Up until last Friday, I was a registered Republican. In Utah, to participate in the Republican Primary, you must be registered with that party. To participate in the Democratic Primary, you must be either a registered Democrat or unaffiliated. Another quirk of the system here is that the winner of the Republican primary gets the votes of all of the Republican delegates from the state. The winner of the Democratic primary, on the other hand, only gets a portion of the delegates' votes (assuming that there are other candidates that received at least 15% of the primary vote.) This is a big part of the reason why the Republican candidates have largely ignored Utah and the Democrats are running TV ads in the state (for the first time ever according to ksl.com)I like Mitt Romney. I'm not sure if he's my #1 candidate or not. He's going to win in Utah, no problem (He received 90% of the Republican Mormon vote in Nevada, and I expect the numbers will be similar here - and remember, most Utah Republicans are Mormon). He is my favorite candidate for a strong economy (see Massachusetts and the 2002 Winter Olympics) and Health care reform (once again, see Massachusetts). I would vote for him for these reasons, but not because he's a Mormon. While many of the people here profess that they aren't voting for him just because he's a Mormon, I don't believe all of them. I'd like to believe that he's getting the votes solely on his record and positions (which he changes more often than I think is reasonable - we call it "pandering to the crowd"...) and not on his beliefs. I guess its only fair though, he's losing out on a lot of votes because he IS Mormon, so maybe people should also vote for him because he IS Mormon. Like I said though, he's got Utah in the bag (I wasn't really planning on going off on Mitt here, maybe I'll give the lowdown on what I think about the rest of the candidates in another post - before Super Tuesday of course).
With all of that in mind, last Friday I made the trek to the County Clerk's office. Up until January 18, 2008 I had been a registered Republican in the state of Utah (and I even volunteered at the State Republican Convention in 2003). I stopped by the Clerk's office to change my party affiliation. I wanted my vote to matter. The odds are fairly good that our next President will be Democrat (thanks to President Bush for Iraq, ballooning the deficit and tax cuts for the rich) and the race between the top three Democrats is shaping up to be a close one. I wanted my vote to go towards a candidate that could use it and that would appreciate it more.
So I voted for Barack Obama. Now there will be no waiting in line at the polls and no more waffling on who to vote for, because the deed is done (and I still got a sticker that I am saving to wear on February 5th. I don't know if I would ever vote if they didn't give you the sticker. Although I do miss the old stickers with the flag on them...).
9 comments:
Tyler, we needed to switch affiliations! I am registered unaffiliated and I want to vote in the Republican primaries, but it's too late to switch now :( I want to vote for Ron Paul (please see future blog post which I've been planning to write for weeks) because he's the only candidate I even remotely like. Oh well, it's true what you say, Mitt will get a very large majority of the vote here regardless. I just like to have my voice heard, albeit small.
Barack Obama? Umm...the dude wrote a memoir when he was probably barely in his thirties. Seems like an odd duck in that department. Been a senator for how long? Hillary wastes him on experience. He does speak pretty though....that would be a nice change. Although David Letterman's Great Moments in Presidential Speeches segment might take a serious hit in quality...
How did they calculate that Mitt got 90% of the Mormon vote in Nevada? Did they ask to see temple recommends at the voting stations? ;-)
Right now, Ron Paul's my man, he's the only one that's _really_ different. Except the whole gold-backed dollar thing, which I really don't get, I can dig him.
Sabrina, I think that you can still change your affiliation if you go in person to the County Clerk's office. I could be wrong though...
As for Ron Paul - well I don't mind him on MOST issues, but then there are the few things that he just seems to be way out in left field (ok, probably even outer space). I mean, I know that you've got pick your best choice from the worst candidates and all but, there will obviously be no Ron Paul Revolution in 2008 (see Ross Perot, Ralph Nader, etc). But really, I don't think he's all that bad of a candidate, I just want my vote to have an impact (for once) on who is nominated by one of the major parties.
I've been waiting for a political blog post from you. I love your decision! I can't stand Obama as my senator, but I am rooting for him in the presidential run. I'm glad you voted for him.
My true political color is red though. I've become a huge Romney fan as of late. I took the NPR candidate matching test you blogged about a couple of months ago and he was my closest match. I was a bit stand offish at first, as there are some things I don't like, but I don't think there is a better candidate out there.
As a Romney fan I have also turned into a McCain hater. I have serious issues with that guy. I'm almost to the point where I would rather have Billary then McCain't.
Gotta give a shout out to the Ron Paul Revolution. I think Ron Paul is a bit of a nutter, but I find myself agreeing with what he says. I love him in the debates. I appreciated his honesty when he stated that our generation won't be receiving Social Security when we are old. I also love how he reminds us all we are on the verge of bankruptcy.
I must say I agree with Ron Paul when it comes to the economy. I think Bernanke fiddling with interest rates is a terrible idea. In fact, I think the feds messing with the rates may have been a contributor to the housing market fiasco. They started hacking rates as a stimulus in 2003. They encouraged people to spend, spend, spend, so people started buying because of the artificially low rates even though they didn't any equity.
I even find myself agreeing to a degree with his foreign policy. Only since WWII has the US decided to police the world. I'm not completely convinced it is a good idea.
One of my biggest issues with Presidential Elections is that my vote never seems to count at all. Here in North Carolina I am not sure if our Primary will even matter at all because of when it is being held. And if I lived in Utah still, even though I have become a Mitt Romney supporter (for many of the same reasons that you state in your blog) I would have done the same thing and voted for Obama. I have followed his campaign closely and am impressed with were he stands on many issues. I think that is great that you are making your voice heard.
The Economy is the new God of America. If you're not spending more than you make you are not a truly contributing citizen and are effectively stomping on the flag. We must spend our way to prosperity! And the importance of fiscal quarters is inversely proportional to their proximity.
High interest rates are the enemy! We want more stimulus! Lower taxes, increase government spending (at least on all my favorite projects)! I love America and hate terrorists! Woo Hoo!
P.S. Hooray for torture!
(That was fun. Sorry for getting so silly on your nice blog. The last one may have crossed the line...)
Tyler,
Thank you for the vote. Anything to take down the Clinton machine. As the real Candidate for Change I know that we can do it. Thank you again and I also miss the sticker with the flag on it.
See what I mean people. Have you ever voted for a friendlier guy? I don't think so. Thanks, Ob.
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