Dismay over presidential race

Re “Voters favor McCain over Clinton in ‘08,” Times / Bloomberg Poll, Dec. 14

It sickens me to read that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would easily defeat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) if an election were held today.

It is not that Clinton would be my candidate of choice. The point is the apparent lack of severe criticism of McCain by the American public. This man has proved himself to be more than willing to suck up to the Bush administration in order to curry favor down the road. He woos the ultra-right on one hand, and on the other tries to portray this image of a sensitive man who really is just a left-leaning good old boy on social issues.

McCain wants to greatly increase our troop levels in Iraq. Please recall that the man who was robbed by the Supreme Court the first time around, Al Gore, would not have put us in the middle of the quicksand we are in now.

JEFF GERSHOFF

Topanga

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For the life of me, I cannot understand why this article was the top story Dec. 14. Possible candidates have only started surfacing, issues have not been discussed and the 2008 presidential election is still two years away. Was the Times/Bloomberg poll a popularity contest? Who knows what will happen in the next two years? Put more important news on the front page.

PARKER GAIMS

Reseda