Reply #15: And when there are no candidates?

[TechBear_Seattle]

I have been hearing for many years that must never, ever support a candidate who is not likely to win; otherwise, I might just vote for a third party candidate that actually does reflect my values. So tell me, of all the Democratic candidates who might run for and get elected as President should I support?

What candidate has stood up and voiced unequivocable support for my right to be married to my partner, and then actually backed up that support with actual bills and votes? Not enter in to a separate and theoretically equal "civil partnership", but the exact same full marriage which the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 was "a basic right of man" and which is an option for hundreds of millions of Americans, but not me.

What candidate has had the backbone to take a genuine, long term stand against the policies and acts of the Current Regime? I don't mean the occasional soundbite to please the folks back home; I mean who has spoken reasonably about how Bush and his cronies repeatedly violate the Constitution and how it is the duty of every patriotic American to demand answers? If a member of Congress, has this candidate consistently attempted to vote down spending measures that do nothing more than extend the waste and graft of the Current Regime?

What candidate has dared to consistently challenge the White House on the war in Iraq? Again, I don't mean pious platitudes to appease their constituents. Has this candidate been, at every turn, a gadfly demanding answers? A voice of reason against the drumbeat of war?

Those are just three issues, out of many, that I look for in a candidate for national office. These are positions which reflect some of my values. I will gladly support any candidate who unequivocably acts -- not merely stands -- for my basic civil rights, who acts to protect the constitution and prevent fiscal malfeasance, who stands for world peace and international cooperation rather than war and profits for the military-industrial complex. I desperately would like those candidates to be Democrats.

Who is likely to win, who represents my values? Please: I have been begging for an answer since 2000.