For all the enthusiasm I have had for the candidacy of Fred Thompson, and the write-in campaign that I've also supported in his favor, you may be surprised that I am today moving on from this support (still supporting Fred and all that) to supporting a candidate who actually wants the job and continues to campaign.

I've always liked Alan Keyes. I've sometimes been put off by his sometimes over-religious presentation, but on the substance of his positions, I'm almost completely in agreement. I encourage everyone to support this former Republican in his effort to win the White House. Here you can find his "VoteMatch" taken at ontheissues.org. Keyes notes that this site's assessment of his record is generally pretty fair.

According to the VoteMatch survey, Keyes' positions are as follows:

* Pro-Life - check.
* Opposes affirmative action - check.
* Opposes hate-crimes legislation and gay marriage - check.
* Favors prayer in school - check.
* Favors death penalty - check.
* Favors three-strikes sentencing - check.
* Pro-Second Amendment - check.
* Opposes federal healthcare programs - check.
* Favors replacing Socialist Security with private sector - check.
* Favors school choice - check.
* Favors energy independence through utilizing US resources - check.
* Favors strong drug laws and enforcement - (no check - I disagree with Keyes on this one)
* Favors faith-based welfare programs ("faith sector") - check.
* Opposes progressive taxation - check.
* Opposes amnesty for illegal aliens - check.
* Opposes expansion of free trade - (Not a big deal for me one way or the other)
* Opposes expansion of the armed forces - (As long as we're strong, I can go along with this)
* Opposes McCain-Feingold - check.
* Opposes expansion of the Patriot Act - check.
* Opposes surrender to terrorists - check.

Folks, it looks like I have a candidate I can vote for! Will you join me in supporting this Constitution Party Candidate? He fits the Federalist bill pretty well, I think!

RWR

Update/Note (5/23): I did look into Bob Barr (L) as well. After investigating his involvement with the ACLU, I found that he was siding with them on a key issue on which I agreed with them, which I know is very rare. However, looking at his platform revealed him to be a surrender monkey, which disqualifies him from my support, as anyone who reads this blog well knows. Where I disagree with Keyes, I can accept having someone of that mind in the White House.- RWR