NONE of the above

Santorum

None of the above. Obama.

I like Gingrich,I believe he has a heart for the people, but Santorum is forthright about his convictions, and I believe America is yearning for a leader like him.

None of the above would be my vote as well.

Santorum?! Be careful of what you wish for....

Ron Paul. The rest are a barrel of Monkeys. Gingrich 'believes' he can control the price of gas. Make it cheap so you can buy a house on the moon. Romney is NOT on any level with any of the 99.9% of us who live in this country. Santorum well, he's what's wrong about organized religion. He wants to take this country 60 years in reverse and only cares about abolishing pornography and anal sex.

Are you white, male, upper-middle- or upper-class? Santorum. Are you any other persuasion? None of the above.

Oh, Stephen Colbert. Why did you abandon us, the citizens of Illinois? You truly are the true conservative.

I'd vote for Colbert

Romney Only one who can beat Obama

None of the above.

If you aren't smart enough to vote for Romney, then just don't vote. The other guys are idiots. Romney is the only one that can finally get a loser like Osama, o'h I made a mistake, Obama out of office finally. Romney is going to win the Illinois vote easily. Don't waste your time voting for the other guys.

The deciding issue in this election cycle is the economy. People aren't upset because we don't have enough people living on the moon. Folks aren't losing their homes because of gay marriage or birth control. The only candidate equipt to guide us through economic recovery is Mitt Romney.

Russ, you need to get your head out of wherever you've been keeping it. Obama did not kill Bin Laden. SEAL TEAM 6 DID IT OBAMA JUST TAKES CREDIT FOR IT. memory refresher for you also, Seal team 6 that he is now so proud of is the same group that he called Cheney's assassins or don't you remember that?

I want to choose all three of these answers:
- I'm Happy With This Field
- In November, I'm Voting for Barack Obama
- I'd Like to Vote for Stephen Colbert

I'm discouraged that the GOP wants to put up a candidate who can "beat Obama", because it trivializes the issues. None of this pack shares information regarding how they are going to tackle these problems, outside of Gingrich's fantasy of imposing gasoline price limits. One can find the individual platforms with a little research but the information offered is sketchy at best, with no details regarding how the dollars shake out. Those who feel Romney is a strong economic leader really need to take a hard, long look at his terms as Mass. governor. The picture isn't pretty.

Dear God, Russ. There's supposed to be a space put after each comma. You would think with the more intelligent words you're using, your grammar would be top-notch too. Please find the space bar, I can almost feel my IQ dropping as I struggle to read your comments. Also, this is an area to post thoughts and feelings. So why exactly are you getting over-defensive and throwing yourself into somewhat heated debates? Calm yourself down, Russ. You do know that everyone is entitled to their very own opinion, correct? Stop lashing out at others online and go back to your dull life.

Russ, please go back and reread what you wrote. You really do have your head out of the sunshine. Your quote was Obama killed Osama. But you totally ignored the part of my note where he ran down special forces calling them Cheney's hit man. Do you think that now you might understand what I wrote? The only way we would win is to bring home all of our troops or go in and just mop the place up. That can be done from high altitude.

Oh, I sure will, Russ. Watch the unnecessary capitalization and double punctuation. You may be posting your thoughts and feelings, but not in the way that has been intended for this discussion area. This is a website for the local paper, do you realize how silly you're acting? Why do you feel the need to pick fights? Have you noticed that you are being ganged up on? Please, I'm not begging, but just post your opinion and leave like a civilized person, instead of ignorantly coming back to reply to others. You're making the situation worse for yourself. I also do not think you're going to win this cyber fight. Just go. If you choose to ignore those, go ahead and continue bickering like a prissy child, you'll just make a fool of yourself.

Odd grammar comments aside, Obama has not been near perfect, but nobody on the right has been clear on ANYTHING specific they would do that is PROVEN to change anything. Romney thought it was great when his dad closed plants in Michigan, and he would have done the same...think the citizens of Michigan, already crushed by high unemployment are in favor of closing more job-suppliers?
Santorum wants tariffs, which is anathema to free-traders (i.e. Republicans), and he HATES gays, which, it turns out, DO have the right to vote, if not marry.
Gingrich has really good, big ideas, immediately followed up by really terrible, big ideas. The moon? Not a priority today. $2 gas? How? Are we going to somehow tell OPEC what to do, or control the commodities market?
Paul is good with some things, but getting rid of three cabinet positions and departments won't solve the problems he thinks it will.
True liberals are just as unhappy with the president as harsh conservatives. To me, that seems like he is probably being centrist enough to help the most. Congress is where our REAL ire should be. They have taken all the fun out of dysfunctional. I think there will be record low turnout this fall for a presidential election, with the president winning fairly easy because the independents will stay home in droves, but so will many underwhelmed Republicans who can't get over Romney being either a flipper or a Mormon (which is big in other parts of the country).

