One Reader Sends this Important Question along:

"I think that there is still a thing or two that you could help us with before you cease activity on your site or undergo a metamorphosis."

"There are still states that have not voted. I'm not clear about whether the suspension of the campaign means that Mitt Romney's name will be removed from the ballots of those states. Or if the ballots will still be valid if I were to vote for him."

"For example, I'll be voting in the primary on March 11. It will be either Mitt Romney or Ron Paul. I would rather that it be Mitt Romney."

"My vote is not going to prevent John McCain from becoming the nominee, but I am not ready to give my highly prized (by me) vote to one who I feel does not deserve it and does not need it either. And if Mitt Romney is to continue as either a conservative leader or as a future candidate, it seems that the more votes he gets, the greater his credibility will be to pursue either or both of those paths."

"If you could find the answer to this and put it on your site, it could help more people than just me."

Response: Mitt Romney's name will be on the ballot and you can vote for him if you want to, but lets think about this for a while first.

Conscience Votes are Okay...

First of all, let me say how proud I was to cast my ballot for Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday. I took my son along and told him to always vote for good people (Funny Story, the night I was at the Long Beach rally, I talked to my son on the phone who cried when he found out I was going to get to see Mitt Romney and he couldn't come). I look forward to voting for Mitt again one day.

For those of you out there who simply want to vote for Mitt Romney anyway, as a matter of principle, as a matter of pride in his candidacy, whatever it may be, I say go for it. As for me, I wouldn't do that at this point and I will explain why.

Strategery...

I think it is a foregone conclusion that John McCain is going to be the Republican nominee at this point. I know Mike Huckabee continues to stand in the way of the launch of his national campaign, but most voters will continue to reject Huckabee, a man who is as soft on illegal immigration as McCain and even softer on crime. As a result, those who have yet to vote find themselves in a unique position to engage in strategic voting.

A Strategic Vote for Hillary Clinton...

If I were in a state that had an open democratic primary, I would cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton. Let me tell you why.

Between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama, I believe McCain is much more likely to beat Clinton. One of the main reasons is because the most effective attack available to the Democrats, in my opinion, is going to be to paint McCain as a warmonger. Clinton's ability to do this will be severely undercut by her vote to authorize the war in Iraq. She can't very well blame McCain for voting for war in Iraq when she did as well! On the other hand, Barack gets to sit back and claim he was against the war from the beginning and saw the hubrous of running in there thinking it would all be peachy keen. I think this attack from Barack could be very effective.

Barack is also going to be more effective in representing change because he is good at selling the sizzle, even though there is no steak. People love hype. They will pay more for the same product simply because of branding. Unfortunately, right now, the Barack brand is being promoted heavily amongst the main stream media. McCain is going to find that the MSM is not nearly as friendly to him if Barack Obama is the nominee.

In addition, I would take pleasure in voting for Hillary over Barack because Obama unnecessarily attacked Romney on the day he dropped out. To think that a guy with Obama's impressive list of accomplishments would call Mitt Romney ineffective is dumbfounding to me.

What if McCain Loses...

By bringing this up, I want to make sure that I clearly say I believe we can win in November and it is imperative that we do so. However, if we don't, who would we rather have as President for four years. I believe the answer is clearly Hillary Clinton.

There is evidence that Obama is far to the left of Hillary or simply inexperienced. For Example, Barack Obama was quoted as saying that nuclear options against Al Qaeda are not on the table. This is just crazy! Even if you never wanted to use nuclear weapons, you don't tell your enemey that. The whole point of deterrence is that everyone has a healthy respect for you because you might do it if you were provoked enough.

I also think that Hillary cannot afford to be weak on national security and to some extent, cannot afford to nationalize health care. She knows the potential for this to severely weaken her presidency. She has seen it happen to her husband. For this reason, I actually believe that her ambitions will be more balanced and she will govern more responsibly overall than Barack. After all, Barak was the most liberal member of the Senate in 2007.

Conclusion...

If you have the stomach for it, a strategic vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary election may help the party in the long run. John McCain is more likely to beat Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama. Finally, Hillary Clinton as president, as scary as that might be, is not as scary as Barack Obama.