primary

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California's primary is tomorrow. I still haven't figured out who I'm going to vote for in the big race, but I'm leaning toward Kucinich. I think Kerry and Edwards would both make pretty good candidates. I'd rather see Edwards's personality than Kerry's in a fight against Bush, but on substance, both of them are far enough to my right that the differences between them pretty much vanish. Kucinich is crazily idealistic sometimes, but also thoughtful and positive, and he says things that I believe (e.g., that the death penalty is wrong) that the winning candidate will never mention.

And speaking of crazy people who won't be president, here's a piece from The New Republic about Ralph Nader through history:

Heroes of history do not normally reverse themselves out of the blue. George Washington did not end his days pining for a return of the British monarchy to U.S. shores. George Orwell did not suddenly warm to the virtues of totalitarianism. Nor, for that matter, did Ralph Nader go wrong after decades of doing good. The qualities that liberals have observed in him of late--the monomania, the vindictiveness, the rage against pragmatic liberalism--have been present all along.

Don't miss his sneering condemnation of Jimmy Carter.