I talked to my dad today and he was leaning towards Kerry. He's a really smart guy. One of the smartest people I know. But he doesn't follow politics that much, he's very busy doing other things. So he gets his info from the mainstream media which has done a pretty good job convincing him that Bush is a bad guy.

So what were his issues and how did I counter act them?

Outsourcing. If you're really worried about out-sourcing then don't vote for the candidate whose party and policies have largely created it -- The Democrats and their supporters.

When you think of two groups that make the cost of doing business in America higher you think Unions and Lawyers. And who do they support? Kerry. And it's Kerry and his kind that not only oppose legal reform but are ones pushing for increasing minimum wage, putting more regulations on business, otherwise making it less attractive to do business in America.

In 10 years of running a small business, I've paid over half a million dollars in legal costs in frivolous lawsuits. If there had been a simple "loser pays" type reform none of those lawsuits would have ever happened. Kerry opposes that kind of thing. And when a tiny company like ours is paying those kinds of legal expenses, you can only imagine the expenses larger companies pay. Lawsuits are really out of control in this country. And it makes it harder to run a business here.

How much expense or hassle does it take before a company says "To hell with it, let's just move the operation to Mexico" or "Let's just outsource that department to India."

And do the unions and the lawyers and the politicians who push these policies take any responsibility what happens? No. they have the audacity to turn around and blame the Republicans!

Abortion. The next President may pick some of the supreme court justices. My dad doesn't want abortion to be illegal. But that's not how it works. Even if somehow Bush managed to get right wing conservative judges appointed (which is unlikely). But let's say he did, if Roe vs. Wade got overturned it would merely allow the states to decide through their legally elected representatives.

I'm pro-choice but it rankles me that some judge decided that abortion should be legal. We're a democracy. The will of the people should be paramount. Judges shouldn't be making laws, only interpreting the ones that exist. Roe vs. Wade is bad constitutional law. But I don't think Roe vs. Wade will be overturned regardless.

What I do worry about is more activist judges. Ones who think they should be able to legislate from the bench. Liberal judges tend to do that. Conservative judges tend not to. Hence I prefer Bush to Kerry on this.  I'd rather have my elected officials writing laws than an unelected judge. Hence my support for Bush.

War in Iraq.  Iraq seems to be quite a mess - at least if you listen to the media.  But how bad is it really? The wonderful UN only recently managed to get elections scheduled in Bosnia after what? 9 years? Meanwhile, less than 2 years after the invasion of Iraq we're getting ready to hold democratic elections there. Not bad. Especially considering the size and location of Iraq.

And while we have lost 1,200 troops there, that is actually amazingly low in real numbers. Fewer than died on September 11th.

But let's say you think Iraq is a mess. Is Kerry the answer? He's the one complaining that we needed more troops there but at the same time believes we're stretched too thin as is. Well, which is it?

The simple question to ask is this: If you think Iraq is a mess, would you vote for Jimmy Carter if he were running? No? Then why vote for a man who is even more anti-military, more dove-ish than Carter ever was? Kerry's campaign rhetoric may sound hawkish but that belies his entire career starting with his anti-war activities, his denouncements of US soldiers in Vietnam, his voting against every Cold War effort during the Reagan period, and even voting against liberating Kuwait even after the UN had formally authorized force to free Kuwait. Clearly there is no "global test" that will satisfy a dove like Kerry.

Compared to Kerry, Jimmy Carter is a war hawk. Do you want someone like that running the war on terror? A man whose goal is to put terrorism back to a "nuisance"?

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So those were the 3 points I hammered home to my dad. I did talk about other things such as the causes of the recession (dot-com bubble finally burst coupled by the 9/11 attacks -- remember the US being basically shut down for that whole month? That sunk a ton of marginal companies who then lay off people).

It may not convince a die hard Kerry supporter or someone who is a Bush hater, but for that undecided voter, it worked on my dad who was leaning Kerry.