Which Primary 2

every political campaign is a year long game of Rochambeau

Well, the Texas hullabaloo is over, and so are my exams. All that means is I can give you feedback for what went down.

I picked a primary -- Democrat. Gasp! My parent's give me the look "oh really?"...my grandmother claps for joy (it's FDR's party -- the only true party).

I had to vote early because of exams. Early voting was at the Fiesta Supermarket. I got there thinking I could get in and out, and head back to studying for pharmacology, but boy, was I wrong. I was greeted with these views (see pics):

more pics:[2][3][4]

Clearly, I was in for a treat. It turned out to be a 45 minute wait for a five minute vote. Texans were taking their voting seriously.

One funny aside -- situational irony -- I grabbed a shot of an American flag over the "Hispanic" and "International" food isles, with Chinese take-out to the right, as we're all waiting to vote. ONLY in America...

more pics:[2]

For me, the choice came down to three things. First, Republicans had ballot initiatives to determine their party platform. Did I want a say in that? Second, Clinton and Obama were fighting desperately for Texas while McCain had everything pretty nearly locked up. Should I vote in the contested election? Third, most laws that affect us are local. Do I vote for the 18 contested local Democratic primaries or 16 contested local republican primaries?

The answer to the three questions were: 1) yes, 2) yes, and 3) 18 is more than 16, so 18 it is. That was 2 to 1 Democrat, and I registered Democrat.

My vote went to Clinton.

No surprise there. I did it because,

1. Clinton has MORE EXECUTIVE experience than Obama, which I think is necessary if you're going to be the most powerful executive in the world.
2. Clinton was losing to Obama, and I wanted to see her close the gap and bring the contest all the way to the national convention -- which I feel is good for the Democratic party and America as a whole.
3. Lately, with the things Obama has said, and then the stories that were retracted (NAFTA, etc), I see Obama's message of hope as more and more empty -- like a snake oil salesman.

a 45 minute wait for a five minute vote

But in reality, what I've seen is that Clinton has persisted with her "fighting words," and the bobbling-heads of the MSM have jumped all over it.

"It's very difficult to argue that the level of scrutiny of Barack Obama has been the same as the level of scrutiny of other candidates" says the Washington Post.

Will this push her to the Democratic nomination? I don't know. She waited too long to start. I have this feeling that she will pull it out, with the Superdelegates, but with the Florida/Michigan fiasco up in the air, nobody in the Democrats really knows anything right now. I do feel that Clinton is the stronger general election candidate, because I think the Republicans will go mean and dirty early and often. Look at the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. Perhaps it was Rove, but I think it's more general. The Republicans play to win, and they will train all guns on the Democratic nominee. Clinton, I feel, can withstand that barrage (and dish some of her own) better than Obama would. But we'll see.

Ultimately, what it comes down to is that every political campaign is a year long game of Rochambeau. He who stands up longest wins.