'All that's left' - "Tuesday's vote doesn't have to be a meaningless vote..."

[Breeze54]

All that's left

by News Hits staff
1/9/2008

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=12305

Earlier this year we were sitting around a table with seven people talking politics. It was the aftermath of a funeral for a co-worker's mom, and, unlike the News Hits crew, the folks sitting around us weren't all flaming lefties. Nearly all of them, though, when asked about the presidential candidates, said they liked Dennis Kucinich, the Democratic U.S. representative from Ohio. But in almost the same breath, these same people expressed the view that Kucinich didn't have a chance.

We found it interesting that a somewhat random group of people could both embrace a candidate and yet, despite seeing that others felt the same, could also write that candidate off as being a lost cause. This was still early in the game, but already the front-runners had been identified. And by the time the debates began, Kucinich was already being shoved to the margins, receiving a fraction of the attention given to candidates leading in the polls.

Whenever it comes time to make endorsements, we here at Metro Times often find ourselves engaged in a vigorous debate: Do we go with the candidate who most closely holds the policies and positions we embrace — which, it often seems, is a candidate who has little chance of winning — or do we compromise and give our stamp of approval to a candidate that we might not wholly embrace, but at least seems to have a chance of being elected?

It is a debate that has merit on both sides: One is driven primarily by ideals, the other more pragmatic.

Because of the hopelessly messed-up nature of this year's Democratic primary, Metro Times isn't making an endorsement this time out. Two of the three candidates given a realistic chance at winning the nomination — former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois — took their names off the ballot after the national party objected to Michigan moving its primary date forward. And, as punishment for that maverick move, the national party has decided that Michigan delegates to the national convention won't have a say in selecting the Democratic candidate.

But that doesn't mean Tuesday's vote has to be a meaningless one for Michigan Democrats or, for that matter, progressives of all stripes (Greens, are you listening?).

More.....

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Well worth reading this article if you will be voting in the primary.