Sara and Dave ,my new heroes.

K - keep talking. Keep talking. Clearly it makes you feel better. We can't survive your GOP candidates. Maybe you should have voted the candidate that's the best. Not whom you think will beat Obama (and won't) See you in November!

Soooo K, 8 years of Bush gave Obama a great economy that he then destroyed in oh say 3 or 4 months after he took office.Interesting history revision.I think what was very telling right out of the box after Obama was elected was the Republican minority leaders comments that his number one priority was to defeat Obama.Not restore the failing economy ,not restore millions of lost jobs, not end 2 unfunded wars,not capturing or killing the number one terrorist in the world Bin Laden.Just to defeat Obama. Says a lot about who republicans are and what they really stand for.
K are you sure your not the one that has confusion issues?

If Romney uses Obama-care as a campaign issue, well, he's got no chance on that one. It's based on Romney-care. If he uses the rising price of gasoline as an issue, well, he's going to bump up against the real culprits: Big Oil and its lobbyists. Be careful what you wish for.

Abbey, I am truly sorry if I wrote too many words at once for you. They don't allow pictures to be downloaded here, though, so far as I know.
Having said that, I think you are fine to nominate the person you think can win, versus just voting your conscience. Not that it will matter, Romney is a Republican, and everyone knows that it is Romney's turn. Santorum is going to continue to weaken him all the way through to the convention, so much so that I wonder if he is a closet Democrat.
Though you try to box me in as a liberal, I'm very centrist, and side with the side that I feel is best for the issue, not ideology alone. The majority of the country is in the middle, and when the extremes control the conversation, it isn't good for anyone. Romney is the least extreme of the group, and will have the best chance of beating the president. He just will have a hard time, since he WILL be weakened by the primary run, AND, ideology aside, they don't have much in the way of anything new to contribute beyond their rote talking points. NOT that Democrats are killing themselves with awesome ideas either; just that the president is neither as liberal NOR as conservative as either extreme would paint him to be.
Logic dictates that if the Congrss remains split, he and they will have to compromise to get things done, which is really what needs to happen anyway.
K, insulting anyone's patriotism because they don't share your view is foolish. Was Bush unpatriotic then, to millions?

Sara, if you look up the word unpatriotic in the dictionary, it will say Obama.

OLGuy - The Patch needs to have a LIKE button. Cause I'd like to LIKE your post. :o)

K, being personally insulting to other posters really doesn't serve any purpose, especially repeatedly.
You wouldn't change the lyrics, you would change the song, at that point...
MY point is that it is a definition, issue, semantics, more than anything, to say that Bush (OR Obama) is or isn't patriotic. Some would say both or neither, is all. Since you base your arguments on non-facts and opinions, you really shouldn't go calling ANYBODY stupid. Just disagree in a logical, adult manner. Please don't bring the discussion down to the level of politicians, we should be better than that.

Another example of Barack Hussein Obama being unpatriotic: He used campaign donations to refurbish and repaint his campaign plane, and removed the flag of the United States from the tail of the plane, and replaced it with an "O". Once again, Barack Hussein Obama fails to represent himself as a proud American. I can not believe that there are people out there, that still want this man as president for four more years! Wait until November when he loses. It will be a great day.

K, you may want to get your facts straight. The campaign plane you refer to was a chartered plane from the 2008 campaign and the airline logo which included a US flag was replaced with the campaign logo. Hardly as insidious as you imply or believe.
From truthorfiction.com:
Obama has used several different airplanes during his campaign but towards the end of his 2008 Presidential run he was flying aboard a Boeing 757 chartered from North American Airlines. This eRumor resurfaced once again while he was running for his second term and some version say that the official jet of the President of the United States, Air Force One, had been converted with his campaign logo. That is fiction.

Until mid-July of 2008, the airplane had the markings of the North American Airline fleet, which included an American flag on the tail, which is a part of the paint scheme for the airline. The senator's plane was completely repainted, however, to reflect Obama's campaign (as is frequently the case in presidential races). The picture circulated with the eRumor shows the new paint job. The American flag of North American Airlines is replaced with Obama's "O" campaign logo.

Please base your dislike for President Obama on the basis of his work and not your out and out hatred for whatever ill-conceived idea you have. Stop believing everything that shows up in your email or on Fox News. Expand your horizons and give it a little thought.

You know..my father, who ran a small business for over 40 years - he owned a Ma & Pa corner grocery store, told me way back when that the Democracts were for the people, and the Republicans were for the Big Businesses and the RIch Guys, and in the 20 years since he passed at the age of 78 nothing has changed. If anything, it has gotten much more so...and the people of this country have gotten even more polarized. I know who I will be voting for and you probably do also from my fathers quote, but I also know that arguing with the opposite side gets you nowhere since trying to change someones mind when it is so clearly made up for the other side just ends up with people yelling insults instead of calmly discussing things as has been proven by the comments on this article. So I just want to say to all of you...calm down...take a chill pill. You feel your way, the other guy feels his way and come November, we will all see who the majority of voters want to represent them. And there will be winners and there will be losers. This country has survived Hoover, Nixon, Coolidge, The Florida Recount, Hanging Chads, Teapot Dome, ...we can survive anything.

