Alternet had this interesting article advocating that the Democratic presidential candidate should not essentially come from onlyNew Hampshire and Iowa, as they do not adequately represent the Democratic party.

"Democrats cannot continue to have two almost-all-white states – Iowa and New Hampshire – determine their presidential nominees. The next nominee must be able to activate and inspire a multi-racial, multi-cultural base. . . . The Democratic Party, however, has not carried the white vote since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. . . . I firmly believe the nomination process must incorporate more diverse states into the early part of the voting – and by early, I mean the very same days as Iowa and New Hampshire, if not before. There are several smaller states with large Latino populations that would be good choices – states like New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado. These states have the added bonus of being swing states, which connects with an interesting idea put forward by Steve Rosenthal of ACT, to hold our early primaries in states which were close in the previous election. . . . The point is, our next nominee needs to be able to activate and inspire a multi-racial, multi-cultural base."

This is part of the problem. Perhaps voters in swing states should have an effective say. By the time I got to vote in Ohio, Kerry had already won. Everyone else had already dropped out. That makes little sense. It also makes it almost a waste to bother voting, if it's already been decided. So basically, Ohio chose the president, but not the Democratic nominee. The entire electoral system is basically pretty dumb.

There is a pungent smell of candles in my house. I lit every single candle that I have in my family room, which is twenty-two of them right now, by the way. And apologizing in advance to those with a Y chromosome, I have serious PMS today. Yesterday, I had a serious chocolate cravings (and I generally hate chocolate). Then I cried watching 50 First Dates on HBO, which is billed as a comedy. Today, I'm all nostalgic over - get this - the television show Greatest American Hero (I couldn't figure out why, but then it occurred to me that we were talking about it on Friday night at the bar. And on that vein, my coat still smells like cigarette smoke. I wish that Ohio would become like NY and not allow smoking in bars. My two cents.)