his policies with which I disagree. Hell, there have been moments of anger but it is my belief that having any of the Republican contenders in office would be detrimental to the country and our relationships around the world.

I keep running into angry conservatives because of the choices they have been given during this primary. It seems that there is nothing that pleases them: Mitt Romney is a RINO and don’t forget about “RomneyCare”. Sure Santorum is a social conservative but the former Senator is also a “big Government” conservative and there is nothing they dislike more than the already bloated bureaucracy. And one cannot be a “real” conservative if they aren’t willing to board the “let’s get rid of the Department of Education” bandwagon. Despite Santorum’s wins in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on Tuesday evening, many are left to wonder whether or not he has the infrastructure to campaign seriously all the way to the convention in August. Newt Gingrich is fun to think about but this is a serious Presidential race, correct? With Paul we are privy to the thought that Civil Rights is a ‘mistake’ and severely isolationist foreign policy. While he could play to the ultra-right his ability to be elected leaves much to be desired. He’s like your crazy uncle who gets invited to Thanksgiving: you nod and smile but you run away as quickly as possible. Huntsman worked for Obama, Tim Pawlenty couldn’t handle it and Perry turned out to be a dud. I picture Conservatives walking around aimlessly until the contest arrives to their state then just closing their eyes and placing a finger on someone…anyone. I wonder what it is that Republicans are looking for and who would be their idea of a good, quality candidate.

Then there is the President. When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed, there was a thrill in the air. He did what he could to keep people working and the same goes for the Education Jobs Fund. Then came the events in Wisconsin and Ohio last spring where his leadership left much to be desired when it came to the union workers who helped to get him to the White House in the first place. That said having a ‘Right to Work’ proponent in office would send me screaming for the hills. I’ve often wish that he could be stronger and take a harder line on issues instead of just sitting on the sidelines. Taking issue with his leadership came up again during the work of the SuperCommittee. I know that it was technically congress’ responsibility but a little nudge to work harder and better would have been far more helpful than a match with Eric Cantor and John Boehner. My point is that this President isn’t perfect and I never expected for him to be. He was voted to bring hope and change. Not hope, change and being infallible.

It’s not just the angry Conservatives but the annoyed Progressives that cause me to scratch my head. For the latter I wonder what exactly they were expecting? For Barack Obama to enter the West Wing, snap his fingers and suddenly everyone has free healthcare and a job? Did we not expect change to take years and realize that it was the hope that it can one day happen? It is to both Tea Partiers and Liberals, Republicans and Democrats that ask: What do you want in a President? Is there a ‘perfect’ choice?

So here I am. Just a girl who wants to be all up in your political business standing in front a group of readers wondering who in this election you like thus far? Is it the lesser of seven evils? Are you waiting for the New Hampshire primary to be over? Or are you just like get Mitt Romney off my TV? Inquiring minds would like to know.

My senior year of college I took a course on electoral politics and at the end of the semester we were tasked with writing a paper as to the necessity of the Presidential primary process in its current state (this was in November of 2004 after the failure of Kerry-Edwards) (Remember them?) as well as the purpose of the electoral college. Were either representative of our democracy? How could they be changed in order to keep fairness and ensure that every person in the country was able to cast a vote that would count.

After the papers were written a debate was held for us to defend our positions on the primary system. It wasn’t until the end when I sighed deeply and in all my let’s just blurt this shit out, glory I said “Um, HELLO?! THERE ARE NO BLACK PEOPLE!” Righteously indignant I was with a professor that appreciated my candor as no one else had pointed out this glaring fact about the states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

At the time I had never been to New Hampshire, never stepped foot in the wee town of Concord and heard stories from shop owners telling how Joe Lieberman once shoveled their front walk in return for a vote. I found that the people of New Hampshire weren’t so much turned off by politics but accepting of their role in the process and they would shrug while telling tales of two Clintons. And tonight, on the eve of the caucuses, Iowans are walking around Des Moines right now either annoyed with having Rick Santorum in their face every other second or fist pumping and saying ‘FUCK YEAH’ to their first in the nation status. I don’t blame them for being proud of this part of their culture but it bothers me. Oh, how it bothers me.

