Need some more thoughts thanks

[roadie gal]

California also had a very large turnout. It's great to see people fired up about this election. 4 years ago it seemed there was no interest at all.

You can PM me with your questions and I'll try to answer. I'm not the most politically involved person, but I have opinions , and I've voted religiously in every election since I was 18.

[Pax]

California also had a very large turnout. It's great to see people fired up about this election. 4 years ago it seemed there was no interest at all.

Same here in Illinois

You can PM me with your questions and I'll try to answer. I'm not the most politically involved person, but I have opinions , and I've voted religiously in every election since I was 18.

Again, same here. CC feel free to PM with questions.

[OakLeaf]

You can PM me if you want some far more cynical opinions from someone who's about to not vote for the very first time since I became eligible 30 years ago.

Well that's not entirely accurate, I am going to vote for the school levy. If more people did that, maybe I wouldn't have to be making that other decision.

[Crankin]

You can PM me.

[VeloVT]

my predictions

McCain takes the Repub nomination. He's already got it wrapped up.

Obama wins the popular vote in the dem primary. I am crossing my fingers that superdelegates do not overturn this if it happens. If they do they will alienate a whole bunch of people who vote dem because of one or two issues but don't have strong party ID. And this would be BAD (in my opinion, hope that's not saying too much here). Personally I am not a huge fan of the institution of superdelegates, I think it's really undemocratic.

If Obama-McCain, I predict an Obama win.

If Clintion-McCain, a likely McCain win. Not that I'm in love with Hillary, but I think a lot of the negative sentiment towards her stems from vague, irrational, unexamined "feelings" people developed while Bill was in the WH. The press was brutal to her when she was first lady (her makeup and hair were mocked, one minute she was too feminist and the next too "little woman-y", etc), and the republicans in Congress did a great job convincing the American people, who by and large don't have a very clear understanding of how Congress actually works (and how the party in power controls committees and procedure & thus the entire legislative agenda), that Hillary was meddling in a way that bordered on illegal. I think it's a sad fact of American life that most people don't think about the news in more than a peripheral way, and so that spinning was fairly effective, in the same way that negative campaigning is often effective. I think she's gotten a bit of an unfair shake. (BTW I'm sure everyone here DOES read & think about the news so please don't take offense at that comment. I think the fact that turnout in national elections is so low (even when it is **relatively** high) shows how tuned-out much of America is to politics).

Anyhoo...

personally, I have never been undecided this long. I would love to be able to vote for a dream candidate, but practically speaking in this election I want a democrat, and I will vote for the democrat who appears to be most likely to win the general election. (I really liked Chris Dodd. Too bad nobody knew he was running for president).

And don't get me started on that... because I really have issues with the primary system in general and also the way the press tends to distort the process. We get this artificial "momentum" that affects voters in a non-rational way. And the current primary calendar gives some states far too much influence. Why should Iowa be so much more important, over and above population size differences, than Vermont, for instance? I think we should have a national primary day the same way we have a national general election day. I hope that doesn't make me sound too much like a crackpot .

[mimitabby]

Liza, well said, I agree with you on all points.

[divingbiker]

In my hometown in Nebraska, they held a Democratic caucus for the first time. Nebraska always votes overwhelmingly Republican. But in this very small county, 150 people showed up at the caucus, some of whom were lifelong Republicans who had switched parties because they were so excited about Obama this year.

Something special's going on here.