I'm done with defending my candidate against spurious attacks from people who refuse to recognize that his populist stance is not new, but evidence of the same general beliefs he's always held. How he's fought for a living wage and those who work for a living for his whole political career. I'm not going to waste any more time explaining how I see a man who went into the belly of the beast, saw what was going on, and got the hell out. Who's now telling us precisely what he's seen, and why he's hell bent on changing the way things work.

I won't bother defending him against stupid FOX News talking points about his goddamn haircut. If people don't want to understand that he didn't arrange that haircut, and wasn't aware of how much it was going to cost when he got it, I'm not going to try to explain it to them.

I'm not going to waste my time talking about his house. For all anyone knows, he may well intend to donate it to a worthwhile charity sometime in the future--so it might become a home for unwed teenage mothers as a haven in their climb up from poverty, or as a haven for women hiding from a abusive husbands or boyfriends, or for some other worthwhile purpose. If he came and SAID so, people would accuse him of lying, or playing a political hole card, but it sure as hell wouldn't surprise me. The house certainly has all the qualities one would need for such a purpose.

I know that's what *I* would most likely do with such a monstrosity. Something that large would hardly feel cozy, or feel like home to me. And it would be a heck of a gesture should he somehow beat the odds and ended up in the White House to donate the house to a worthwhile cause.

Some of us are pretty quick to assume the worst of people. Not without reason, sometimes, but still...

I'm also not going to be descending into the threads bashing other candidates. Sure, it'll leave me with a lot more time on my hands, but, frankly, I've said all I have to say about everyone currently in the race. It's not hard, if someone is actually curious, to seach through my journal and see what I have to say about each of the other candidates.

I've always tried to put the issues first, to talk about what means the most to me. I don't care so much about star-power, or personality. I don't know these people--I can only judge whether or not I think their message and presentation of their message is what I want to hear and see. I have to base my judgments on what the candidate seems to stand for.

I like what Edwards is saying and how he's saying it. Again and again he's bringing up things that I myself have touched on over the years and that says something to me. He seems concerned about people who work hard and yet have nothing and so am I. He seems concerned about the rising cost of education, and the dwindling opportunities even a good education can offer. Well, so am I. He talks about the preservation of the middle class, without which NO ONE can be lifted out of poverty simply because there would be nowhere for them to be lifted TO.

This country has an immense potential to be a true force for good in the world, but not if it's full of broken promises and broken dreams itself.

An America in which every citizen is afforded basic dignity, and can stand tall knowing he or she is important, and that his or her fate matters to those around him or her is a worthwhile goal, and it's an America I would dearly love to see. We can't afford to run around the world trying to fix everyone else's problems while ignoring the shattered lives here at home.

No matter who wins the nomination in the end, I will cast my vote for him or her against whatever evil the Republicans put forth. I cannot in good conscience do otherwise, knowing all too well from the last several years what continued Republican dominance would bring.

There are those who try to tell us it's not really that important, that none of these people will bring any meaningful change. Perhaps that's true. But if it is, then all of THIS is for naught, for the fate of not only America, but the whole human race could well be at stake.

Plan accordingly.