I did vote for Kasich in the primaries. That's who I supported, and I think he would've at least made an attempt to be a serious POTUS. I don't think he was the next coming of the Messiah, but I liked him in a lot of his views. He struck me as someone with a conservative view, but also willing to work across the aisle if needed.

The other guys I listed were not my choice and some of them I don't even particularly like. But I could see them in the role of President, and at least attempting to be serious. Trump, OTOH, doesn't fit that bill.

I don't think any candidate would've made a big dent in our debt though. To put our debt on a downward trajectory would take a deal between the two parties that will not happen politically.

But I also think the debt is way overblown as a supposed "crisis". Right now, net debt is about 75% of our GDP and will be 86% in a decade. That's not a crisis, and if it was, we wouldn't have all-time low interest rates where markets will lend to our government. If we were in a debt panic, that wouldn't happen.

I would characterize the debt as a more long-term issue that can be managed by putting gradual reforms in place, particularly to curb the growth of Medicare costs in the future, cut some wasteful spending, and in some cases raising some taxes. We should address it, but not immediately, and only gradually. In the near-term, the focus should be more on getting robust economic growth, which has eluded us for many years. Getting more growth will have the added affect of helping our debt/deficit situation, too. Near-term slashing of the deficit won't achieve that.
[Post edited by BugBoy at 05/13/2016 7:20PM]