Haven't done one of these things in a while. Been places and done things, but by and large I don't hold with keeping a public record of my day to day life out there for the internet to see.

Still, the current Democratic primaries are fairly awesome, and I've gotten to be involved in them (for once), so I thought I'd ramble on that subject for a bit.

One of the things that really annoys me is people saying a long running primary hurts the Democratic Party. I don't buy that for a second. Years and years of candidates being selected before most states have a chance to vote hurt the Democratic Party. Running "safe" candidates like John Kerry hurt the Democratic Party. Actually letting a the whole party hash out who we want to run for President? That does anything but hurt us.

Seriously, the primary voting in Texas was amazing. Most voters at the standard primary in 20 years. Most voters in the caucuses ever. People went out of their way and disrupted their schedules to sit in uncomfortable chairs and slog through a baffling procedure in order to make their voices heard. And every last one of them was a registered voter.

These are people that have a connection to the Democratic Party in Texas now. They've met the local party workers. They've given and received contact information. Heck, a decent chunk of them are going to caucus again shortly ( ). A lot of these people have been totally disengaged from politics up until this election. And now they're going to vote.

As far as I can tell, this primary has been the best thing to happen for the Democrats in Texas in at least 20 years. Amazing what can happen when people actually care what you decide.