THE IRON FIST OF PRECINCT 36-1806

Washington State Caucuses are February 7th, I believe. I have less than a month to cast my lot in, as does Eric and Lorraine, and Washington's vote is said to be fairly critical. It's coming down to Dean, Clark, and Kerry. Washington will go super-Dean, unless Giant Bugs invade. Strategies?

[I'd rather vote for something I want and not get it than vote for something I don't want, and get it." - Eugene Debs

More seriously, what do they want you to do? These things are all fixed, "forced" in card trick lingo. In a three-man race there's always the front-runner (Dean), the challenger (Clark), and the spoiler (Kerry).

Now, who is the spoiler going to take votes out of? Dean, I suppose. So if you like Clark, you should vote for Kerry.

But if you like Dean, you have to be worried about his prospects in the general election. His only chance is with Clark as the VP candidate, so if you like Dean, you should vote for Clark.

If you like Kerry you have to vote for Lieberman, but I forget why.

Hope that clears everything up. -MoF]

[ I have a better idea, having gone through this process in 1988: try to get selected as a delegate for the next level as an "undecided". I did that in 1988, where I was the only one at the caucus who (initially) voted for Paul Simon. -LoM]

- I seem to remember Debs languishing in prison, oh well. The Dean "gaff" thing is overated- it only added to Bush's "charm," by which I mean nauseating false folksiness. I had cast a lot in orginally with Kerry but he seems incapable of conducting his campaign, and I have to hand it to Dean for figuring out a way to involve many thousands of younger, alienated progressives. If they are not brought "in," the future is triply grim. Clark is far too conservative for any of my passionate support, but I'm waiting to see if he can translate basic decency into effective campaigning. At the moment, I'm going undecided, but I have a slight in at D state headquarters so I want to play the field a little and see if there are any opportunities to participate at a higher level. -PWP