Dear New Hampshire Voters,
Today, all eyes are on you!
After what happened in Iowa, the eyes are probably a little more intense than usual. After all, we want to know who you think is most electable in November. You get to know the candidates much better than the rest of us ever will. Your choices help inform our choices, you help us get to know the candidates better. In theory, you help us find an electable nominee.
The thing is, every single Democratic nominee is electable, even Bennet or Yang.
It isn’t about their elect-ability right now though; it is about who we personally want to win the White House. One of the great rights we have is the right to vote. As part of that right, we have the right to choose who we want to be President. Hopefully we have done our homework before entering the voting booth. One should always be an informed voter; please don’t walk into the ballot box ready to close your eyes, blindly pick someone, and hope for the best, in choosing a candidate.
We keep hearing political pundits and the media talking ad nauseam about elect-ability. That is really their thing (hint: they have a biased investment in who they want to push that will help their bottom line). Don’t let it be your thing. I hope you vote for who you believe in, and can get behind, as a candidate. That is what a primary is supposed to do. To let one vote one’s own conscience, not what another politician says to do or your local newspaper tells you to do. Take all of this information into account, while at the same time make sure to do your own research—I highly recommend reading any book written by a candidate as their stories can be very revealing.
The reason I say to choose your own candidate is, although delegates are distributed to the winners of a primary, it is the duty of the delegates to hash out who the nominee will be at the National Convention. If someone doesn’t have a majority of the delegates, it is the delegates’ jobs to come to a consensus on a candidate. It can be a messy business, but we should be able to vote for whomever, for reasons of your own, in a primary.
After we have a nominee, it then becomes all of our jobs to get behind that candidate. Yes, to get behind that candidate even if it wasn’t our heart’s choice. In doing our duty to get behind the candidate, that is what makes that person electable. A candidate is not really electable in a national sense during primary season, it is us voicing our opinion at that point in time.
Rarely do we get our first choice of candidate. Sometimes not even our second choice. That is okay and what makes Democracy messy. Love the mess, own the mess, get behind the mess, then clean yourself off and get behind the candidate. If we all follow this advice, we, the Democrats, can and will win in November in overwhelming numbers.
It all starts with you as the first in the nation primary. It really starts with you this year after the Iowa debacle. Vote, vote wisely, vote your choice, and most importantly make sure you also vote in November!
I wish you the best of luck. Happy voting!
Frank
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 