All that said, let me tell you about something weird that came up just a little while ago…
Another smart friend, not one of those I had called earlier in the day, texted me this evening to say:
“_____ is writing an op Ed urging women to go out and vote for Nikki. She is with me and ______ on Dems skipping their primary and voting for Nikki.”
(Yes, I blanked out the names of two people I haven’t spoken with.)
Another county heard from. I told this friend I was still voting for Joe. And we went back and forth on that for a moment.
Then, the same friend sent me something just received by text a moment earlier (at 7:58 p.m.):
I wrote back to say I had just received the same message (or so I thought for a moment). And I hadn’t finished sending my reply when I got a text from one of the people I had called earlier to talk about this. He had just received the same text.
I was thinking that these had to be from someone supporting Nikki — maybe not her campaign, but a PAC backing her. Maybe that Koch group.
But then I looked back at the one I had received, and saw the wording was different. Instead of the flat, noncommittal statement, “Biden is winning by more than 50 points,” mine said:
President Biden will win a strong victory for his pro-democracy agenda.
Huh. It went on to say:
In the Republican primary on February 24, democracy itself is on the ballot. Former governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is running against Trump, a proud election denier. Make your vote count by protecting our democracy.
All straight from Biden campaign talking points. Which were not present in the other two texts. Those were quite neutral.
I called the second of those two friends, the one I had spoken to earlier in the day. This friend was an old newspaper colleague, and the different wordings perplexed us. This friend votes more in Democratic primaries than I do, and yet I had received the “Democrat” version.
Maybe because I was in James Smith’s campaign? That got me on some lists other than the ones based on primary voting.
I don’t know who’s doing this. Are my friends on the Biden campaign or a related group saying, “Look, Brad, we know you love Joe, but he’s got this. Go help Nikki be a thorn in Trump’s side.”
I don’t know. I don’t think so, based on past experience, and knowledge of these people. But I’ve never seen an election like this, and neither have these people, and maybe they’re doing something I wouldn’t expect them to do.
If so, they should call me on the phone and say it straight to me. I’m going to vote for Joe.
At least, I think so…
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Another weird thing in all this: The fact that so many friends who also support Joe are planning to vote for Nikki, as a way of helping Joe, makes me feel better about me voting for him.
They’re covering that angle, so I don’t have to.
Of course, something I’d like to do is vote for Joe tomorrow (which is almost today as I type this), and then vote for Nikki on the 24th.
And I should have that right. I, and every other voter, have a profoundly important stake in who appears on the November ballot, and a right to do everything we can to make sure a dangerous idiot doesn’t appear and have a chance of being elected.
And the parties don’t have a right to bar me from doing that.
Of course, instead of party primaries, we should have a single, universal primary in which we all get to pick a first and second choice, regardless of their respective party labels, and the two who get the most votes — and no one else — should be on the ballot.
But with the death grip the GOP has on our state, I’m not holding my breath for that to happen…
On this same subject, Phil Bailey posted:
https://x.com/philbaileysc/status/1753592418488709364?s=61&t=WxWqwwQoDELq8TSHNqHBHA
Why are Democrats having a primary in South Carolina, anyway?
I don’t know, although I guess I should. Do they have an option? Are they required by party rules to have it, since nowadays delegates are awarded by primaries and caucuses, instead of by party leaders at a convention?
The old way would make more sense — and would incidentally free Joe’s supporters up to go vote for Nikki…
Today at 1:30 p.m. I voted for Joe. At my precinct I was voter number 1,212. Wait a minute…that’s wrong. I was voter number 12. My precinct isn’t the size of Dixville Notch. It’s fairly large.
C’mon South Carolina. Give Joe some Love!!!