It's a sad day when even Salon concludes that Dean is done as a serious candidate. However, the article asks a worthwhile question: Even though Dean himself says he will support the democratic nominee (provided he doesn't win), will his supporters?

Speaking for myself: Yes. I will hold my nose and vote for Kerry. Or Edwards. Or Clark. Whoever.

The Bush disaster must not be allowed to continue. That is the running theme of this election.

But the very fact that the question is being asked highlights another interesting question. Who is Dean really attracting? For months, the commonly reported axiom has been that Dean appeals most to the core base of the democratic party. Hard core democrats. Liberals. The most left wing of the bunch (excepting Kucinich, of course). That's what the media says.

Yet at the same time, now there's worry that Dean's supporters, these supposedly "hard core Democrats", might defect from the party in November if Kerry wins? Hard core democrats, by definition, would be the least likely to vote for anyone other than the democratic nominee. You can't have it both ways.

I would suggest that the portion of Dean's base of supporters most likely to defect would not be democrats, but independents. Swing voters. Those upon whom the democratic party couldn't have counted on in the first place. The very people the party needs most in order to win the election. The hard core republicans will always vote for a republican; the hard core domacrats will always vote for a democrat; it's independents who determine the outcome of the election.

If the television media can be trusted at all, the reason many of the Kerry voters chose Kerry was not because they particularly liked him, but they thought he would be most likely to beat Bush. If Kerry cannot even inspire members of his own party to anything beyond voting for him out of the hope to oust Bush, I fail to see how he plans to inspire the rest of the nation. Negativity only goes so far. (Though I admit that with someone as unpopular as Bush, it still just might work.)

Could it be that Dean's stronger appeal to the independent swing voters at this stage may be his weakness? Based on the results of the primaries so far, he's done a much better job of convincing independents and moderates of the validity of his cause than the core of democratic primary voters.

Elections are a funny thing. Speaking of which...

I was listening to KGNU this evening in the car. They were discussing... you guessed it... elections. Specifically, the Diebold scandals and other reliability problems with many of the current implementations of electronic voting machines. Unsurprisingly, the guest on the show recommended that all machines should use a voter verifiable paper trail, which could be used in the event of a dispute or recount.

I found this depressing, not because the people on KGNU were talking about it, but because the people on KGNU were the ones talking about it. Not NBC nightly news. Not CBS. Not Dateline. Not 60 Minutes. Not KOA radio. Not even NPR. Just an obscure station out of Boulder that me and probably 3 other people in the state listen to.

Does the rest of the country, outside the population of Slashot, the listership of KGNU, and the readership of Salon, simply not care about something so fundamental to democracy as fair and honest elections? This is a serious matter, of much more concern than whether Dean, Kerry, or even Bush wins. If the basic validity of election results cannot be maintained, it doesn't matter worth a damn who "wins", because a rigged or hacked count is meaningless. Where is the outrage?

Anyway, moving on.

...

I have a sickness. I'm not sure what to call it. It's a sickness that results from too many days spent at home with nothing to do, having very little human contact with anyone other than immediate family members, and lots of staring at the ceiling (or even worse, some form of hopelessly inane chatter from the idiot box). I need a way out.

After a certain point, the sickness becomes self-reinforcing in a very frustrating way. Willpower itself becomes increasingly scarce. Ditto for inspiration. Energy too.

I wish I could say that I had spent every day of the past month filling out job applications, sending resumes, and researching potential jobs. But it ain't so. The truth is, after a couple weeks of renewed efforts, the drive to continue the seemingly futile practice dwindled away, leaving me feeling more demoralized than ever. I'm just not good at this.

If there's a task in front of me I can do that has a well defined end point, that's one thing. I can handle that. But this endless stringing along with no indication of progress, no intermediate reward, and no end in sight just drains the life out of me.

Even things that would otherwise be easy start to seem daunting. It's really stupid.

I should probably be in therapy or something. It seems like a cruel irony that at a time when it's most needed, financial constrictions pretty much make that a non-option.

Oh well.

Somehow, it will all work out. So the saying goes.