Ok, Jim, give me your honest opinion.
I live in Connecticut, in Christopher Shays' electoral district.
Shays is, of course, a notoriously liberal Republican.
He's also an incumbent, and there is no conservative option.
The Democrat is my former town council chair, a liberal named Farrel. She and Shays are practically twins, except that Farrel opposes the war in Iraq and Shays doesn't.
Shays is pro-abortion, pro-taxation, pro-immigration, pro-everything-bad, but he has not abandoned the President on the War.
Farrell is all that and opposes the war.
Obviously I'm not going to vote for Farrell. the liberal Democrat, but should I vote for Shays, the arch-liberal Republican?
Shays' elections are always very close. 2 years ago, he ran against Farrell and only beat her by about 2%, the closest ever. This year, she may eke it out.
So, this is one year in which my vote ACTUALLY MATTERS, and what's more, whether Shays returns to officer or not ACTUALLY MATTERS to the whole Republican caucus, since the House is so close.
What do I do?
In the past, I have held my nose and voted for Shays as a caucus vote.
But that was BEFORE the man stood for the death of Schiavo, not to mention illegal immigration.
Do I vote for a man who has taken odious stances on almost everything, in order to preserve the Republican majority?
Or do I not vote that line.
This year, my (and my wife's) votes may actually make a difference in this razor-thin election.
What would YOU do?
I am currently considering sitting it out or voting for Shays. I go back and forth and back and forth.
What do YOU think?
I don't know if I could actually vote for Shays (rather doubt it unless the majority depended on his seat), but I know I wouldn't vote FOR the democrat. Maybe I'd do a write-in vote for Ann Coulter.
Shay's was on Larry King last night... the man is a democrat wrapped in GOP cloak. I'd say he's about on par as our state senator McCain.