Well, last night I went out with Team Steans, Cousin Sue, Nicole (who's Ryan and Jamie's roommate), and Matt (Nicole's boyfriend and friend of Team Steans) to Romeo's for Jamie's birthday dinner. It was a nice dinner, and I hope Jamie had a good birthday.

And here's a sort of troubling story from Fox News. Fox News is reporting that a recent Gallup Poll has found that 28 percent of Clinton supporters and 19 percent of Obama supporters have said that they would rather vote for McCain than support the rival of their Democratic candidate in the general election. This is some ridiculous crap, people. Obama and Clinton are so closely aligned on many of their views that they frequently have a difficult time even finding legitimate, issue-based points of contention to argue about during their debates, but now Democratic voters are going to forsake many of the ideals of their candidates if their favorite person doesn't get the Democratic nomination? Sounds like some of the worst sort of sour grapes to me. It's no wonder that the Republicans keep kicking our collective asses. We're a bunch of whiney babies.

Look, I voted in the primary and caucused for Obama. I find the man intelligent, inspiring, and refreshing. That doesn't mean that I don't think Hillary is a well-qualified leader with good ideas and views that will lead our country in the right direction if she becomes the Democratic candidate. What happened to that wonderful feeling that we had a few months ago where everyone was so happy to have at least two well-qualified candidates to pick from? I think that voting for McCain if your Democratic candidate loses in the primaries is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. While McCain doesn't seem nearly as bad as Bush, he still stands miles apart from either Obama or Clinton on many key issues (he wants prayer and voucher systems in schools, wants to extend the war and refuses to state that he will make troop withdrawal a priority, he states that he wants to work on a balanced budget and spending control while simultaneously stating that he plans to extend the war, he has a mediocre stance on enviromental issues and animal protection and has tended to favor economic development in wilderness areas, and he's said that the Bush tax cuts unreasonably favored the wealthiest of Americans, but now he plans to keep them, anyway).

Anyway, the bottom line is just that I hate to see such a positive thing for the Democrats (i.e., having two popular, well-qualified candidates) get turned into a negative just because of the name-calling and mudslinging of the primaries.

Mark my words now. If Hillary gets the nomination I will wholeheartedly support and endorse her because I believe that she truly has the best interests of Americans at heart (and I mean all Americans- not just the wealthy, the powerful, and the corporate interests). She's a fighter, for sure, and we're going to need one once we face the Republican campaign machine in the general election.

C'mon, Democrats- pull it together.