Ken Anderson, Las Vegas

Sat, Aug 30, 2008 (2:04 a.m.)

Now that the Democratic National Convention is over, we look ahead to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. I think the decision on Election Day will be quite easy compared with other elections.

The Democrats have declared what their goals are. I am sure the Republicans and the folks at Fox News were listening very hard to hear something about taking from the rich and giving to the poor.

This has been their mantra for generations, telling us those bad old Democrats want to give the ranch away. Instead, they heard that the goal would be to give an opportunity for everyone to work hard for his or her own American Dream. Speakers at the Democratic National Convention listed the shortcomings of the present administration and promised to work for a change in the direction our country has been going.

I said the choice is easy because, in a way, we are not voting for a man this time, but an idea. For those who have been satisfied with the way George Bush has run our country, a vote for John McCain is in order. McCain’s campaign has alluded to McCain’s following his own drummer, but for him to convince the 70 percent who are not happy with Bush, he will have to admit there have been major problems over the past few years.

Will the campaign use its four nights to bash the opposition or to tell America that it, too, sees the shortcomings of George Bush? If the Republicans do give an honest account of where Mr. Bush has led our nation, the choice will become quite different, a bit more difficult, and we will have to vote for the man who presents the best strategies to get us out of this hole. Good luck to both of them.