For me, this election is all about the economy. I want my home to be worth what it was last year. I'm in a field where everyone is concerned for their jobs, but have seen so many layoffs I have almost become numb to it. I have friends that live near Detroit, probably one of the hardest hit locations in the United States and hear of how many homes are being bulldozed because the original owners have abandoned them and they have been taken over by drugs, prostitution, gangs, and the homeless in the area. It is like a war zone right on our own soil in some areas and poverty has a lot to do with it. My grandpa always told me, who lived through the Great Depression, said "You don't know what a dangerous man looks like until he has kids at home crying for food with nothing to eat in the house." The economy is what I'm voting on and I'm just now getting into the debates and hearing what the candidates that are left have to say. I'm throwing some personal ratings out there to see what you guys think. If you disagree, please let me know why. These ratings are purely based on what I know of their economic plans. Mitt Romney He's in the lead, but his economic plan I don't think will change much of anything. It seems one of the bigger things that might have an impact is that he is trying to give more control to states to govern how money is spent. This is a good thing. What's great for my State not be great for Florida, California, or New York. We have different ways we can create jobs here and should have the ability to put money where it will have the biggest impact locally. The thing I hate the most is that he wants to make it easier to trade with outside countries. Does he not get that part of the issue is that our jobs are going overseas? Why only throw in a few more other countries to suck resources out of our country and eliminate jobs? We should be encouraging people to keep their businesses here, not encouraging them to move to other countries in order to receive tax breaks. I give Mitt Romney a 4/10. Newt Gingrich Newt has several things that I like. He's considered to be somewhere in the polls close to Mitt Romney. He's fairly conservative, I think he will have a harder time getting elected and beating Obama than Romney would. His economic plan I think does a lot more and will make a bigger impact. With jobs going overseas all the time, Gingrich wants to level the playing field for American companies contemplating moving their manufacturing job overseas. Right now companies are taxed at around 35% by the time they import their goods from other countries based on a statistic I read. They still find that the cheap labor makes it more appealing. By reducing taxes on companies, you make there be less incentive for those companies to go elsewhere and/or they would not receive the same benefit as they would have previously. I like it. I give Newt Gingrich a 8/10 Ron Paul Ron Paul's economic plan is pretty well non-existent. He's focusing on balancing the budget, which is great, in theory. Last night in the debate though he says that it is great for the American people that Apple has 500,000 jobs in other countries producing their already overpriced computers and gadgets (although I own apple stuff). How does that make sense? Who cares if we get $100 off the price tag if we can't afford one because we don't have a job!? That was literally his argument too. "Why isn't it a great deal for the American people if they can get reduced prices on the products?" Well, I don't know Ron, maybe because you gave my job to someone overseas and I can't afford it either way now. At least before I could buy food. Ron Paul gets a measly 3/10. Say goodbye to your job if he gets elected. Rick Santorum I had no idea about this guy going into the debate last night. I thought he did very well. I don't know that he is as charismatic as what he would need to be in order to win. He has a little bit of an arrogant side to him. The fact that he lost his nomination as Senator doesn't speak well of his ability to get elected on a national level either. Granted, he is pretty conservative in a liberal state and that played a major role in not being reelected. His economic plan is among the best I've heard. Like Gingrich, he wants to give incentive to business owners keeping their business here. It's what we need. He will be providing tax breaks and leveling out the playing field. I give Rick Santorum equivalent to Gingrich, 8/10.