The only people on this list who might influence my decision are Hillary Clinton, Jim Webb and Joe Biden. John Kerry? You must be joking, unless the election is being held solely at Ivy League colleges!

Joan Walsh, you are one of the only reasons I still watch Chris Matthews.

He and Keith Olbermann have been at the forefront of the Clinton-bashing for months and their sexism is unbelieveable. It's galling to see a bunch of men sitting around discussing whether women should feel Hillary Clinton was mistreated by them.

Every time I think my anger is subsiding, I tune in to "Hardball" or "Countdown" and remember what infuriated me so much about the treatment of the first woman who really had a chance to be president and who was the strongest candidate fielded by either party.

They think those of us not willing to get on board with Obama are "disloyal" Democrats, but after watching what these pundits have done to such loyal Democrats as Bill Clinton, Ed Rendell and Geraldine Ferraro, I'm not in the mood to be lectured by them.

Sen. Obama would be far better off if most of his surrogates and cheerleaders would just shut up for a while and give us a chance to grieve our dream.

Now that Sen. Barack Obama has won the nomination, the same political leaders and media types who trashed Hillary and Bill Clinton and her supporters like Ed Rendell and Geraldine Ferraro are trying to figure out how to win over those of her 18 million voters who are not ready to jump on the Obama bandwagon.

Howard Dean suddenly notices that some political types behaved like middle schoolers in covering her campaign, among whom I would include MSNBC's Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.

When John McCain says that electing Sen. Obama would be akin to a second Jimmy Carter term, talking heads like Matthews, Olbermann and their panelists say Carter is old news, that people don't remember Carter's presidency.

However the age group that supported Sen. Clinton most strongly remembers Carter well. The young people who don't recall Carter are generally Obama supporters.

These same pundits say that women who supported Clinton will vote on the basis of the price of a gallon of gas. That assumes we think Obama has a better plan than McCain for fixing the problem. I haven't heard much from either on how specifically they will fix an economy that seems headed for a depression.

Their strongest argument is that women will vote for Obama if for no other reason than on the basis of the pro-choice debate and possible Supreme Court openings. To put it bluntly, many women who are most angry are beyond the age where Roe impacts their lives personally. And during the primary, they saw how the younger generation of women has little idea of the struggles we went through in the 1960s and 1970s to win equal rights for them.

Every time I come on this site and question anything about Sen. Obama, I have people call me names and say "boo hoo, you're a sore loser." I don't expect this time will be different but that isn't going to make me more likely to vote the way you think I should. I doubt if it convinces many others who feel Sen. Clinton was treated unfairly.

Hopefully Sen. Obama has a better strategy to reach us

I'm not a "nice, innocent person," I'll agree. What I am is somebody who has never missed voting in an election and who has never voted for a Republican presidential candidate.

Because there seem to be many more people who support Obama on this thread, you certainly will win the war of words here.

But it would be more satisfying for the Democrats to win the presidency in November. To do that, Sen. Obama will need the support of many people like me who still need to be convinced, not just the votes of you who already support him.

The way to win back the White House is not by alienating loyal Democrats. In this comment, I am referring not to Sen. Obama but to too many of his supporters and to members of the media such as Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann whose biased coverage has created some of the resentment you hear from Clinton supporters.

Veruco Salt, I appreciate your thoughtful response to my postings, it is a pleasure to exchange thoughts with somebody who wants to discuss things without childish namecalling.

Should Sen. Obama come to my area, I may well go to hear him speak. Since I live in a place where many people were upset by his remarks about Pennsylvanians, I would like him to take the opportunity to come back and talk to us about what he really meant and more importantly, about how his election would impact regions of the country like ours.

It's not my job as a voter to expand upon Sen. Obama's positions, which I have studied.

It is Sen. Obama's job as the nominee to tell voters (some of whom are even more "ignorant" than me but are smart enough to cast a vote) why they should vote for him.

The assumption being made that I and other Clinton supporters have already decided to either sit out the election or vote for John McCain is one I hope the Obama campaign doesn't make about the millions of others who feel as I do.

Democrats such as Harold Ford have said that Sen. Obama must get off the podium and out on Main Street, to explain to voters why he is the best person for the job and to let them get to know him beyond catch phrases and sound bites.