Rossputin.com: Rational Thinking About Our World

Last week, I saw Dick Morris on Bill O'Reilly's show "The Factor" exhorting Texas Republicans to vote for Obama the in Democratic primary on March 4th (which is permissible in Texas).

Morris is a smart guy but in this case, his deep personal hatred for Hillary Clinton is clouding his judgment.

If Republicans were to participate in the Democrat primary rather than their own, they should without doubt be supporting Hillary. I say this as someone with nothing but disdain for her, and as someone who is roughly ambivalent between the concepts of her as president and of Obama as president.

First, while it's unlikely that Hillary can keep Obama from the nomination at this point, she appears to be substantially more beatable in the general election than Obama would be. (Of course, it's very early and things could change.)

Second, and more importantly, Republicans should do everything we can to keep Hillary in the race, wearing down Obama's energy, reputation, and especially money. The last thing we need is Obama's huge money-raising ability focused on building a largest-ever campaign war chest for the general election, especially since McCain's fund-raising will probably be weaker than the average contestant.

I don't know that I'd go as far as Morris, as a general practice, of encouraging voters to participate in the primary of the other party, but if you want to go down that road, the worst thing a Republican could do at this point would be to vote for Barack Obama.