You asked, Melissa...

Since we're getting into it, here we go.

A few things to know:
1. I am not voting this year. It's too late to register in North Carolina, and I won't be in Pennsylvania to vote there. So no matter what happens, don't blame me.
2. I'm disgusted with the way this campaign has been run - from both sides.
3. I am registered as a Republican. Not because I'm G-Dubs' biggest fan, but because I identify most with their stances on governmental issues.
4. I HATE that some people in this world think that if you view the world differently, it's because you're ignorant, stupid, misinformed, or a horrible person.
5. Fox News aside, I believe that the media is INCREDIBLY biased toward the Left. If you don't believe me, I'd invite you to sit in on ANY class in my alma mater, the Henry Grady School of Journalism, or any other Journalism school for that matter. Journalism School turns out Journalists, who work for the media.

Okay, so here we go, in order of what people have been saying on here, plus a few of my own.

Abortion:
I firmly believe in a woman's right to choose. A woman carries a far greater risk to her health by bringing any pregnancy to term than to terminate early, safely, and in the care of a well-trained physician and nurses. I love babies, but I don't think that I should be forced to carry ANY pregnancy to term, regardless of circumstances. To throw rape, incest and "the health of the mother" qualifiers into the equation simply clouds the issue - it is simply unfair to require a woman to expose her body to significant danger because a man made an equally bad decision. Notice I'm not bringing God or religion into this - why? Because I believe in the separation of church and state. I'm sorry, but God - and who's to say whose God we're talking about - has no place in governmental affairs. How can I reconcile this with a Republican registration? Simple - I believe that the government has NO place in this issue, thereby making the government smaller and even less intrusive, which is at the core of the platform. And besides - the idea that Roe v. Wade will be overturned is a pie-in-the-sky idea, at best, proposed by Moral Majority (sic) leaders that will, in my estimation, never happen. Stare Decisis reigns pretty supreme in our legal system, and the checks and balances we have in place are good enough for me to rule this as a non-issue. Decision: Neither candidate appeals to me on this issue alone. DRAW.

Healthcare
This is important to me. In January, I will be uninsured. If I were to get pregnant, that baby would be uninsured. My pre-existing conditions would mean that I have to spend at LEAST $500 a month out-of-pocket, should I pick up an individual plan - in addition to the exhorbitant premiums. I KNOW insurance. I went through policies with a fine-tooth comb for years and know virtually every trick in the book. The reality is that we are in a catch-22. The more profitable our insurance companies and medical system is, the better healthcare we get. The cheaper our premiums get, the more we move towards socialized healthcare, the more we have problems with long waiting periods, poor care and higher death rates. If you want an experimental miracle treatment, you will have to pay for it - either through your employer, through your taxes or out of pocket. I believe that adults choose these choices - if you choose not to work, you shouldn't get to access the same types of healthcare as those who work for it. However, I do not believe that children should suffer their parents' choices in this same manner. There are 6 million documented children with no access to affordable healthcare in the U.S., and I, for one, find this shameful of the richest nation on earth. Those children never asked to be born into a family that has no healthcare, and I don't think we should let a poor child die of something that could have been cured in a wealthier child. We're simply better than that.
So, what does that mean candidate-wise? I don't know. Frankly, it's a lesser of two evils. I think Hillary Clinton had a great plan. Had she been picked as Obama's running mate, I might have even driven BACK to PA to vote. But sadly, politics and braggadocio clouded that selection. I find numerous flaws on both candidate's plans, and have therefore declared this one a DRAW.

Taxes:
I think the government should be OUT OF MY LIFE. I think if you want to waste some money, give it to the government. I can't even begin to tell you the number of people I've talked to who have worked for or in government that laugh at the gross economic inefficiencies of our government, from local municipalities all the way up to the White House. I think we should be taxing ALL Americans less and holding all levels of government responsible for their spending. Furthermore, I already see that the top 5% of Americans pay roughly 90% of our tax revenue or something like that. Making them pay more doesn't seem like it's going to help matters, it's only going to perpetuate the same problems. I, for one, support the fair tax, but no major candidate seems to be leaning this way. McCain seems most close to my ideals, though, so I'm declaring ADVANTAGE: McCAIN.

The Economy:
I agree with Meghan: the bailout was necessary. One of the scariest professions in Insurance is Catastrophic Forecasting, and let me tell you something: they can handle FIVE Katrinas, back to back. They CAN'T handle something like AIG collapsing without assistance. The government did the right thing, given the circumstances. As for what got us here: the mortgage crisis...you know what I think about it. Don't get a loan you can't afford to pay back. Read the fine print of that mortgage document, and if you don't understand it, hire someone who can. I like that McCain is holding the borrowers responsible as well, but we all know that neither Republicans nor Democrats got us into this situation singlehandedly. DRAW.

Okay I've got to unpack some more, so I'll do more of this later.

GOD I'm glad I'm not voting.