Wampum

I still view Chris Bowers' "take my baseball and bat and go home" statements regarding PLEOs as pretty silly, but then I've made stupid statements regarding not ever, ever, ever voting for Clinton/Obama/Cthulhu, an action I know to be very unlikely come November. However, Bowers' latest post on is spot on, and should be required reading for even Obamabots and Clintonistas.

Maine is a multi-tiered state. In 2004, both Eric and I were elected as delegates (he for Kucinich, me for Edwards) at the local caucuses in February. Our state convention, however, wasn't until late May. Less than half of the elected delegates even showed up in Portland (Maine is a medium sized state,) and even fewer alternates. Most town and city delegations just appointed random people to fill out their delegations. No one even monitored for whom anyone voted, or even if you voted. Delegate selection to the national convention was even more disconnected from the original grassroots process, as most candidates for delegate began campaigning weeks before the convention and focused their platforms not on their preferred national candidate, but their own personalities. Almost anything could have swung these delegates, as most were state and local politicians (with aspirations) or seasoned political hacks.

Before Eric left for India, we'd just finished, for the first time since it aired on TV, the sixth season of the West Wing. Real life imitates art.