Romney's Out. Now What?

Should I spend my vote voicing my opposition to McCain, or trying to determine his conquerer?

Super Tuesday is over, and I've learned many things about America's electoral (electing? primary?) process. However, what I would have written will take a back seat for a few days while I come to grips with the newest word on the street -- Mitt Romney suspended his campaign.

First, what does "suspended" mean? In American politics, when you suspend your campaign, you're technically still in the race, but you aren't actively trying to get new delegates. On the Democratic side of the coin, that means you can decide how to use them -- recruit your own supporters and encourage them to vote one way, etc. On the Republican side, the states decide how to divide the spoils. So for Romney, it's really pretty similar to dropping out.

Now, what does this mean?

Well, unlike many voters this year, I placed lots of weight on experience over charisma. Especially executive experience. Why should you lead the only superpower of the modern era if you've never lead anything before? I mean, over the last year I've been the president of my school's American Medical Association (AMA) and Texas Medical Association (TMA) chapter. It's night and day different having to run the organization versus when I was just an officer the year before.


Based on that, here's how my candidate list stacked up as of yesterday:

1. Romney -- executive experience as governor, led Olympic games, church as Stake President, led Bain Capital
2. Huckabee -- governor of Arkansas
3. Paul -- Physician, years of congressional experience
4. Clinton -- never an executive, but saw her husband do it. some congressional experience
5. McCain -- lots of congressional experience
6. Obama -- some state senate experience and one term in congress.

With Romney gone, those are pretty thin resumes remaining.

Now things get fun. I could pontificate about the ramifications of Romney for hours, but I'll sum it up thus: I doubt that Huckabee can cover the ground remaining to catch up to McCain -- especially if some of Romney's delegates could end up in McCain's camp (i.e. all of Massachusetts, Maine, etc.).

Texas has an open primary. I could vote Republican, but here's my dilemma: I like Paul's premise (I am Libertarian, you know), but have issues with certain points (such as eliminating the Federal Reserve). I like Huckabee's health care plans, but haven't heard anything else of substance from the preacher. On both, a vote from me will have little effect on the end result. I chose long ago not to vote for McCain, due to his stance on Vietnam. Explaining that will have to wait for another day.

So I could throw my vote to Paul/Huckabee, or I could vote Democratic. What am I faced with??

1. a woman who seems greasier than a used car salesman, has almost zero executive experience, but is a woman (hey! I could make history with my vote), or
2. a man who says all the right things, but never anything of substance, has literally zero executive experience, but is black (hey! I could make history with my vote).

Why should you lead the only superpower of the modern era if you've never lead anything before?

On a healthcare front (I am in medical school) their plans are almost identical except Clinton wants a mandate to buy insurance and Obama says it's not needed and wrong.

Should I spend my vote voicing my opposition to McCain, or trying to determine his conquerer (yes, I feel either Democratic candidate will beat McCain in a general election)? My vote cannot be bought (legally), but it can be swayed. Should I vote Republican or Democrat? Paul or Huckabee? Clinton or Obama?

Right now I'm thinking Democrat; possibly Obama. Give me some advice. McCain schemed with Huckabee to pull West Virginia's 18 delegates from Romney. Where should my vote go?