I'm not voting for Chris Daggett.
The Star-Ledger loves this guy. His performance at the debate was pretty impressive. I agree with much of his position. Yet, why am I not voting for him?
This morning, the Times of Trenton ran George Amick's column (which they have unhelpfully not put up on NJ.com yet) titled "Daggett says N.J. is ready for independent gov." Two pages away, they ran a story by Linda Stein (also, unhelpfully not online) titled "Study finds every vote does count" citing Hightstown's recent Democratic primary (tie, 88-88; challenger Dimitri Musing will be on the ballot) and Southampton's school budget, defeated by 10 votes. The article is about mail-in voting, but the juxtaposition is what interests me.
I can't vote for Daggett. I can't risk Christie winning.
Daggett knows I feel this way. I'm sure he hears it from both sides. He has a nice page about how voting for him is not a wasted vote. His supporters know many feel this way; I can tell you who will respond to this post first, and what he'll say. But I still can't do it.
Al Gore came to endorse Gov. Corzine a while back. Do y'all remember the 2000 elections? If 550 people in Florida had voted for Al Gore instead of independent Ralph Nader, the world would be a different place. I'm not exaggerating: the world would be a different place now. That's the difference an independent vote makes. It can change the world.
And there are changes I can't risk.
George Amick has another recent column, helpfully online here, about how the time for instant runoff voting in Our Fair State is NOW. I wish we had it, I do.
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3 comments:
It's the difference between a strategic vote and an idealistic vote. I get it.
OTOH - I don't think I can afford (figuratively and literally) to be strategic. I wish more people felt the same way. I need to vote my conscience, and it's telling me that Corzine didn't do nearly as good a job as I would have liked (not that I voted for him before - but I had hope).
We could go the other way and say that the potential difference independent votes could make could also change the world positively - had Nader gotten in, or Perot. If more people looked hard at Daggett and made an educated choice based on the ideal candidate rather than the stratgeic candidate.
Some people seem to think Daggett is siphoning more votes from Christie, not Corzine. If that is true (and I don't know that it is) where would that leave us?
I think he's siphoning votes from both sides about equally.
--*Rob
I think you're right that Daggett is siphoning from both sides; Christie has no real plans, just platitudes, and even the Republicans see that.
Corzine may not have done as good a job as I liked either, that's definitely true. But I'm a realist. I have to be strategic. Daggett won't win. He's polling at 17%- great, really, but I wonder if he'll even take that many votes in November.
I understand your position, but I can't accept it for myself. There are a hundred reasons why I don't want to vote for Chris Christie, but there are a hundred more reasons why I don't want to -- nay, can't bring myself to vote for Jon Corzine. I'm of the school of thought that one should always vote for the best candidate, not lesser of the two most viable evils. Chris Daggett is viable (he hit 17% in a recent poll) and his performance in the debate was very impressive. I would reconsider your position if I were you; do you really want to have voted for four more years of Gov. Corzine's ineptitude? I certainly don't, and I do want to send a message to the party machines that their stranglehold on this state's politics isn't as tight as they think. That's why I'm voting for Daggett/Esposito on Election Day.
That's also why The Star Ledger’s endorsement of Chris Daggett is great news. I wish the Republicans would stop the Bush/Rove Fear mongering. There is obviously a consensus that a vote for Daggett is not a vote for Corzine.
Daggett is a viable candidate and there are many of this who are voting for him because we know he can win and is the only candidate who can change this state. The Star Ledger’s endorsement echoes and re-affirms that opinion.
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