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This Tuesday's pretty super too...
It felt pretty super on the walk in to school today, anyway. Beautiful weather as things had warmed up a fair bit. Coming out at the end of the day, the sky promised rain, a promise on which it began delivering before I was halfway home. Since Lauren takes the car to school, I walked to the polling place with my umbrella shielding the better part of me. It was a fair walk, but fortune seemed to be smiling upon me, as no one stood in the line for voters with names from S to Z.
Ha. Fat chance. Fortune's smile was a smirk. My name wasn't on the list, so I had to wait in the line for problem children. It turned out I'd come to the wrong polling place, thanks to the Obama campaign, whose door-hanger sent me to the Jewish Community Center. Turns out I had the wrong center of Judaism: Temple Beth-El was the place for me. Living on the east side, you'd think I'd know my Jewish landmarks, but I had no idea where it was. The woman working the polls was trying to explain it to me, but the street names didn't even sound familiar. Finally, a woman waiting behind me offered to give me directions if I would stop holding up the line. Fair enough. When it came out that I was walking in the rain--and it turned out I would have to walk the entire way I'd come, plus some--she even offered to give me a lift--and she didn't even make it contingent on who I was voting for.
To be honest, it was a tough decision for me. Who to vote for, I mean, not accepting the ride. In general, I like Democrats more in terms of not being Republicans than for their own merits, such as they are. Still, I registered Democrat in order to have some sort of voice in the primary. When the general election comes around, I think I've already made it clear, I'm voting Democrat no matter who the candidate is. Who, though, do I want as the candidate? I found myself torn. Experience? Idealism? Policy-wise, they're awfully close. Maybe I'm putting too much stock in the Clinton campaign's propaganda, but I do tend to think she'd be the more effective executive. At the same time, I have a suspicion that Obama is the more electable candidate, not only because of his personal charisma but also because of the clear contrast he makes to McCain.
For whatever reason, the Rhode Island Democratic ballot still had John Edwards on it, and I was rather tempted to give him my vote, even though he hadn't really asked for it. In the end, I voted for... the candidate Lauren favored, since she didn't register in time to vote for herself and had more definite feelings on the race than I did. She owes me, and so does... her favored candidate.