I am one of those "older" women who support Hillary and I will tell you right now that should Obama win the nomination I will be voting for McCain. If I ever need a motivational speaker, Obama's my guy, but President of the United States? Not yet. He and his supporters may be right, he may be the future, but he is NOT the present. The current world is just too *darn* dangerous for inexperience. And for those democrats who think the blue states are a lock regardless of candidate, I worked on the campaign for George McGovern back in the day...idealism lost 49 states.

--Anonymous

If you're voting for McCain instead of Obama--should he be the nominee--then you don't really believe in the ideals that Hillary stands for. If you would support McCain just to teach young Obama a lesson, you don't really stand for the ideals that both Clinton and Obama share in common.

That's exactly the point. I am not voting to support "ideals" at all. I am voting for reality. Not for "hope" that change can be achieved, but for "evidence" that it already has been. I voted to support ideals when I worked for McGovern and he lost 49 states. Actually, it wasn't even the ideals back then so much as it was trying to prevent the insanity of Richard Nixon. Well, the insanity prevailed as history attests. And I'm certainly not going to vote for McCain "just to teach young Obama a lesson". Vindictiveness has no place in my calculations.

--pwoxb

So a McGovernite would vote for John McCain over Barack Obama? Just wait until Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter hear about this! You are confirming their worst fears. The three front-runners on both sides are all liberals.

Yes, this is very true. They are all liberals or more acurately moderates, as I am, which is why I could even consider voting for a Republican after being a lifelong Democrat.

-- ljwalker53

I'm really sorry to hear that if Obama wins you'll support McCain. May I ask why?

It's really very simple. It's the dirty word that Obama supporters don't want to hear. "Experience". I am not talking about how many years in office, Federal, State or otherwise. I'm talking about experience at getting things accomplished. I read over and over how Obama has been a "community organizer, civil rights attorney, editor of Harvard Law Review" and that makes him even more experienced than Hillary. Please, Obama supporters, give me 5 concrete examples of what Senator Obama has accomplished during his years of "experience". Here are just a few of Hillary's:

-- Staff attorney for Children's Defense Fund

-- helped create the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997

-- Helped design and promote the State Children's Health Insurance Program

-- passed legislation to track the health status of our troops so that conditions like Gulf War Syndrome would no longer be misdiagnosed

-- original sponsor of legislation that expanded health benefits to members of the National Guard and Reserves

-- visited more than 80 countries and met countless world leaders as America's representative.(I know, Obama lived as a child in Kenya and Indonesia.. guess that makes their foreign experience comparable too).

-- fought for Israel's right to exist peacefully and to defend its people against terrorism. She has spoken out against the problem of anti-Semitism in Palestinian textbooks and condemned Iran's conference on the Holocaust. (In contrast to Obama's worrisome refusalto repudiate his church's lifetime achievement award presented to Louis Farrakhan).

There is much more in Hillary's record of achievement. She is certainly less eloquent in talking about hope for change. But with Hillary we don't need hope, we have evidence. Again, I challenge the Obama supporters to provide a comparable list of accomplishments. What did he accomplish as a community organizer? What did he do in the state senate (other than begin his run for US senate). What has he done in the US senate (other than begin his run for President). Experience does not mean how many years in office. Experience means knowing how to get things accomplished. And McCain knows how to get things accomplished too. That's why the Rush Limbaughs and Ann Coulters hate him. Believe me, (or not) I do not want to vote for McCain. I agree with very few of his policies, particularly domestic. But this is a very dangerous world (I know, I'm a fear monger). I live in New York City, terrorism is not a threat to me... it's a reality.

Bush was elected because he was more charming than Kerry. People said they would prefer to have a beer with him. If we were in the midst of peace and prosperity (as we were during the Clinton years, lest anyone forget) perhaps I would be more willing to vote for charm, hope, change, an end to dogmatism. Will Osama bin Laden end his dogmatism too or is it to be unilateral? I am just too scared to risk the future of this country on "hope" for change. I want "evidence" of a history of accomplishing change which Hillary has, McCain has and Obama does not have.