Editor’s note: The following column is a two-part series about the state of affairs in the 2008 presidential election. The second column, which focuses on Republican candidates, will be published next Friday.

Although there’s still a year and a month until the 2008 general presidential election, candidates have already been scooting across our great first-caucus state for the last six months spewing rhetoric every chance they get.

Iowa takes pride in its role, considered by many to be a civic responsibility to the rest of the United States. In reality, we just get to hear more crap than everyone else – one worthless candidate after another.

Each party carries with it a bunch of crafty media whores, both deserving a column of their own. Most blatant of them all, however, is the Democrats’ Barack Obama.

Certainly not to be blamed for taking advantage of the media’s love for him, Obama has garnered a large following. Monday’s Daily featured not one, but two stories about his appearance in Ames, neglecting to mention our own Representative Beth Wessell-Kroeschell’s speech the hour before Obama took the stage at Political Action Week. Young women featured in the front page photo may as well have been reliving their Backstreet Boy obsessions, this time with camera phones.

Obama and his proponents differentiate him from other candidates by noting his limited time in federal government, as if experience were the only true meter of political corruption. Unfortunately for those of us who aren’t blinded by his recently obtained celebrity status, his ideas and positions aren’t unique in any way.

Hillary Clinton, the other top democratic candidate, swings back and forth in an effort to gain votes from moderates and liberals alike. Her only resonant characteristic is the fact that we already had to deal with her for eight years. She’d be better off announcing how she’ll save the White House from Laura Bush’s tacky Texan decor than from George’s foreign policy – an area where her position consistently changes.

While Hillary and Obama crowd the top tier, John Edwards closely trails in third. His notable accomplishment was to convince a crowd of Iowans in Des Moines that he despises the income gap and that socialized medicine is a good idea. Never mind that he’s a millionaire due to his expertise in the exploitation of medical malpractice lawsuits – a major factor in the current costs of health care.

The top two candidates are nothing to write home about, and the third is a fraud. The only candidates with any real ideas get little attention from the talking heads that call themselves journalists.

Joe Biden’s Iraq plan is certainly better than the usual “let’s just bring the troops home on a timetable” one-liner touted by most of the other left-leaning candidates. This well-thought-out plan is the result of Biden’s experience as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (www.planforiraq.com).

Dennis Kucinich is a hardcore liberal – he’s not afraid of it, and he doesn’t spout talking points that carefully tread lines designed to get as many votes as possible. The most genuine candidate in the lineup, he’s the only one who voted against the resolution to invade Iraq and offers the clearest pro-gay-marriage stance of any. He and Ron Paul were the only Congressmen to vote against a resolution presenting a case against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the United Nations for unsubstantiated human rights abuses.

Bill Richardson, on the other hand, wasn’t afraid to state his not-so-graceful position on gay marriage at a forum moderated by prominent homosexuals such as singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge and talking head Rosie O’Donnell. Another sharp departure from many other Democrats, he’s not in favor of restricting the right to firearms and self-defense. He may be in the wrong party, but at least he’s not afraid of losing votes.

Chris Dodd, a much older, lesser-known candidate, has a penchant for those pesky civil liberties, introducing the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007. His campaign staff was calling Iowa residents early last summer to find out what was most important to them instead of relying strictly on Gallup polls and media consultants.

While you may not agree completely with any candidates in the latter, albeit more honest category, they’ve shown themselves to be believably genuine – as much as the modern presidential candidate can.

If the Democrats want to restore dignity and honor to the United States, they’ll nominate a respectable, honest candidate, not a media whore who’s supposed to be “better than Bush.”

– Aaron Gott is a senior in political science from South Amana.