Voting dilemma:

[LWolf]

I'm getting ready to vote, finally, in my primary.

I keep flip-flopping.

Should I vote for Clinton, to balance out the Obama vote and keep it closer?

Should I write in Gore?

What is the most effective use of my vote at this point, when I don't want either of the two official candidates on the ballot to be the nominee?

[rodbailey]

1. I guess I'd vote for Clinton;

that assumes she will still be in the race at that point. Some of the conventional wisdom over the last day or so is that she will stay in until May 20 so she can go out with wins in WV (May 13) and KY (May 20) but would probably lost OR. If, for some reason, she beat Obama in OR, all the chatter about her making a final comeback would really heat up. Don't know what the polls out there are showing, but I thought Obama had a decent lead out there. Only if she should win OR will the supers continue to sit on the sidelines, I believe. If Obama wins OR, he will have a majority of the pledged delegates (not counting MI and FL) and about 5-10 super delegates have said they would support the winner of the pledged delegates. So, there might then be a significant move of supers to Obama after May 20. That would basically shut down our "operation" since we have always said our purpose was not to try to take the nomination away from the "winner" but only to offer the supers an option to look to a unifying alternative if the convention was headed for deadlock. It sort of pains me to say that we would be out of business, but if Obama has it locked up by the end of the month, there's not much to do. I suspect we'll keep the web site available in case there is some bizarre occurance before the convention, but don't see much chance of that at this point.

[LWolf]

3. I believe that Obama has a comfortable lead here,

but I haven't heard anything this week, anyway.

I already have my ballot, but haven't opened it. I'll probably vote this weekend. We have to have it IN by the 20th, which means that I'll either mail it on Monday, or, if I end up delaying a choice, drop it off at the library sometime before the 20th.

The only real difference my vote can make at this point is to try to prevent the nomination becoming a done deal.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. Gravel was still on the ticket in my state --- so that is who I voted for.

It felt good to vote for someone instead of voting agaist someone.