As everyone here knows, I am a vocal supporter of Barack Obama's Presidential campaign, and have been for a while. My wife, meanwhile, is a supporter, albeit a somewhat less vocal one, of Hilary Clinton's Presidential campaign. That's right- Zorro is in a mixed marriage.

This weekend, Ilana + I had a rather, shall we say, enthusiastic discussion of the campaign. This wasn't a campaign of whether Obama or Clinton is the better candidate- each of us respects the other candidate + agrees that the other would make a fine President- the conversation centered on my fears that what we do this spring is, in the end, irrelevant, since the GOP will steal their third consecutive Presidential election. Ilana challenged me that, if I really feel that way, why do I even bother working to register people to vote, or even to bother to vote myself.

While I disliked the way in which she made her point, it did make me think. And, she was right to an extent: if I really do feel that the GOP will steal another election, I need to justify my own actions to register people for a free election. Here are three levels of my response to any questions of "why vote."

1) As I feel that Barack Obama gives the Democrats their best chance for a win this fall, and he cannot hope to win PA without a huge margin of victory in Philadelphia + Allegheny (Pittsburgh) Counties, I need to do my best to increase voter registration + turnout here. That's the first level: get the best candidate out of the primary round.

2) Whether the Democratic nominee is Obama or Clinton, PA will not go for the Democrats this fall without a huge turnout, again, in Philadelphia + Allegheny Counties. Without the 80:20 ass-whooping that Kerry put on Shrub in Philadelphia in 2004, PA goes for Bush, not Kerry. So, the second level is to legitimately win the general election.

3) Past is precedent, and anyone who can look at 2000 + 2004 + say that the GOP won't try to steal this election is either a fool or an idiot (or, if both a fool and an idiot, a member of the Bush family). So, the best way to guarantee a win despite expected GOP fraud is a *clear* win for the Democratic candidate. 51:49 won't do it; I'm not sure that even 55:45 would. The Democratic candidate this fall might literally need to take 60% of the popular vote to overcome the almost inevitable vote theft which the GOP will attempt. So, that's the third level: to give the Democratic Party enough of a margin of victory to make any theft an obvious one.

-Z