Smoking, more of a factor than race. I strongly doubt it. People say one thing to pollsters, yet do otherwise in an election booth.
 

I completely agree with Richard. Smoking is either a sign of weakness, stupidity or recklessness. None of those are good qualities in a president.
 

good news--he wouldbe hard on the tobacco industry, as he would fully appreciate the problems of addiction
 

He: Do you smoke after intercourse?

She: I don't know, I've never looked.
 

If the American people would pass over an otherwise fine candidate (Obama or whomever) because of smoking, then we truly deserve Hillary Clinton as our punishment. Imbeciles of the world unite--a perfect storm of political correctness. If this sort of crap is what propels the queen of pc to power, it could set in motion an unbelievably relentless, long-term popular backlash to liberal politics. Perhaps we deserve it, perhaps we need to suffer and then purge.
 

anonymous 1:05, it's not a sign of weakness. it's a: a choice, or b: an addiction.

i'm a former smoker, and i LOVED smoking. i miss it every day, often. i chose to quit but i miss it terribly. if you told me i was dying of something else, i'd start smoking again. it's just a bad habit, not a weakness.

people do reckless things daily: run red lights, speed, don't wear seatbelts, take twice and many advil as they are suppose to do. all are stupid and reckless, yet they're not reasons to stop a person from running for president.
 

Grumpygirl,
Would you really like a president who had a whole bunch of speeding tickets?
 

To anon 11:34 -- I think I know who you are and generally despise your your freakish conservative comments, but you nailed this one. The idea of not voting for a candidate because he smokes -- "reckless" ? -- is laughable. And as for Hillary, her unwillingness to come out and admit that, in addition to being duped by the so-called WMD evidence, she and her colleagues were just plain WRONG to vote for a misbegotten act of international aggression disguised as a "war on terror", has me utterly turned off. (Besides, has anyone taken a look at her gams lately? Yikes.)
 

Oddly enough, that's the least of Hillary's problems. Dems, while they will hold that against her until she wins the primary, will obviously still vote for her over a GOP'er in the general. But the reasons why everyone else hates her (her unbelievably phoney persona and blatant willingness to be cuckolded in exchange for power--which is much worse than the act of cuckolding itself) will serve as the most powerful get-out-the-vote motivation in history, turning out possible record-setting "perfect attendance" at the polls by conservatives and a hugely GOP slant to the true independents (most of whom hate political dynasties on either side). She simply can't get more than 45% of the popular vote. As a GOP'er who would actually consider voting for Obama (don't know him enough yet, but like what I've seen thus far), Dems better wake up quick and get over his...smoking (feels silly to even write that).
 

would i vote for a president who'd gotten speeding tickets? yes, so long as he'd actually paid them.
 

Smoking a weakness..? Oh, Richard. You have proved
yourself a WASP.
 

One of the things I really like about Obama is that he is not a hypocrite. He admits to both smoking pot and doing blow...how refreshing that a candidate has the same weaknesses as the majority of the population...and who really cares if he smokes? I admire and appreciate his honesty about his personal demons...unlike our cokehead president who could never come clean with us about his past. The fact that someone has inhaled is meaningless to me...the fact that someone can admit it is very impressive in this day and age!