I cannot be the first to say that these two tiny states are in no way representative of this country and its 309 million inhabitants. Thus the glaring unfairness and giant middle finger to the non-white, urban dwellers of this country forces me to scratch my head in curiosity. Life isn’t fair, this I know, but for a country that takes so much pride in being a representative democracy and the pains we have gone through to be almost, truly, representative it baffles me the way in which pundits have taken the First In the Nation status and made Iowa and New Hampshire the be all end all of electoral politics.

Over the last two Presidential cycles we have seen a trend of front-loading: States that are not Iowa or New Hampshire trying to get an earlier spot in the primary calendar with the hopes of actually being able to vote in a FAIR and DEMOCRATIC fashion for the candidate of their choice. Thus the party committees have allowed for states like Nevada and South Carolina to get in on the January action thus giving a semblance of balance but it doesn’t work that way. The pundits with their papers and statistics and fundraisers with dollar amounts in their eyes still see the first in the nation as the first in a competition to get rid of at least one or two candidates. Never mind that four – FOUR – of the GOP contenders failed to get on the ballot in Virginia (who cares about Virginia? That is until you need it to win the general election but now? eh. It’s just Virginia) they have Iowa. They have poll numbers and county-by-county visits and individual people to spoil thus giving Iowans the ability to say that their vote really does matter. But what about the rest of us?

Tomorrow approximately 3 million people – 1% of the entire population of this country – will essentially decide the fate of this Presidential election. How does that make you feel?

More on the Iowa Caucuses:

Iowa Caucuses: Do they really matter?

The Overhyped, Unrepresentative Iowa Caucuses

Iowa Caucus Voters Lack Enthusiasm (if Mitt Romney was all up in my face I’d be less than enthusiastic too)

Scenes leading up to the Iowa Caucuses

In 2008 Obama for America was engaged. Excited. But where has that gone over the last three years. Once upon a time people were crying while watching the President give a stump speech. There was that rapt attention and thrill of breathing the same air as Barack Obama. Though I might still pass out at the thought of just being in his presence my peers are less than interested. That campaign was pure magic which has nothing to do with policy or politics but with its ability to make people feel as if they were special and this person running for the highest office in the world could reach out and touch a voter just by opening his mouth.

During the 2010 midterm election my then 23 year old brother point blank said that he didn’t care. He was apathetic to all that was going on. So while I did labor walks and pulled my hair out over voter mobilization and voter turn out he just shrugged. His excitement was long gone and as he would later say; “There was nothing there for me…they are not speaking to me”. Of course he was neither the first or the last young black male to stop caring but because he was my brother – MINE – I had to wonder and know what had happened.

So when it was my turn to ask Jim Messina a question, I did so with a tremble in my voice knowing full well that though I wasn’t speaking for every other 40+ in the room I had to question this current campaign and how to get back those that buoyed them to success: “You have mentioned the base and the importance of the base vote but as a black woman under 30 clearly I am engaged…I am here, in this room…but what about others? What is the plan to get them engaged about this race? Because I can tell you right now that when I talk to them about the payroll tax extension their eyes glaze over.”

There were nods in the audience especially from those under the age of 30 where gave me a ‘right on!’ Another friend was just happy that I framed it around the payroll tax extension but it’s the truth. Do you want to know the best way to turn off a group of 20-somethings? Talk about Social Security. That shit is better than Ambien.

Messina acknowledged my need desperation for something from the campaign that would get people on their feet. There would be something coming in the New Year for the groups described and the kicker? If I didn’t like what I saw? Then I should call him.

I SHOULD CALL THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER OF OBAMA 2012 IF I AM UNHAPPY.

Just let that sink in for a minute.

The thing is that I would totally call up Jim Messina and tell him that my friends ain’t buying what he’s selling. I want them to win and I have very small doubt that with the current field of GOP contenders that they could win but right now I continue to scratch my head and ask what I think are the most obvious questions: What about your people? The ones who wanted your win at the beginning and those you have since left behind. You cannot get us – the collective young, black and female ‘us’ – on board with promises to veto any bill that includes the Keystone pipeline. Debt ceiling talk isn’t a turn on and we only care about the Euro when it comes to traipsing around Europe on our parent’s dime.

And so, to Jim Messina I say this: Find us. We’re out there. Seek us out. Use us. If a young black female wants to advocate for you; HELP HER. Talk to her. Listen to her. It will be worth it in the end.

