Today is South Carolina’s Republican primary and I went and cast my vote about an hour ago.

I have said before that my number one issue in this election is fiscal policy. I believe that our national debt and runaway government spending is the number one threat facing our country right now, more so than terrorism. Because of that issue I have leaned in the direction of Ron Paul all election season. I decided not to go with him today, however. Paul was always a long shot bid, but it began to look like that he might have a shot at pulling it off when the campaign money began rolling in and the media began giving him his due attention. However, his showing in New Hampshire was poor and that was a state that should have been a gold mine for him. It’s clear that after that primary any small chance he may have had was now in the past and I didn’t want to bother casting a vote for someone I know is not going to win at this point.

I then turned to John McCain, again for his fiscal sensibilities. True, he voted against the tax cuts in ‘01 and ‘03, but I feel his reason for doing so was justified. He has a proven track record of reigning in government waste, even in the military sector which Congress seems to give a free pass to on anything they want. McCain has repeatedly stated that he will oppose pork spending and make the authors of those pork barrel bills famous.

Secondly, McCain can win in November and he may be the only one. We are the underdogs in this White House race thanks to George Bush soiling the name of the Republican Party over the past seven years. McCain is well respected by independents and centrist Democrats and he could be capable of rebuilding the now fractured Reagan coalition that gave him a 49 state landslide win in 1984. Furthermore, I could easily see McCain smacking around a Barack Obama in every debate because McCain is experienced and knowledgeable whereas Obama is nothing more than an empty suit that has been created by the American media.

The problem with McCain is that he is still pushing for this guest worker program which I am vehemently opposed to as long as our unemployment rate is anything other than zero. Plus, there is the issue of McCain-Feingold which still gets under my skin. Would McCain appoint a Supreme Court justice who would disagree with him on CFR? Probably not and such a judge that would legitimize CFR is not likely to be a judge we can trust to be a constructionist.

So, I went to the voting booth today and cast my vote for Fred Thompson. In all honesty, I have been disappointed with the organization of Thompson’s campaign. I don’t think anywhere near the appropriate effort has been made to market him and while he did finally come to life in the Myrtle Beach debate last week, I think it was too little too late. That also concerns me as to how he’ll perform for the general election were he to make it that far. I don’t think Thompson is going to win today’s primary. He could pull it off, but I wouldn’t bet my money on it. I decided to help him out though with my vote this morning and maybe we’ll have a surprise tonight. He is the only candidate left that I see eye to eye with enough to support so I am keeping my fingers crossed and I may even head down to Columbia tonight as the results are coming in.

I will certainly support John McCain if he becomes our nominee, but I am much more comfortable with Fred and his Federalist views.