As the Democratic Primary process drags on and on I have to ask myself, seriously, if I could/would vote for the Dem candidate no matter who it might end up being. At this point I don't know that I could and still feel good about myself or the party of which I have been a member since 1972.

I don't think I've ever felt as passionately about a candidate as I did when I voted for George McGovern way back when. I not only donated several hundred dollars to the campaign, but worked in the Norfolk, VA campaign headquarters as a volunteer for several months, up to and including election night. Since then I've restricted myself to simply voting in primaries & in general elections.

In 1982, I happily voted for Barry Commoner, who ran as the candidate for the short-lived Citizens Party. Although several of my friends tried to get me to switch to John Anderson, a very likable guy who ran as an Independent as some of you may remember. It's not that I was rabidly anti-Jimmy Carter at the time, but I still had hopes that a more liberal voice was needed on the political scene.

Finally, I don't regret voting for Ralph Nader in the 2000 election. The campaign was Gore and the Democrats to lose, with aid from Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris and politicized Supreme Court majority. There has been enough proof since then to show that Nader's total vote count would not have changed the results, but rather the election was stolen. Of course, why Nader continues to run baffles me totally.

The only reason I bring this all up is to point out that while I haven't always supported the Democratic candidate at the top of the ticket, I've always considered myself a Democrat at heart. In non-Presidential elections it's not unusual for me to simply enter the booth, pull down the Democratic lever and leave. Of course, that was back in New York & Connecticut when they had the old fashioned (and much missed) voting machines.

I'm going to keep thinking about all this and will let you know, probably by November 3rd, what I've decided to do.