Senator Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the Democratic race for president today. She joins Beto O'Rourke, Karmala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar, everybody else really except Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders. Biden is 77 years of age and Sanders is 78 and recently had a heart attack.
I have not previously commented or really followed the Democratic contest because it does not matter to me who the nominee is, I will vote for him over Trump. Duh.
But I now have a decision to make about the March 17 Florida primary. On a few occasions in the past I have voted in the primary for the candidate who I thought had the best chance to beat the Republican, even if I really preferred someone else. I have almost always regretted those votes. I prefer Sanders and I am going to vote for Sanders...BUT I am very concerned about his health. Generally, I am not pleased that my vote comes down to a choice between a 77 year old and a 78 year old, and in a vacuum I would have preferred a woman to a man, but obviously the individual candidate is most important, not the age or gender. But...Have you ever regretted a vote for president? I do not want to regret my vote when I am 64 years old. And with this March 17 vote I am on notice: Bernie Sanders is not "just" 78 years old but has had a heart attack during this campaign. If I vote for Sanders and he becomes the nominee and he is clearly ill on the campaign trail; if, God forbid, he is incapacitated or dies before the general election, then I will feel that I made the most foolish decision of my life, and I will have made that most foolish decision of my life at age 64. I will be really, really upset with myself.
It becomes therefore my disagreeable duty to calculate into my vote to some extent what I have regretted doing in the past: who is the candidate best-positioned to win since clearly a dead candidate cannot! I really don't like to be in this position but am going to assume the risk. I will vote for Sanders unless there are more disquieting reports on his health, or unless there is an alarming incident in the next twelve days.
I have not previously commented or really followed the Democratic contest because it does not matter to me who the nominee is, I will vote for him over Trump. Duh.
But I now have a decision to make about the March 17 Florida primary. On a few occasions in the past I have voted in the primary for the candidate who I thought had the best chance to beat the Republican, even if I really preferred someone else. I have almost always regretted those votes. I prefer Sanders and I am going to vote for Sanders...BUT I am very concerned about his health. Generally, I am not pleased that my vote comes down to a choice between a 77 year old and a 78 year old, and in a vacuum I would have preferred a woman to a man, but obviously the individual candidate is most important, not the age or gender. But...Have you ever regretted a vote for president? I do not want to regret my vote when I am 64 years old. And with this March 17 vote I am on notice: Bernie Sanders is not "just" 78 years old but has had a heart attack during this campaign. If I vote for Sanders and he becomes the nominee and he is clearly ill on the campaign trail; if, God forbid, he is incapacitated or dies before the general election, then I will feel that I made the most foolish decision of my life, and I will have made that most foolish decision of my life at age 64. I will be really, really upset with myself.
It becomes therefore my disagreeable duty to calculate into my vote to some extent what I have regretted doing in the past: who is the candidate best-positioned to win since clearly a dead candidate cannot! I really don't like to be in this position but am going to assume the risk. I will vote for Sanders unless there are more disquieting reports on his health, or unless there is an alarming incident in the next twelve days.
