The Complex Calculus Of One Man's Vote

I am writing this post in hopes that those who know me but don't know me well from the Political Discussions at Blog Catalog will hear directly from me precisely whom I am supporting and when and why. I believe that most voters' choices in any election are the result of a complex matrix of considerations and concerns, both those explicitly held and those unrecognized and unexamined. This is the story of how one person can be favoring three different candidates in the same election and have specific plans to vote for each of them at different times and under different circumstances.

The journey to understanding at least the explicitly held and conscious concerns that lead to my voting choices begins with Washington State Democratic Party. In their wisdom, the party bosses in my state have announced that ZERO PERCENT of the state's delegates to the Democratic National Convention which will NOMINATE the party's candidate for the 2008
Presidential Election will be determined by the vote of the people in the Washington State Primary election. So if I choose a Democratic ballot, my vote will NOT count for Anything At All.

For this reason, I will choose a Republican ballot in the primary because
I think my vote should count. I also send back every snail mail I get
from the state demo's with a note telling them I'll send money when they count my vote, but that's another thread. Since I am at heart a capitaL eL
Liberal, voting in the Republican primary my goal is to help splinter the Republican vote, hopefully weakening the eventual nominee. In the last Presidential election cycle I was a pretty hard core Deaniac, spending hours and hours each day at http://blogforamerica.com. And while I confess that I find Ron Paul's core platform of dismantling the social safety net that Democrats have spent the entire history of their Party creating to be horrifying, I see in many of his online supporters the same idealism and commitment that characterized Dean campaign supporters and feel the need to praise and applaud their budding involvement and activism in the political process, even though I abhor their candidate. Thus I am a leader of the Ron Paul For President group on Blog Catalog and plan to vote for Ron Paul in the primary, though for extremely different reasons than those
of other supporters in that group.

Were Washington State Democrats to hold a primary election that counted, I would be a John Edwards man. From what I can see all of the major candidates who have any shot at the Democratic nomination are 1) Rich. and 2) Claim to care about poor people. Alone among these Edwards strikes me as genuinely caring about poor people, rather than seeking to appear
to care for political gain. IF the other major Democrats want equal consideration from me, they need to haul their asses to New Orleans and spend some time helping the people there to re-build like Edwards did. My original home town is far from recovered and except for Edwards none of the Democrats seem to talk about New Orleans at all.

Which brings me to state that if John Edwards is the Democratic nominee I will definitely vote for him and actively urge others to do so as well. Should Barrack Obama be the nominee I would just as certainly vote for him, though I suspect I would be a bit less Gung-ho in my cheer-leading.

But if Hillary Clinton is the nominee I will be faced with a terrible choice. I believe that electing Hillary would insure that we Americans are in for another four or eight years of deeply divided government that accomplishes little and hurts everyone. For this reason I can see myself choosing to vote for Guillani or McCain as people more likely to be able to heal divisions and actually get something Done in Washington. What is the calculus of Your vote? Please post a comment and share it with us.