April 3, 2012

"Time to walk over to the polls and do the traditional thing of deciding who we're going to vote for on the walk over."

It's the Wisconsin primary today, and we're following the old family tradition of talking on the walk over and making the final decision at that point. I say it's an old family tradition because in 1976, I set out to walk over to the polls with my then-husband RLC, and we actually had to sit down at one point and talk it through. We were still for Jimmy Carter when we sat down, but by the time we got up to continue the walk to the poll, we were for Gerald Ford. We'd both voted for McGovern in 1972, and I would continue to vote for all Democratic presidential candidates — with the sole exception being 2004 — to this day (including voting for Carter in 1980, when he lost).

I like not deciding until I mark the ballot. I enjoy the free and flexible — flowing — mental state. As long as I have to pay attention to all the politics, every day.

So I say the quote that is the post title out loud, and the dialogue continues, with many lines, most of which I've forgotten, but one of which is "Time for you to do the traditional thing of voting for whoever I tell you to vote for."

Who will Althouse vote for?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

62 comments:

BJK said...

Why is Obama not a poll option, given that Wisconsin has an open primary?

(Just don't vote in both Presidential Primaries, for anyone who doesn't understand that voids your ballot.)

roesch/voltaire said...

Obama was on the ballot, along with Huntsman, the person I would have voted for, but instead I proudly marked it for Santorum. It seems Althouse just wants to be coy about her love of mittens.

cubanbob said...

Ann will you let us know?

Unknown said...

If they have actual voting booths (with a curtain you can close behind you), and you really want to make an impact.

1) Vote
2) As you walk out of the booth, say (in a loud voice), "That's the cleanest public urinal I've ever been in"

edutcher said...

Once she called him the Romster, it was over.

She likes him.

She certainly doesn't like Santorum (I don't see Meade voting for him, either, and I'd love to be a fly on the wall if he ever tried to tell his lady fair for whom to vote) and Captain Tin Foil is too far out.

rehajm said...

'...because he and his boyfriend Paul Ryan are dreamboats.'

Do not underestimate the power of dreamboat-ness in an election- here in Massachusetts any minor male member of the Kennedy clan gets in line at Starbucks and panties fly off any woman over 35 who's ever written a check to Emily's List...

Am I right Olympia Snowe?

Original Mike said...

Whom to vote for?

Your man Obama's on the ticket.

Curious George said...

I wonder how widespread meaningful partisan local races there are. If not, then Santorum just might pull it off with Democrats pulling the trigger for him, believing him the easier opponent.

pm317 said...

I picked the last option, because Meade, the right winger, telling his woman to vote for 'ban the contraception' guy, because isn't that who Althouse is? That is too funny. Good one.

Original Mike said...

"As you walk out of the booth, say (in a loud voice), "That's the cleanest public urinal I've ever been in""


Is that you again, Roger?

Original Mike said...

@CG: You can cross party lines in the different races.

Roman said...

Need a bit more information, ie: which way is the wind blowing?

Mr. D said...

I think you should write in Edmond Hou-Seye, just for old times' sake.

caplight45 said...

I voted for the "Bromance."

James said...

Turn out was quite light in my neck of the woods. I got to the polling place around 9 a.m. and I was only number 20 for my precinct.

They've moved the polling places around because of the recent redistricting so I think lots of people might have difficulty finding where to vote. The Voter Public Access website was close to useless earlier; luckily I found the letter sent by the City Clerk in February with the new polling location.

MadisonMan said...

Meant to vote on the way to work today, but I forgot. So that's one thing extra to do tonight.

Co-worker who votes in Middleton says it was quite busy this morning.

garage mahal said...

The U.S. Justice Department is observing our elections today. Which is good news, but I wonder what they're looking for? I would point them in the right direction, but nobody called.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Open primaries are so stupid. That RV is voting in the Repub primary is my proof.

traditionalguy said...

Let Tradition be your guide, which in your case means listen to your heart.

Romney will likely please you more often than Santorum will.

Tank said...

As Althouse is not a Republican, she should do the honorable thing and not vote in the Republican primary, thereby allowing Republicans to choose their own candidates.

Open primaries are immoral, and those who vote in them for the "other" party are immoral.

Curious George said...

Original Mike said...
@CG: You can cross party lines in the different races.

Yeah, I was thinking that you could either party, but then be constrained in that party.

Saint Croix said...

