Presidential primaries today in North Dakota. There's a surprisingly strong support for Clark, but that's probally because his son has been campaigning for him in Fargo and Grandforks. It's the closest thing we've had to attention from a presidential candidate, like, ever.

Clark and his unpredictableness aside, I am currently a big Edwards fan. Everyone is saying Kerry-Edwards, but I'd rather see Edwards-Kerry. Kerry on the whole seems like an all right guy and quite electable, if only he weren't suffering from Gore-itis. Edwards is poised, eloquent, and affable. If only he were 10 years older he'd be perfect. I'm afraid many voters won't put enough trust in his youthfulness. And that's what I think this is all about. Looks and trust. Rather looks that garner trust.

My mom had her friends over for dominoes the other night. They hackled away all night, and between their gossip they mentioned politics ever so briefly. Even though most of them are deeply religous and quite conservative they don't like Bush. They don't like the way he looks, they don't trust him, and they think he sounds stupid. I was surprised by their reaction. I thought he had so many people under his fear and doom spell, but now I don't think he's fooling anyone.

Another incident convinced me likewise. A few weeks back I ran out of gas, in the middle of nowhere on a highway in the northeastern part of North Dakota. I caught a ride to the nearest town with a trucker selling interstate batteries. We started talking politics and he was very conservative leaning. He started ranting about not wanting his kids to be in school and learn about sex and then learning about homosexual alternatives, and then having them experiment. "It's ungodly," he said. Well now, I was trying to be polite, getting a ride with this man and all, but I couldn't stand it. "Well I guess that's all right if you never want your kids to open their eyes to a bigger world, a world that's filled with diversity. Diversity of race, religion, sexual orientation, ... everything. And the fact is we have to learn how to undertand and accept this diversity. Just because North Dakota isn't a culturally diverse place doesn't give us the right to ignore it. It means we have to try harder to understand things and people we don't interact with on a daily basis."

Well he got mad and went of on some faith based arguement. I got a little scared, being in a truck with a strange man in the middle of nowhere and all, so I kept my mouth shut, or at least censored, the rest of the ride. Anyway, for all his purposely ignorant bigotry and religous high-horse bullshit he still didn't like Bush. Doesn't trust him, thinks he sounds stupid, and said he looks like a puppet. I never thought a conversation with a backwards trucker from North Dakota could give me so much hope.

So that's it. Kerry, Edwards, hell, even Dean. I have more hope now than I ever have. And what about Dean? I was an early Dean bandwagoneer, even back to last spring when he still seemed like a longshot and before he surged ahead in the polls. The fact is he let his temper get the better of him, and that's a damning character flaw in a presidential candidate. Dean is out with last weeks interent campaign.

In a way he's now in a position to recycle the "Vote your hopes not your fears" message. But the ugly truth is, if Dean were the Democratic candidate, he's going to have a hella time beating Bush. And four more years under Bush is simply unthinkable. In four years real environmental protection standards would be repealled, real supreme court justices would be replaced, and real people would lose real jobs, insurance, and basic rights.

Don Juan teaches that we must choose a path that has heart, and the decision to stay on that path or to leave it must be free of fear of ambition. Free of fear or ambition, I like that part. The trouble is that so often it's hard to tell the difference between the two.