Lori French

I had very little experience with politics when I was younger. In my junior year of high school, my father ran for county school superintendent. This was my first real encounter with what politics was all about. I am from a small county in Tennessee and the man my father was running against had held that position for about 15 years. My father won by a landslide but during the course of the campaign process, I was amazed at all the lies that were told about my father and our family. This experience made such an impression on me that 1) I loathe mud slinging during campaigns and 2) I have voted in every major election since then.

My decision to vote for Dole in the current presidential election is partially because Dole's record in Congress shows him to be a moderate. He appears to possess such characteristics as trustworthiness, devotion to causes and verbally he upholds conservative moral values such as strong family units and less government control over the lives of average citizens, both of which are important to me personally. Mr. Dole is also conservative fiscally and will implement a needed tax cut to stimulate the economy. Mr. Clinton has expressed a very liberal agenda which includes more government involvement in social and economic matters.

I feel Mr. Dole is capable of leading our government into the 21st century while preserving conservative values which are fundamental to me.