Ah, I Love the Smell of a Primary in the Morning

I will freely admit that I am addicted to national politics. I try but can't get away from it--not that anyone has been able to for the past few months. How bad is it? Let's just say that election season is the only time I don't mind as much the random phone calls from those eager to sell their product, aka: candidate. Sick, no?

Thus far, with the exception of a letter writing event for Mark Warner's run for governor of Virginia, I've managed to confine my enthusiasm to a small anti-W bumper sticker, minor rants to (at) friends and family, and the occasional letter to the editor. Because I'm not as lucid in person as I sometimes am on paper, and tend to be a bit, ok a lot, anxious when speaking to people I don't know, I've only watched the game from afar. But this year has been electric--even people who don't normally care at all have found themselves glued to their TVs to watch the debates and even signing up to volunteer with campaigns.

Although this particular campaign seems to have been going on since W's last inauguration, it took me a long time to decide on a candidate. I have enormous respect for Hillary Clinton's intellect and work ethic. I don't, however, like the fact that she is the one thing that can reunite the disparate wings of the Republican Party. Nor do I like the feeling that she and her supporters would throw under the bus anyone and anything who tried to get in her way. We've had way too much of that over the past couple of decades. I like Barack Obama, but feared that he needed more experience and more substance. John Edwards, for reasons mentioned before, was my favorite, even though he'd already tried and failed. But with him gone, and my absentee ballot blessedly missing, what to do?

I woke up this morning feeling like I was spending a first date at Christmas on a roller coaster.
Up until I actually filled in the ballot, I wavered between Clinton and Obama. But in the end I chose Obama's because he is such a wonderful blast of fresh air that it seems possible to blow away the cobwebs of the Bush II nightmare, scrub off the grime and find a new day. Of course it didn't hurt that he has some great ideas, too.