I watched via LiveStream as protesters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge two months ago. How magnificent to see thousands to linked in solidarity against something that has been plaguing at least 12.6% of the population for years. That population being blacks in America. I’d be remiss not to mention the obvious truth that blacks have been facing disproportionate income inequality for far too long but many have become resigned to the fact that this is their lot in this American life. But something big was happening and to finally see people gripped with enough anger to move them towards something; to see the passion that these people held on their quest for regaining the necessities and their place within the middle class was truly amazing. College students saddled with thousands in student loans now forced to live with their parents. Or the recently laid off man with the family of four now forced to stare at bills wondering if he can provide both food and a roof over his families head. This is what people have been and now in record numbers have been facing and it is not what had been aspired to.

Of course there is a ‘but’ coming in all of this because after the march across the bridge and the tent cities were erected – probably a few weeks into the whole shebang – I could only scratch my head and think “Now what?” There were the encampments and the eventual police brutality that was unnecessary and yet…and I sigh deeply before saying such a thing…the act of police officers being terrible to citizens who are not breaking the law is another one of those things that the African American community has faced for years. But are my feelings on the Occupy movement predicated on the sudden inequities that non-blacks suddenly find themselves up against?

Yes and No. Yes, because as I wanted to scream from the rooftops THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS. THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN INCOME INEQUALITY AND NOW YOU GET TO EXPERIENCE IT FIRST HAND. On the other hand as a single person with a good job with a great salary and benefits to boot, the mere thought of losing my job makes my stomach churn. And having the bottom fall from under someone with no way back to the surface because it’s happening to most anyone and everyone, is not something that I would wish upon my worst enemy. But what it really comes down to is what can be done about a now systemic problem? Is taking over parks and bridges and public spaces worth it? Though it does bring attention to the cause and a need for change what are the tangible benefits?

It’s something that the Tea Party – and my apologies for invoking them – got right. The were able not only to rally and to bring attention to their cause which was also fueled by anger but then they were able to find people to take their cause beyond mocking and into the halls of congress. That is what the Occupy movement is severely lacking; leadership and the inability to truly be taken seriously. I, while in full agreement with why they were out there and the need to show all Americans the plight of so many, often looked at the tent cities with a bit of disdain. While I remained glad that people were taking note by the second month I wanted to say; you have our attention now move onwards, forward, upward. It’s devastating to see that this is what this country has come to but it’s even more telling to see throngs of people camping out and not doing much more to change their situation.

I have always believed that ‘If you aren’t angry then you aren’t paying attention’. People should always be angry and question because that is what democracy is. I also believe that you can flaunt your first amendment rights until the cows come home and more power to you. But…BUT…it won’t be worth a damn if there is no follow through. Those chants, the general assemblies the arrests – the entire country and the world have been watching and now we are watching this movement slowly dwindle into nothing but an Internet meme. The 99% is far greater in number than the 1%. Without us the 1% would be at a loss without people to serve. Fuck occupying a park in upstate New York – where, let’s face it, it’s freezing – and take your message, your people, your cares and that energy to the polls. The Tea Party did and the 99% will never survive if we do not do the same.

If it’s not college affordability it’s saying that ‘public education is socialism’ (h/t Ron Paul). Any time any of these candidates announces their ideas for education I want to find the nearest moving vehicle and jump in front of it. I’m sorry but they know not of what they speak. It’s sad and fairly indicative of the direction this country will take upon their being elected. Education which is the foundation for a strong country is treated as a nuisance that only few deserve. I’m sorry but no matter what side of the aisle you’re on, that’s bull shit.

Were you to ask a conservative what they think of Herman Cain’s current    predicament they would tell you that it is nothing more than a conspiracy from the left wing Main Stream Media. This was all conjured up because the left feels threatened by Herman Cain being a front runner and if it wasn’t the left then it’s all Mitt Romney’s fault. That’s it. Or perhaps the left and Mitt Romney conspired against Mr. Cain – because, as you know, Mitt is a dreaded Republican in name only and only true conservatives have the capacity to lead this country. Herman Cain is the real victim here and we all need to recognize that.

Why is this all coming out now? Because who would have cared before?

