Which candidate is ready to be the big cheese?

Jen Saunders, 28, Upper East Side PR chair for the New Yok Young Republican Club: “John McCain has had so many years of experience in the Senate, and he’s a military man who suffered greatly for his country. He’d be managing troops in harm’s way and has been there himself; it makes him far more prepared to deal with today’s world, where terrorists are seriously planning future attacks on our country.”

Dan Lavole, 29, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Editor of political blog YoureNoJackKennedy.com: “Yes, he’s old. McCain’s military service was honorable, but it’s not enough. We need somebody in the Oval Office with vision, who doesn’t just rely on ‘bomb, bomb, bomb’–ing every country we don’t like. Look at what Obama’s been doing in the Senate with loose nukes in Russia and ensuring voting rights. Living with his single mom all over the world, alongside people of all creeds, has given him incredible experiences to draw upon. He became a constitutional-law professor. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a President who cared about the Constitution again?”

Jen: “Obama might make a great candidate for the Peace Corps, but we need a President with substance. As for his knowledge of the Constitution, I am glad he has finally discovered the Second Amendment, but I’m sure that it will be conveniently forgotten.”

Which candidate should New Yorkers give a damn about?

Dan: “Barack Obama is good for New York City because Barack Obama is New York City. He’s got the star power of Manhattan, the cultural potency of Harlem and the Bronx, the hardworking character of Queens, the soccer-dad values of Staten Island, and the style and next-generation leadership of Brooklyn. John McCain, on the other hand, is just like his home base of Phoenix—dry, boring and prone to hot flashes.”

Jen: “Obama is New York City? The same could be said about Brad Pitt’s New Yorkness, but that doesn’t mean that he would make a great President. McCain’s the maverick. When people listen to Obama they feel all warm and fuzzy inside because he’s going to ‘change the world,’ and everything will be sunshine and rainbows. But if you look past the rhetoric, you realize that Obama is just another liberal with flawed economic policies who will raise your taxes. New York is a prized target for our enemies. New Yorkers should want someone like John McCain, who will be strong on national security.”

Dan: “McCain: Anti-rainbows. America was founded and is sustained by unbridled optimism, and New York is the heart of that enthusiasm.”