Voting my heart, head, and hate.

[Editor’s Note: Yes, mom, I know…”hate” is a very strong word. My affinity for alliteration is even stronger.]

After years of wishing our California primaries came earlier in the cycle, so our votes really “mattered,” here we are with a Super Tuesday primary. And I’m not loving the pressure. California is now a huge prize with tremendous significance, so it feels more important than I want it to. I know…be careful what you wish for.

I’ve been open since the primary season started that I had #MyTop5. Only one of that five is still in the race, and the majority of my personal online bubble is super into that candidate, so you’d think it’d be a no-brainer to vote for them.

But it’s not.

I see all my friends sharing “vote your heart” and that anyone is electable, but there are three problems with those two statements:

1. If I’m being totally candid, no one left is a real “heart” candidate for me. The one left from #MyTop5 was 5th out of 5 for me. The other four who dropped out would all have excited me more and would have made my primary vote clear, even if I knew it was a losing vote. I’m in like, but not love.
2. I have repeatedly supported the idea that ANY of the major Democratic candidates can win the general election. Still believe it. P45* is a historically and deeply unpopular President, with a bunch of stuff going wrong right now. I have discussed repeatedly in my podcast that the Democratic Party is a party of coalitions, and how it won’t be *easy* for any of the candidates, but it is *possible* for each of the candidates to build a custom coalition that gets them the White House. But that is a different discussion than looking at this primary and thinking about who can win the nomination. And it’s also a VERY different discussion than discussing which candidate will be the best one to support flipping the Senate and retaining the House…two things I think any Dem president will need to enact their policy goals. (And what the country will need to have any chance of being saved, should the Dem not take the presidency).
3. Finally, back to heart: ANY of these candidates would be miles better than P45*. I know it’s popular to act like from Bernie to Bloomberg is some massive chasm of political differences, but to me it is…