282RA, NOBODY could be as bad a Dubya (except maybe Cheney).    I doubt that many in the Republican party would have pulled the stuff he and Cheney (with Rove pulling the strings) have done -- e.g., warrantless wiretaps, trying to rescind habeas corpus, and essentially naming himself dictator (with the corporate foxes guarding all the cabinet-level henhouses and the dept of justic being filled with political operatives).   Yes, I'm frustrated that not enough Democrats have tried hard enough to block Bush's power-grab, but I really don't see a new Republican President doing much of anything to roll back those over-reaches. Bill Clinton, for all his corporatist leanings, did put Bruce Babbitt in as Sec. of Interior and some other honorable and sensible people in some other cabinet positions. He also nominated Ruth B. Ginsburg.

Oh, and I really do expect John Edwards to move forward with some important changes in health care (e.g., making Medicare available to all, thus giving the private insurers some stiff competition), if he's elected.

Sorry, but the fact that the Democratic party's stand on a lot of matters has been too weak, too disorganized, etc., does not mean the country would be just as bad off under them as under yet another neocon Republican regime.