Blogging Action!

OK, folks! For those of you who know me, and for those who don't...a little introduction. I consider my "political birth" to have been during the 1980 presidential campaign: the classic Carter v. Reagan. I was like 10 or 11 at the time but I remember being aware of the campaign and caring about it for the first time.

And despite my general interest in politics, it wasn't until the advent of widespread email that I started communicating more with family and friends in political discussion--really the Bush v. Gore campaign of 2000, and then really ramped it up for the Bush v. Kerry campaign of 2004.

I've really enjoyed the discussions we've had on national politics. This campaign season has been strange for me. We had a new baby in July and between family, working with boy scouts, and my work as a physician, I've been swamped. On top of that, the lack of clarity in my mind regarding the Republican field contributed a bit of inertia to my political involvement.

I give that as an introduction so I can contrast that with how I am feeling now. Once I really started locking into the Republican candidates, my thoughts and feelings settled out and I feel increasingly strong about Mitt Romney as the best candidate for the Republicans and for president overall.

I don't know how relevant this is or should be in terms of these political discussions, but for the record, I am Mormon (officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; we call ourselves "Latter-day Saints" rather than Mormons for the most part though we understand and accept the colloquial use of the term "Mormons" and I will use it). Because it has become and will be at least a factor in this campaign, there will be some discussion related to it, so I wanted to be up front about this.

I currently live in Utah and did grow up here, though I have family roots in California and Oregon, and have lived in Alabama and Illinois (each for about 3 years). I have immediate family living in (or having recently lived in) Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Florida, and Michigan. So I have many family and friends distributed around the country though with a focus in the West.

I am starting this blog a couple of weeks after first starting my "e-mail series" so I am going to post what I have sent out so far for those interested and who would like to "catch up."

Enjoy all! I will still e-mail these but also post on this blog.