Buying a first bike is bit of a stab in the dark. No matter how much planning, foresight and opinion-gathering you put into the purchase, you can't know what will work for you until you try.
Take Arcanum and I. We live in the same city on Lake Ontario, have similar commutes, and similar budgets. We're both car-free and ride in all seasons and conditions. Yet, we ride completely different styles of bikes. We're each happy with our choices, but would probably not be so happy on the other guy's choice. Keep this in mind as you read through the seemingly conflicting opinions and advice you'll get here. None of the advice is likely to be bad, but all of it will be colored by personal preferences and opinion.
Like AndrewP, I suggest on finding a shop you can work with first. All the brand name bikes use the same components, and many use the same factories overseas to make frames. So the difference comes down to local knowledge and service. When I bought my first bike, I didn't choose the dealer well. They're the oldest LBS in the city, but they cater to recreational riders. They had no real working knowledge of bikes as transportation, let alone foul-weather transport.
As a result, I bought a bike that was inappropriate to my intended use, fenders that didn't really fit and work well, and a rack that nearly caused me to fall in front of a bus when the panniers swung into the spokes. Recreational riders, racers, and MTBers don't have the same needs as we do. Find a dealer that knows bikes as transport, and buy whatever brand it is that they sell.
As rumrunn6 advises, go to lots of shops and test ride lots of bikes--even those outside your budget, and especially those that don't seem to appeal to you. Bikes have personalities. Only by riding them can you find out if its a match for you. I have a friend who was a dyed-in-the-wool MTBer. Until he rode a cruiser. Now all his bikes are cruisers. All those years on MTBs and he never knew he liked cruisers until he rode one.
Don't really sweat your first bike. Almost everyone here agrees that the purpose of your first bike is to teach you what you want and need in your second bike. In other words, it's a near certainty that your first bike won't be the perfect bike for you. For me, it was my third bike. But I'd never have known what to look for in that third bike without first putting a few thousand miles each under the wheels of my first and second bikes.
Finally, save room in your budget for other essentials--helmet, lock, lights, fenders, rack, studded snow tires, and clothing. Especially in the first year, these things can exceed the cost of your bike.
All that said, of the three you're looking at above, I'd point you towards the Valencia, only because, like Arcanum, I've found the disc brakes to be very, very nice in foul weather. There's enough other crap to worry about when riding in the wet or the snow without having to worry about your brakes, brake pads or rims.
Second choice would be the FX, the 7300 a distant third. My first bike was a bike path hybrid like the 7300. Despite the fact is was completely the wrong bike for it, I used it for all-seasons, all-conditions commuting for 4,000 miles. It worked, it was cheap, I learned a lot about cycling and myself from it, so from that standpoint, it was a complete success. Still, I had to force myself to ride it once I got my second bike, and it it sat around unridden when I had my third.