Maybe Barack and Hillary got it out of their systems at the debate with its sidebar slug fest last evening. 

But remember, compared to the Republican candidates who want to repeat the disastrous presidencies of Reagan and H.W. Bush and think more of the same is the answer to the catastrophes that the titular head of their party, King George the Shrub, they, and other Bushite Republicans have inflicted on this country, Clinton, Edwards and Obama are potentially exemplary leaders.

Each of the Democratic presidential candidate trio has their positives and negatives and will be faced with the horrible repercussions of Bush's terrible presidency.  At the moment, I'm not thrilled with any of their current platforms on Iraq, health care, or the economy.

Nonetheless, whoever is selected as the Democratic nominee will have my support and that of the Democratic base.

However, that base will expect the following from their Democratic nominee:

1. US troops out of Iraq, totally.  No permanent bases, no advisers.  The US owes the Iraq people compensation for Bush's destruction of their country, but that can be negotiated through the United Nations.  Iraqis need jobs and will gladly reconstruct their own nation.  Also, Iraqi oil belongs to the Iraqi people, not the US or Bush and Cheney's corporate oil cronies.
 
2. Universal single payer health care can be a reality under an existing bill H.R. 676, Medicare For All.  Quit with your complex shenanigans.  H.R. 676 is doable and will bring the US in line with all the industrialized nations' health coverage and offer much needed security to every American.  Health care is their right.

3. Much of Bush's catastrophic damage to the economy will take decades to fix. However, there are some things that can be rectified quickly like repealing tax cuts for the wealthy few.  But it requires the new Democratic president and, hopefully, a Democratic controlled Congress with the will to do what's best for
regular working Americans and small to mid-size businesses instead of genuflecting to corporate lobbyists.

The Democratic base will be holding the new Democratic president's feet to the fire to accomplish the above in the first 16 months of the term.  No excuses, no delays.  People who make up the Democratic base are not sheep or lemmings, like the Republicans.  If the new Democratic president refuses to do the above, stonewalls, or "compromises" with the corporate big boys, the base will be looking for another candidate to run in 2012 who will listen to and do what the majority of the electorate demands.