Which Republican would I like....(Part 2)

Today, I was introduced to the website http://www.selectsmart.com/president/2008.html .
The purpose of this website is to ask you your views on issues and candidate qualities, and once you do that, it tells you how closely the candidates' views match with yours. Each candidate is assigned a percentage rating compared to your "theoretical ideal candidate" and then the candidates are ranked in order from most matching your viewpoint to least. They have nearly every human being who has announced any degree of intention of running for president next year, including the Libertarian and Green Party candidates. This appears to be a non-partisan, but highly useful, website.

So what did it tell me after I indicated my views and preferences? First of all, the 25 candidates landed in the following order:

• All of the Republicans were at the top of the list, and then we had...
• The Libertarian (you should see the picture—he looks like a cowboy with hair longer than my wife's). After him, we had...
• All of the Democrats, and then...
• The woman from the Green Party. She and I had precisely 0% agreement. Even Dennis Kucinich, the lowest democrat, had a 5% agreement with me.

On the democrat side, the most-in-agreement democrats were Joe Biden (23%) followed by a Gore/Clinton tie (22%). Least in agreement: Kucinich and Obama (7%).

There was a tie for my top Republican between Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo (89% each). Following them was another tie between Mitt Romney and Sam Brownback (76% each). Guiliani and Paul were the lowest Republicans on my scale, which I understood. The credibility of this tool was iffy in the middle of the Republican pack, where Hagel and McCain came ahead of Gingrich, Huckabee, and the two Thompsons.

The site also gives fairly detailed positions the candidates have taken or votes they have cast on a variety of important issues—the same ones you are asked about. I would encourage you to take a look at it, and even take the survey and see what it tells you. If all you want to do is read or compare the positions of the candidates, go straight to http://selectsmart.com/president/2008/comparethem.html, where you can open two candidates' information at once, side-by-side. I am curious to know what you think!