Are you a registered Republican or is this Operation Chaos, Althouse style?

purplepenquin said...

"Crossing over" in a primary election isn't unethical if you would also vote for that person in the general election, no?

Quaestor said...

I've specified that Althouse must vote for Gingrich the contrarian

(Wow, wouldn't that be cool -- Gringrich the Contrarian, who trod the jeweled thrones of the earth beneath his sandaled feet until, at last, he found his own kingdom, and wore his crown upon a troubled brow)

She will do this just to spark some interesting debate.

Roger J. said...

Original Mike--If I am the roger to whom you refer, it wasnt me--but I would certainly loved to have done it!

Original Mike said...

"...but I would certainly loved to have done it!"

:)

Bender said...

I like not deciding until I mark the ballot. I enjoy the free and flexible — flowing — mental state.

Free, flexible, flowing?

The word you are looking for is "fickle."

And what if you change your mind on the walk home? Or the next day? Or you change your mind come inauguration day?

If you don't change your mind, if it is inalterably made up when you cast your vote, why not make it up earlier, after a consideration of all relevant factors, rather than during a walk?

Seven Machos said...

Come on, Bender. What's this talk of fickle? This is a perfect opportunity for you to bitch and moan once again about how Romney is so horrendous without presenting any sort of plausible alternative.

You should also write some more in exquisite detail about anal cavities. Because that's certainly as relevant here as it was the last time you brought it up.

Bender said...

Why are they having a primary anyway? The race is over.

Romney is the nominee. He won the nomination by getting half of the necessary delegates half-way through the process.

The states before Wisconsin, and the establishment insiders before that, has already decided. You voters in Wisconsin should not be allowed a say.

Bender said...

I was answering someone else's question, Ski-mask. Try to keep up.

James said...

>>As Althouse is not a Republican, she should do the honorable thing and not vote in the Republican primary, thereby allowing Republicans to choose their own candidates.

Open primaries are immoral, and those who vote in them for the "other" party are immoral<<

It isn't a "Republican" primary; there are lots of other local contests on the ballot. In my county there are also elections for four circuit court judges and for the local school board.

Obama is also on the ballot; opposed by "write-in." The only stipulation is that you can't mark both Republican and Democrat presidential candidates on the ballot.

Seven Machos said...

Awesome. Encore! Encore!

Tell us all the reasons Romney is bad. Carp from the rooftops! Don't mention any alternatives, though. Don't suggest any improvement. Just bitch to high heaven. Give us a further window into your soul.

Seven Machos said...

Open primaries certainly aren't immoral. They are silly, though, and they allow havoc that a well-run democracy needs to avoid.

Freeman Hunt said...

You'll vote for competence.

Kirby Olson said...

Glad Meade is for Santorum. I'm for Santorum, too. Isn't he also a dreamboat? Aren't they all dreamboats? Isn't Gingrich a dreamboat in his own way?

Or is he a tugboat?

Wince said...

I thought Meade had a bigger "man crush" on Romney than Althouse.

Meade said...
Ready to make my prediction...

2020: President Romney widely understood by Republicans as having been the greatest president of the modern era, topping even Reagan for having defended and advanced conservative principles of federalism, free markets, and freedom for individuals.

Please mark it.
12/11/11 9:10 AM


So marked at a time when it was looking pretty lonely for us Romney supporters.

wv - "delymen allhotio" = Romney and Ryan?

X said...

Ford in 76 because of the scary backwards Southerner.

Carter in 80 because of the scary backwards Reagan.

Seven Machos said...

Are you people who taunt Althouse because of her past votes proud that knowledge of her votes for president since at least 1976 are stored in your cranium? Bear in mind that she knows nothing about you.

Roger J. said...

A thought question for the commentariat: Were the 19th amendment not enacted, how would subsequent national elections have gone?

Lyssa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lyssa said...

Purple Peng said: "Crossing over" in a primary election isn't unethical if you would also vote for that person in the general election, no?

I don't even think that they're immoral if you're not planning that. If my primary in 2008 had been later (when McCain had locked up the R nom but the Ds were still fighting), I would have voted for Clinton in a heartbeat. Not because I like Clinton or ever could have voted for her in the general, but because I found her far preferable to Obama, and, if it came down to one of them having to win the presidency, I would have greatly prefered that it be her.

I stand by that - Clinton would have been terrible, but not nearly as terrible as Obama.

jimspice said...