Herman Cain is the front runner. He’s polling better than the establishment and has essentially gone from being the disregarded guy barely acknowledged during debates to being front and center. He pushed Perry off of his golden boy pedestal and perpetuated Mitt Romney’s place as nothing more than a RINO who forced his socialist health care system onto the rest of the country via the dreaded ‘Obamacare’. Beyond that it should be a truth universally acknowledged that should you find yourself at the head of the pack, you will inevitably end up with arrows being shot at your back.

As much as we would each like to say that we only care about policy thus poo-pooing what happens in a candidates personal life, that isn’t true. There is some sort of ideal there whether it has to do with specific looks or characteristics or morals. What we look for in a President is someone relatively free of baggage who we can look at and point to as someone who not only makes good policy but is a good person. Though each of us says that it’s the former that is far more important it is the latter and our being utterly human that does the driving.

***
In the middle of writing this post I was at a loss for an ending when I came upon a story where Newt Gingrich stated that the sexual harassment claims were nothing but a media witch hunt. Do you mind if I say that that is utter bullshit? Because it is.

Maybe because I am a woman – a fairly young woman, I might add – working in a male heavy environment that causes me to be hyper-sensitive when it comes to this situation but right now, a person who is in the middle of proving that he can be President of the United States of America, may have sexually harassed two – three females during his tenure as head of the National Restaurant Association. Right now no one has said that it didn’t happen though Mr. Cain has changed parts of the story first not recalling such an incident then saying that there was a settlement but he’s not sure of what the amount was. Either way, SOMETHING happened while he was there. As a person who is running for President I feel that we, as citizens of the place that he would like to be the leader of, have the right to know that such behavior is in his past. Whether or not it would affect his ability to lead or make policy decisions is a different discussion as we have seen many men in positions of power behave similarly. But right now as he is in this ‘proving’ stage of his candidacy he has shown that he has poor judgment and we have to ask ourselves if Herman Cain is the type of person we want to lead this country.

With that; here is where the 2012 Presidential contenders stand on the issue of education:

President Barack Obama: “Providing a high-quality education for all children is critical to   America’s economic future.   Our nation’s economic competitiveness and the path to the American Dream depend on providing every child with an education that will enable them to succeed in a global economy that is predicated on knowledge and innovation. President Obama is committed to providing every child access to a complete and competitive education, from cradle through career.”

More here http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann: N/A Education is not listed as a priority or an issue on her campaign website

Businessman Herman Cain: Unbundle Education

“Unfortunately, education has become weighed down with administration that has shifted the focus from educating students to maintaining an excessive level of bureaucracy through expanded unionization and regulation. It’s time to unbundle education from the federal government down to the local level.”

“A critical component of improving education in our country is to decentralize the federal government’s control over it. Children are best served when the teachers, parents and principals are making the day-to-day decisions, coupled with the leadership of local municipalities, school boards and states.”

“Another way we can put kids first is to offer school choice as a real option for educational competition. This means expanding school vouchers and charter schools.”

More here http://www.hermancain.com/the-issues

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: N/A not listed on his website

Ambassador Jon Huntsman: N/A not listed on his website

Congressman Ron Paul: Homeschooling

“And the truth is, no big government spending program can or will solve our nation’s education problems. One-size-fits-all central planning simply does not work. As a congressman, Ron Paul has been a consistent supporter of homeschooling and educational freedom.”

“That’s why, during his time in Congress, Ron Paul has introduced legislation to:
* Help parents better educate their children by providing parents with a $5,000 per child tax credit for tutors, books, computers, and other K-12 related educational needs.”

“Congressman Paul wants parents to have the freedom to choose the best educational options for their children, and his commitment to ensuring homeschooling remains a practical alternative for American families is unmatched by any other Presidential candidate.”

More here http://www.ronpaul2012.com/the-issues/homeschooling/

Governor Rick Perry: N/A not listed on his campaign website

Governor Mitt Romney: N/A not listed on his campaign website

Former Senator Rick Santorum: “As a member of the United States Senate, Rick fought for the passage of the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA), and the “Combating Autism Act” to fight this devastating disease that is affecting more and more of our nation’s children.”

Let’s say you’re a parent and a voter: What do you want to hear from these contenders on the future of education? Something that inevitably relates to the future of this nation.