So does Mitt Romney have the Republican nomination sealed up, or is it still a race?

[Weltall]

I guess my tilt to the left might be the most severe, given how, uh, into the whole right wing thing I used to be. Man, going through the Den and looking at my posts from 03 and 04 is rather embarrassing. I don't know if my views have altered as much as my understanding has grown a great deal broader.

There is a Left in America, it's just not prominent in politics. And, I think in the next ten to twenty years, as our generation becomes the main demographic in America, you'll see a leftward shift again in national politics. Right now, we just happen to live in a time where the Baby Boomers are hitting their twilight years and still dominate American politics. I suspect part of the reason the Republican Party has gone so screwloose is a sense of desperation. What would work better for them is to focus on fiscal responsibility (a message which has a wide appeal) and less on enforcement of their own arbitrary morals on everybody (a message which, clearly, does not have as wide an appeal).

I am one of those who believe there really isn't much substantial difference between Republicans and Democrats, the parties themselves at least, except in the things they say. My father, who is extremely right-wing, says he is a conservative but not a Republican. I think I am the opposite; liberal but not a Democrat.