Interesting thoughts, but straight ticket voting is what has enabled Democrats to sell out the base and treat the netroots like an ATM machine. Shame on them for selling us out, but shame on US for allowing them to evade accountability.

I held my nose and voted for John Kerry and Barbara Mikulski in 2004, and I’m not going to do it again. It simply doesn’t work.

The Democrats will have to EARN my vote from now on. I am on a CRUSADE to hold these fucking pantywaists accountable.

Anne 37

I just gotta disagree, bigtime, over what you propose – tho I share a lot of your feelings of frustration — & could probably rival you in anger, disgust, & impatience to move beyond the hideous status quo in D.C.
At least re: 2006 election,I think we just absolutely HAVE to do whatever we can, including voting for less-than-stellar Dems., if that’s all that’s available here & there across the land. Gag if you must, but it’s critically important to break the hammerlock repugs have on this country ASAP.
I’m really leery of any 3rd-party or Indy efforts on the liberal side, since they almost always dilute the vote and virtually guarantee a loss. (Related: If a catfight splinters the repugs,let ‘em rip eachother to shreds! Go ahead and smirk behind the curtains, if you must, but do NOT cross over & waste your vote for any repug of any type — “Be careful what you [pretend to]wish for!”)
This particular year, I’ve been urging all my buddies to vote straight Dem.– all the judges, sludge-scooper, moth-zapper — top to bottom.
Exception: if there’s a [Ned Lamont] available, do the work NOW & get him/her that Dem. label on the ballot, just as you’ve done in NJ. BRAVO! holyjoe needs to go!
But I think we have to be really careful not to trigger anything like a “throw ALL the bums out” surge. That possibility seems to me far more dangerous than voting for the occasional so-so weenie. I regard term-limits efforts, or wholesale “tossing the whole gang-of-thieves” mentality, as a sure way to entrench the current scourge of lobbiests: rummys & rovers & negropontes & deadeyedicks & wolfies & & & in power forever – sometimes rotating in & out of office, but always pulling the strings of power that make the others dance.
Sorry to blather on, but there it is.
Disclaimer: No, I’m not a pol., but I do have a degree in animal behavior, & years of experience in animal training. Frightening/heartening (depending on your point of view, heh heh) how “helpful” it’s been,sigh.

Related to disclaimer:
Mary 24

I share your pain over big bay. So sad…

Ned’s victory, inevitably inviting comparison with Gene McCarthy’s 1968 New Hamshire primary win, shows that we have moved to the next step- not merely fighting back, but effectively. Our battle cry is really, “Rally ’round the Constitution.”