What? No Obama? Is the pretense of no party affiliation dropped for good now?

Seven Machos said...

Jim -- Asked and answered in the thread.

Peter said...

I just can't imagine bragging (if that's the word) that I'd voted for Carter in 1980.

It used to be said that even if Carter wasn't much of a president, he at least was a pretty-good ex-president.

But after his suck-ups to some of the world's worst dictators, I'd have to conclude that he hasn't been much of an ex-president either.

Seven Machos said...

Can you imagine saying that you voted for Carter in 1980, if that were, in fact, a true statement?

BarrySanders20 said...

Lyssa,

I did that very thing (voted Hill in the D primary over Obama) in 2008 here in Wisky. Didn't do me no good.


Today I voted for Ron Paul. That won't do me no good neither.

Romney gets the vote in the fall, and if it helps toward the rejection of Obama, then that will do some good. Whatever happens, we abide.

Curious George said...

I voted for Romney. Not because he's a dreamboat.

Well, mostly not because he's a dreamboat.

Rabel said...

Just checked the science-meets-art "Wind Map" blogged about here earlier today.

Zoomed in on Dallas.

Seems like the Wind Map needs a little more work on the science side.

Good luck to the folks in North Texas.

Quaestor said...

Newt Gingrich, contrarian

What that really looks like...

Peano said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The U.S. Justice Department is observing our elections today.

Madison and Iraq..

There is your link right there ;)

Jeff with one 'f' said...

Anne, you voted for Mondale AND Dukakis?

Has hindsight given you reason to rethink those votes?

dferg said...

Ann Althouse voted for Obama in 2008?

Will she really wait until November 2012 to decide who to vote for this time?

Dang!

Ann Althouse said...

I didn't say Meade was for Santorum!

crosspatch said...

"She certainly doesn't like Santorum"

I don't either. He impresses me as someone who would attempt to use the federal government to enforce his moral values which is no better than the Democrats attempting to use the federal government to enforce theirs.

He strikes me more as a conservative Democrat who can't align with the Democratic Party because of their stance on abortion and contraceptives. His view of the role of the federal government is more in line with the Democrats than the more federalist approach of the Republicans.

Santorum would be quite comfortable with a strong federal government issuing all sorts of mandates on the states. He also doesn't believe the people have a right of privacy from the federal government and has said there is basically no limit to federal power over the individual.

I just can't support that.

eddie willers said...

I won't laugh at your voting history.

Mine:

McGovern
Carter
Carter
Mondale
Dukakis
Perot
Browne
Bush
Bush
McCain (ugh!)

After watching the high tech lynching of Clarence Thomas, I vowed never to vote for a Democrat again.

It took another decade before I was able to completely shed the damage done to me by my "higher" education and its demonizing of the loyal opposition before I started voting Republican.

I suspect Ann has voted for her last Democrat as well.

wv: forchoo utero

What Sandra Fluke wants everyone else to pay for.

Penny said...

Althouse, that woman behind the curtain!

In Oz, for sure.

MadisonMan said...

Lots of people running unopposed, including Joanne Kloppenburg.

I voted No on the country referendum, but I suspect it will pass.

Elliott A said...

@Ann- How is it free flowing thought if you almost always reach the same conclusion, vote for the Democrat

yashu said...

So roesch/voltaire "proudly" voted for Santorum today. I wonder how many other Democrats did the same.

But "proudly", R/V, really? I can imagine ways one might rationalize such a vote-- i.e. a vote intended solely to sabotage the other party. A vote for a candidate you yourself would consider the worst, if elected. I myself would never do such a thing and consider voting like that a vile thing to do (whether it's done by Democrats or Republicans: I despised Rush's operation chaos, just as I despised Kos & Michael Moore getting out the Dem vote for Santorum).

Even rationalized in a calculation of partisan advantage, the fact remains-- it's a vote cast out of malice. It's a cynical vote. I can imagine someone (not me) feeling some political satisfaction by voting that way. Feeling gleeful or smug, for doing something supposedly clever and sneaky, taking advantage of an open primary to hurt your political opponents.

But "proud"? I just don't get it.

Penny said...

Independent voters are strange.

Or... is that "estranged"?

Penny said...

Independent women voters like Althouse are "ES-stranged".

More likely "estrogen" strange, but *shrug*...

We don't quibble.

We're "sisters" after all.