It's not a decision I made lightly. The big issues for me in this election are the war and everything else. Everything else is as important as the war, but the war is a pressing concern with little room for error, so I put it in a category by itself.

Contrary to a stereotype of Kerry voters, I do not hate George W. Bush, and I am not holding my nose to support Kerry, who seems smart and tough and principled. I believe that both men care deeply about their country and take its defense and the welfare of its citizens seriously. Sorry, I just don't buy the Goofus and Gallant typology that many voters insist upon, and I don't think one political party has a lock on virtue. What the candidates seem likely to do in office is much more relevant to me than how they pray or what they did during Vietnam.

As the incumbent, Bush has a record for me to judge. On the war, I thought he did a fine job in the months after 9/11. He said clearly that we were not at war with Islam, which was important. He made short work of the Taliban in a military campaign I fully supported and seemed ready to lead a global war against a global network of terrorists.

Then he invaded Iraq. I didn't think it was a great idea at the time, but I didn't think it was a plot to enrich Halliburton, either. I'm a pragmatist. If the rebuilding of Iraq had gone half as well as the conquest, it would have been worth the cost. But based on the information I can cobble together, things are not going well there, and while I understand that mistakes are inevitable in a big messy enterprise like this, Bush's team seems to me to have made more than its share of blunders.

I do not see how we can leave Iraq anytime soon. A failed state would be disastrous for us, not to mention the Iraqis we have committed ourselves to helping, and the underlying problems in the region that Bush has been trying to address are not going away. So the question becomes, who can do a better job in the situation at hand? We have seen Bush's strengths and his weaknesses. His strengths are not overwhelming. He does not own the issue of national security as I once thought he would.

I see no reason to doubt Kerry's seriousness of purpose in fighting terrorism, which is the first requirement of the next president's job. Kerry would start with the same toolkit available to Bush, but he would be able to bring a fresh vision to the situation. He lacks a definitive plan for Iraq, but so does the commander in chief who started the war. Kerry would enter the fray with a commitment to improved relations with our allies, which is critical in Iraq and around the world. My hope is that Kerry will make Bush look good by finishing what he started.

Neither candidate is going to end terrorism, which is a tactic, not an enemy. We may face further attacks on our own soil under either man. But Bush's strategy has stalled, and we can't afford to stand still. On the issue of the war, I'm comfortable voting for Kerry.

That leaves everything else. I prefer Kerry on economics and the environment, and doubt he would do worse on health care and education. Bush is a spender. Kerry would be, too, but at least he is willing to try to pay for it. If we don't want higher taxes on wealthier people, we need to quit spending so much. Until we do, it's irresponsible to run the kind of deficits we have been racking up under Bush. Neither guy is going to bring back the textile industry or furniture manufacturing or the call-center and software jobs outsourced to India, which is not really their job, anyway.

Bush's contribution to health care has been a corporate welfare bill for drug benefits and an overemphasis on the admittedly real problem of tort reform. Kerry will have to work to get much accomplished with a Republican Congress, but he seems less likely to sign legislation written by lobbyists. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Bush's environmental record stinks. Neither man is serious about energy independence, which should be a national priority; Bush wants to drill for oil in Alaska, Kerry doesn't, but nobody is thinking on the scale we need.

On social issues, I'm waiting for a candidate who will say that the government should just stay the hell out of the personal lives of consenting adults and leave it at that. Someday, the small-l libertarianism common among people my age and younger may hold sway. In the meantime, Bush wants to amend the Constitution to outlaw gay marriage, which is a move in the wrong direction, and I'm not eager to see the Ashcroft wing of his party get a seat on the Supreme Court.

So there are my reasons for voting Kerry. If he wins, I expect him to make his share of mistakes. If Bush wins, I hope he does a great job so that I can look back in embarrassment at this column from the vantage point of a secure and prosperous future. See you at the polls.