Whattttt?

Had an interesting conversation with my mother this morning. While she has some liberal leanings, you can count on her to be a pretty strong republican supporter. She often talks about how she would have voted for John Goldwater, had she been old enough. So my mother asks me, if I had a candidate that I support. My initial response was, anyone that is not HeLarry will be fine, with the possible exception of Huckabee. However, keeping the conversation to candidacies that have a perceptible pulse, that basically left me with the possibility of having to choose between McCain and Obama.

At this moment in time, my mom states: I really like Obama. I have to admit, I was floored. I asked her a few times if it was really her on the other end of the phone. I think it is pretty safe to say that she will vote for McCain, but the fact that she has some level of support for a Dem candidate was somewhat surprising. Has my mom mellowed? Perhaps. Is Obama that strong of a candidate that he has pull across party lines? Perhaps. Are people tired of being governed by candidates who "run to the base"? Perhaps.

By having this conversation this morning, I'm actually more interested in seeing how the paths of the Dem nomination and general election plays out. If a tried and true republican who voted for Nixon twice can see the redeeming qualities of Obama, perhaps the conversation is more open than it has been in a long time. From the societal-historical perspective, this should be an interesting election. The only problem is that it is not a lab experiment from which we can take our data and make better decisions on a larger scale later.

Todays fly pattern is, The Olive Wooly Bugger:

http://ifly4trout.com/flypatterns/olive_wooly_bugger.htm

Dave