My problem is that you don't know who or what you're voting for. Bush ran as a "uniter" right? "Compassionate conservative"? Look at him now. Kerry is running as the same thing, a uniter. How do you know he won't turn into a liberal nutcase if he's elected, i.e. the polar opposite of Bush? And what about Bush; he might stay the same, or get even worse (more likely). You just don't know. They tell you what they think you think you want to hear. This thread is about how emotional and vibrant Kerry's speech is; in other words, are people going to vote based upon how good a public speaker someone is?

The best you can do is vote for a Party rather than a candidate. Maybe you can (loosely) define "Democratic ideals" and "Republican ideals" and vote based on that. But not even everyone in the Party can agree on everything. So you can vote based on vague assumptions about the differences between the two Parties. And in many important ways, the Parties aren't even different at all.