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:rant: Choosing someone in the primary based on who's most likely to get elected amounts to ceding my vote to whatever I think the majority wants the most. The right to vote is the most basic right we have in our democracy, and if I'm going to vote for what everyone else wants instead of what I want, I might as well not vote. I'm going to support a candidate based on who I think is the most competent, and who has the best vision for our country. Not the candidate who looks or sounds the most like a presidential candidate, nor the candidate who appeals to this or that demographic. To win my vote, candidates have to appeal to a demographic of one: Me. I'm not voting for someone for the position of election-winner, I'm voting for a president! The skills required to win elections, governing skills, and vision are wholly separate areas.
Everyone else is welcome to weigh the electability factor if they choose. I'm not telling anyone else how to use their vote. But everyone's voice is unique, and I think it'd be a damned shame if we settled for less than the best because we were too afraid that others might judge our voice to be "too unelectable." We aren't the ones running! The candidates are, and we are their judges. They aren't ours. It is not for them to say what voters should or should not want, and it isn't for you to say what I should or shouldn't want. The party doesn't judge me, I judge the party!
I want to hear from advocates of every Democratic candidate under the sun. Make the case on the issues, and on ability, and on experience. Just don't be surprised if I stop listening as soon as the words "most electable" pass your lips. That is all.
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