Wow Dave W. You're the most mentally stable person here, I applaud you for that. I'm not being sarcastic either.

President Obama inherited a boatload of problems and John McCain, who I voted for would have inherited the same and we would most likely be in the same situation. One thing is clear, partisan politics is killing our country, not any one person occupying the White House. If President Obama managed to fix every problem we are faced with, half of ths country would still hate him. The same would hold true for our next Republican President, whoever that may be. Regardless, you are correct, America ill always find a way to survive.

Too many koolaid drinkers here!!

I bet Craig is a Republican

oBama is tha bomb man idk what u guys think but he's the best. He did somethin wit dem cars, he got a body builder wife (actually dats NASTYY), he's black, and he don't see Russia out his window hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I watch the news, but you watch too much TV. She never said it. That was Tina Fey who said it while playing Sarah Palin in a SNL skit. She said that you can see Russian land from Alaska, which is true. I am not much into name calling, but back at ya!!

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2009/11/18/abc-brings-i-can-see-russia-my-backyard-palin-interview

http://www.examiner.com/progressive-politics-in-national/mythbusters-sarah-palin-can-t-see-russia-from-her-house

I stand corrected, your a Dem. It figures.

craig, have you ever heard of this saying-"It is better to keep your mouth shut and let people THINK you're a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

Hey guys guess wut I'm turnin 18 next month I'm excited 2 vote yall no who I'm gona vote for
O B A M A !!!!!!!!!!!!!! u shud all vote tha same :-D
He is my hero

The young people like Craig are the reason that we are in the mess that we are in, with Obama as president. I would like to think that the young people just haven't lived long enough to know better. What is wrong with the rest of you! Remember that the word "RAT" is in democrat.

K, I honestly think 'Craig' is a plant. He is a bit too over the top to be a real person, even a seventeen year old neophyte. He is playing on your worst stereotypes, and you have fallen right into his trap.
We 'survived' eight years of bad, unfunded wars (only time in our history we had a tax CUT while at war), stock market crashes, the banking debacle (which was written by Phil Gramm and signed by Clinton, then overseen by little Bush), the housing collapse (parts of which were started by at least three different presidents), a huge terrorist attack on American soil (the hunt for it's mastermind called off when he was cornered, oddly...), the greatest job loss since the Great Depression (also started by a Republican't, just for point of fact), and in general the transfer of countless industries, not to say the accompanying job overseas as the last president told us all to become a service economy. He told us to spend our credit to stimulate the economy, gave us a tax refund we didn't ask for that wasn't paid for, broke down the wall between church and state (always a bad idea), and oversaw the rewriting of the bankruptcy laws so that AFTER everybody ran up their credit cards like 'good' Americans, they would have an exponentially harder time getting out of debt with no job and no relief.
If THAT is Bush being Patriotic, I wonder for which country. Russia, where he looked into Putin's eyes and saw the man's soul"? Saudi Arabia, where his family's friends run the country?

Craig - seriously, it's getting old.

K, can't you see that Craig is just messing with people trying to have a legitimate conversation. We might also take you more seriously if not for childish comments like "rat" in Democrat. As someone who has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since my first election in 1980, nonsense from the far right are pushing right leaning moderates like myself to vote for President Obama. Considering where we were in 2008, he's doing a very good job in office.

In all serious: Why are Republicans so angry? Whenever I have to do work and be around them, I usually have to put my iPod on to drown out the anger. Otherwise just listening to it makes me all sad when I get home cause it's so much anger.

Bob, you are right that the housing bubble wasn't strictly Bush's fault...it was partially his fault, but it was also the fault of every president since Carter (http://www.ffiec.gov/cra/), along with every member of Congress who voted for the CRA, the GLB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bliley_Act) and the CFMA in 2000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000). Each one made things progressively worse by stripping away necessary regulation that kept bad financing out of the housing industry. Unfettered, unregulated lending to bad clients in turn sold on the hunch it MIGHT make money crushed the housing bubble under it's own weight. Combined then with an overcredit-laden public depending on less jobs that made less money with less (or no) benefits and there was no way this disater would not have happened.
Has the president done as much as he should have, especially when he had a Democratic-controlled Congress in place early? No. Did W. do ANYTHING at all to stop what was happening the last half of his term? No. Will obstructionist Republicans do ANYTHING to help the country until after the next fall election? No.
See, under Bush, they KNEW they were watching the ship run into the iceberg, they just thought it would stay afloat long enough for the next guy (even if it was McCain) to go down with the ship. The bubble burst too fast, and Hank Paulson had to save his friends...so the did...to our detriment.