Update: I proudly voted for Al Franken (I hope I am the one vote that puts him over the top), Betty McCollum, every other Dem and "Present" at the top of the ticket. Below was part of my own process.

Voting for Obama or not voting top of ticket is the only choice I'm considering. No write in for Hillary, she doesn't want it and I respect that. No vote for McCain, I don't want that unprincipled, power-seeking, media-conjured ghoul anywhere near the White House, not even to clean the toilets, and that is not taking into account Sarah Palin, McCain's sop to the knuckle-draggers. She's a similar VP pick to Mike Huckabee and no better for being less experienced.

After the convention, I was pretty sure I was voting for Obama, but it wasn't his speech that did it, it was Bill Clinton's who made the best argument for Obama anyone had made till then or since. Unfortunately, then came the Palin pile-on (the Attack of Dem Misogyny Pt. II), just to kick in the teeth of Hillary supporters that, nope, we ain't going to stop the sexism. Then the bailout, the repeated Reagan-loving, the curiously detatched, scripted Obama, and now all the Republican talking points right out of GWB's 2000 campaign. Somewhere in there I lost my will to vote for Obama. Maybe if he had addressed my concerns? Iraq? No bailout for Wall St. gamblers? Alternative energy? Putting non-Christianists on the court?

Then I saw Hillary speak a couple weeks ago, she was very forceful that we need a Dem president and even more, a filibuster-proof 60 vote Dem senate. I was leaning on board again.

But now the moment of truth. Many here have made excellent eloquent arguments for voting for Obama. Some arguments have not been as persuasive....

Vastleft has me almost convinced, Bringiton and Hipparchia have also been persuasive. Even Mandos question of "what is your strategy if he loses" was a damn good question. But the answer to that actually works AGAINST Obama. If the landslide anticipated doesn't come off and Obama actually LOSES, the shitstorm will be mighty and long and after the first installment it will have little to do with "Hillary's racist voters". The magnitude of reversal would be too great for the mythical "Bradley Effect", it would be widely percieved as fraud and theft (and it would be). It also would be the absolute end of Republican voter suppression forever, because of the Dem congress and the widespread perception.

Which puts me in the same enviable position that Obama was in when he was an Illinois legislator. I know he will be elected (it's a done deal) and if he isn't, it's because the election was stolen and my vote wouldn't have mattered anyway. Given that, I don't have to put myself on record voting in a way that I find repugnant and repellant; I can merely vote "Present". I was here, I saw, not seeing anything which pleased me, I left the decision to others. Voting "Present" means I don't have to clean anything off my shoe, or brush it off my shoulder. Voting "Present" is unimpeachable, it worked for Obama didn't it? Voting "Present" means I haven't voted against him and that I am giving Obama the chance to earn my vote over the next four years, so that's a GOOD thing.

And although I haven't yet made up my mind, and likely won't until I'm in the box with the ballot demanding that I do so, it may all come down to this one last final realization. Although symbolism is great, it is where the rubber hits the road that is important, and voting "Present" also means I don't have to wait for the reacharound that apparently will never happen.