How Do I Vote?

Being the responsible citizen that I am, I received my mail in ballot for the upcoming California Primary, last week. I have before me several choices. And while many of those choices are clear some are dreadfully murky. Therefore I propose to put it before the readership of IACLAYST to get some feed back.

As you are probably fully aware, California is nearly hopelessly liberal. Before the electorate this year are several 'conservative' candidates. A number of whom are merely flogging the conservative label in the hopes that it will put them in orifice. I'm pretty well locked in on who I am going to select for Governor, Lt. Governor, Assembly, State Senate, etc. Where I'm having real trouble is with US Senate. If you're not familiar with the candidates, they are; Tom 'I voted to raise taxes, but am certainly electable versus Boxer' Campbell, Carly 'Voting booth? Never heard of it, but Sarah Palin endorses me' Fiorina, and finally Chuck 'I'm a true conservative with military, private and public service credentials' DeVore. Now, on the surface, this appears to be an easy vote. Chuck DeVore, all the way. The only problem? This:



Every poll I've seen, including the latest Rasmussen poll has him trailing behind the other two candidates. Now, I can hear some of you already. 'It's the primary, vote for the principled candidate!' 9 times out of 10, I'm right there with you. However, there is wide speculation, which I happen to buy into, that states in a case where Fiorina and DeVore are fighting for the conservative vote, the split between the two is likely to benefit Campbell. In other words, a vote for DeVore (because he's the trailing candidate) is a vote agaisnt Fiorina and therefore a vote for Campbell. It should be noted that Carly Fiorina got fired from the McCain campaign for telling the press that neither McCain, Palin, Obama nor Biden could run a fortune 500 company like HP. She certainly wasn't wrong, but it wasn't the right thing to say if she wanted to keep her gig with McCain/Palin.

I'm really wrasslin' with this decision and am having a hard time choosing the correct course of action. So what do you think? DeVore? Fiorina? Campbell? Let me know in the comments.

Please take the time to comment! Click the Informed Opinion Link adjacent to the Post Title.

Response Requested

I've received several responses to my last post on Libertarians and Conservatives, several by email and a few by comment. Based upon my reading of the responses, there seems to be a blurring of the line between Libertarians and Conservatives, with folks I'd consider conservative calling themselves libertarians. Then I had a Skunks "Toing!" moment and thought, 'I need to get my readers in on this.'

So, I'll ask you guys. First, what do you consider yourself: a Conservative or a Libertarian, or both? And, why do you define yourself one way versus the other?

Let me know in the comments!

Please take the time to comment!