CALLANDER: Who we are voting for

Alane Callander / Stafford County Sun
Published: February 6, 2008

We can vote in the Democratic primary or in the Republican primary. Just ask for the ballot of your choice from the election official inside your precinct building.

All that is straightforward. What isn't, though, is, "Who do we vote for-"

That question is something I've been thinking about for months. From the looks of national and state polls, it appears it's something many voters have been wrestling with as well. The apparent frontrunners keep changing, based on their latest TV exposure or performances in debates or in another state's primaries or caucuses.

I had been favoring John Edwards, but he wasn't even winning southern primaries (Florida and South Carolina, his birth state) and decided to suspend his campaigning in the Democratic contest.

Edwards was giving me--and others--a comfortable place to be. He was speaking out against corporate greed, one of my own favorite pastimes, and insisting that we should face up to widespread poverty in our nation.

As he ended his campaign in New Orleans, telling how the downtrodden asked that he not forget them, I remembered how, as a college student visiting mountain folk in strip-mined Kentucky, they too asked not be forgotten. Those kinds of life experiences provide inspiration for the kind of change Edwards advocates.

While favoring Edwards, I was also rooting for Hillary Clinton, because I have always admired her. I think a smart and qualified woman like Hillary deserves a chance to be president.

Then there is Barack Obama, my son's hero. I, too, love Barack's inspirational message of bringing people together, changing the way America does its business, and believing in the future. It certainly could be healing for our country to elect an African- American president after centuries of racial strife and division.

I'm not sure the U.S. is ready to elect a female president or an African-American president, but if there ever was a year to do it, this is it. George W. Bush has set the stage. Change is definitely better than the status quo.

Now one reason I lean toward Clinton over Obama is that I find Obama to be more the reflective, professorial type and the former First Lady more direct and results driven. (Still, that's not to say that Clinton isn't reflective or that Obama isn't results driven.)

Hillary has weathered a number of political and personal storms over the years, and I think she would make a great president. I just hope her husband Bill will maintain his dignity and let her shine.

From the outburst of applause at the Clinton-Obama debate in California recently, the audience loved the concept of a Clinton-Obama ticket. The two together make for a powerful picture of change. Why not break two barriers at once-

They both, of course, would carry "blue" Illinois (Clinton's birth state and Obama's home state), and Obama has the potential to get out an enormous African-American vote in the South, maybe, just maybe, allowing the Democrats to pick up a southern state, rather than having to win all the delegate-rich Northern states. Am I dreaming that enough southern whites would come over to vote Democratic this year- (Perhaps the key is white women.)

What it's coming down to for me this primary day is, "Who is my personal hero-" As many Republicans choose John McCain, a former prisoner of war, as their hero and presidential preference, I will choose Hillary Clinton. My son will cast his vote for his agent of change, Barack Obama. Others will choose candidates from the list on the ballots, though few are actually viable at this point.

I usually plan to vote for the candidate most likely to win in the November election, who in turn will support my views on the issues. Not this time, however. I haven't a clue who will win in November. Even the television commentators will admit to having no sure bets.

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