I still don't get it

I've been watching the primary returns for a few hours now. Well, except for about an hour after supper when I was asleep with an attractive man and a yorkie on the couch. But I don't believe I missed much.

I'm not really understanding where this process is heading. It looks, whenever the numbers are broken down by county and occupation and income level, etc, that Sen. Obama is winning hardcore democrats and black folks, and Sen. Clinton is winning centrist democrats and older people.

This runs me straight into what's always been my problem with the primary system - the people picking the party's nominee are the sort of people who bother to register with a party affiliation. And they may end up picking a candidate who best represents the textbook party values, but I don't know they end up picking a candidate most appealing to the entire electorate. And ultimately, that is the point.

So it looks to me like the democrats are on their way to nominating Sen. Obama, but I can really see the other argument - that he's not winning in the places and ways that the democratic candidate will have to win in November to carry the general election.

As I've said before, I'm inclined to like Sen. McCain, and so this is academic right now. I'm also apparently immune to the Obama magic, so I really don't get the wild-eyed college students. It simply seems to me that we're letting a weird primary system enable fuzzy idealists to nominate someone who has no business vying to head our government, and who is not going to do well this fall.

Stormy mornings are the best

Rain and thunder makes a nice backdrop for staying in bed extra-long, enjoying that "I'm not really awake" feeling.

However, all three dogs are nervous and Sparky has developed the phenomenally irritating habit of barking at thunder.

I really don't want to do anything, but alas, that's not an option today. Primary returns to watch on the TV tonight, so that gives me something to look forward to. Add beer, and televised politics are almost as much fun as a good baseball game.

Housekeeping, etc

Tonight, for y'all, I've got a couple of neat blogs that commentor Peggy has pointed out to me (she runs a good site herself, by-the-by).

First we have two of our favorite things, Marines and dogs, all wrapped up in wonderful package over at K9 Pride. This, folks, is a really neat site and some good insight into the world of the military working dog and its person. Drop by and encourage (now recovering from the Corps) Sgt. Dowling to keep up the good work.

Peggy also pointed us toward Lt. Nixon's Rants. That would be the real officer sort of lieutenant (Navy O3), not the laughable butter bar sort. The LT is one of those Squids in da Sandbox, and he's putting out some throughtful copy during his tour. Drop by and check him out.

We also have The Lonestar Gal, who, for some odd reason, seems to be really looking forward to moving to Texas. Well, actually, she's coming from Ohio, so she's going to moving up in the world. Anyway, she's a thoughtful one, and the recent posts on the story of her life are not to be missed.

As always, I shall continue to wander through comments and try to share neat sites with you.

Begging off

I've got some cool blogs to point out that I've been clued into over the last couple of weeks, and some other admin type stuff.

However, I'm just flat wore the heck out tonight, and so I'm going to beg some indulgence and try to get that stuff taken care of tomorrow. I am playing Army for a couple more days, but it's normal-hours administrative stuff, so I'm actually going to get to sleep well past 0530 and get home at a decent time.

The highlight of the day? A toss-up between serving as NCOIC of Cake and doing body-fat tapings. I think the cake thing would make a great efficiency report bullet.