*** Please note: this is not a thread about whether abortions are good or bad, or if they should be legal or not. If you turn it into such, I will hunt you down and make you eat your toes before I kill you. ***

There was an interesting opinion piece in the San Diego Union-Tribune today, reprinted from the Sacramento Bee. In it, the writer said the reason Richard Riordan lost the California Republican primary was because the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Gray Davis, ran a campaign accusing Riordan of being pro-life, although his official stance was pro-choice. (For those who don't live in this state: Riordan, the former mayor of L.A., is a *very* liberal Republican who was running for governor in the recent Republican primary. He was the forerunner to win but ended up losing in an upset to a guy named Bill Simon, who is a very conservative Republican. Since CA is so liberal, Davis basically helped campaign *for* Simon because the Dems don't think Simon has a chance of winning the general election.)

In the coming election, the Davis camp has said that they intend to make abortion a focal point of debate. It's pretty safe to say that most of California is pro-choice, and Simon is not. Simon's contention is that this isn't a *real* issue, since the governor of California isn't too likely to overturn a practice that was made possible by a Supreme Court decision.

My question is this: for those who feel strongly about the abortion issue either way (I'm pretty ambivalent on it), is a candidate's stance on the topic the most crucial issue for you? I have a lot of issues that are important to me, but I'm not so sure any one of them, by itself, would be enough to convince me to not vote for somebody. Do you feel that if a candidate is oppossed to your position, he would be oppossed to your general political philosophy?

Furthermore, is the level the position being contested a factor? I would understand it mattering for President (appoints Supreme Court justices) or Senators (get to approve Supreme Court justices), but what about governor? City council? Would it matter if the person was running for state legislature or US Congress (which are the two branches that need to co-operate in order to amend the Constitution)?

Oh, and for those who don't live in the U.S., I'd be interested to hear your take on it as well. Just keep in mind that I have no idea about your abortion laws wherever you are, so I'd appreciate a quick primer if you respond.

Ste "Will be voting for Simon this November, on the grounds that he couldn't possibly be worse than Davis" phen