From my point of view, it looks like Bush and Kerry are both focused too much on themselves on November 2nd rather than other subjects that are rarely addressed. I could be wrong, but from what I've seen, it just appears that way. I live in Florida (most electoral votes of the swing states...), so I've heard most of the meaningless insults, but no solutions.
The deficit... well, if we still had a surplus I'd say more of the same would be a very good idea. However, I don't really see Kerry saying what he's going to do about it. I think both have said they'd cut in half, but don't bother to explain how. The only way we could get rid of the deficit fast was if Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) won, but I don't feel he has any prospect of winning. Still, why must this be avoided so much?
Sort of related is taxes. With a record deficit, I'm pretty sure taxes need to be raised. I don't want to pay more taxes, but I know we need to. Even Kerry won't say "I will raise taxes", it's "I will roll back Bush's tax cuts on the rich". That's a start... but here we have someone who will spend more money on domestic issues, AND support a war, where Bush wants to privatize domestic stuff, and support a war. I really don't have much confidence in either one of them to reduce the deficit by half, what reason have either major given us to have confidence on this particular issue?
I have to say that from what I've seen, the only way we could not have a draft is if we pulled out of the middle east completely. I think both Bush knows that, but knows it's suicide to say it. I think Kerry knows too, which is why I'm surprised Kerry isn't telling his campaigners to shut up about the draft accusations, because he knows we need more troops if we're staying, which is what he says he'll do. I have a cousin over there, and I don't like the idea of sending another, but I also don't like the idea of soldiers who have been there since this started being forced to stay there far longer than they originally expected, with limited support. Unfortunately I can't claim I know as much about how the military works as about politics, so if there's some other kind of trained force that goes before draftees, I'd go with that. Of course I don't like the idea of a draft, but that could be said about taxes too, it's necessary, and best in the long run. Go ahead and call me insane for this one, but I think it's necessary if we're not immediately pulling out.
Instead of those issues, we get debates on less important issues like gay-marriage. I'm not gay, so whether gay-marriage is banned or allowed, I'm not affected, and neither are most of you, so I'm amazed that so many people can feel so strongly about it. Unless you have close family that is gay, or your job is to marry people (to each other), what the big deal? If it gets banned, well ok. If it's not, fine. Personally, I have no opinion this issue, and why should I?
It seems most often the source of skepticism at both major parties seems to come from how which of the following two they consider their priority:
A. Always do what's best for America regardless of how unpopular it is, to insure that America is stronger at the end of my term.
B. Do whatever it takes to beat the other guy in an election, never admit mistakes, never release bad news, lie often to make self look better, postpone bad events until after term is over.
All too often, (well, constantly), we get A instead of B. This is the direct cause of avoiding issues like the deficit, and the draft, while promoting issues like gay-marriage, but which is more important? If one of them does the incredibly unlikely act of actually addressing on eof the critical problems, that's the only way I could support one them, I guess I'll be voting of an independant that can't win... again. (No, not Nader, Cobb, or even Badnarik, or Petrouka). I'd support McCain if he ran, but after his fellow conservatives sort of stabbed him in the back with the "illegitimate child" or whatever it was, I doubt they want a competent moderate running, not that the other side does much better when it comes to moderates...
I don't want to have an all negative again, but I'll be one of the few here that will admit there are things about each candidate that I like. Even though I don't like either one too much, I'd rather pick one of them than most other Americans.
Edit: When I first considered typing this out, I didn't mean for it to be a rant more than anything else, the main point was that we really should address the major and unpleasant issues, and that does NOT just mean accusing the other guy of being weak on issue, which is all I hear.