Big Ridge Straw Poll

Forget South Carolina. At my annual Memorial Day get-together in the NC mountains with old college buds, we took a presidential straw poll. This is about as scientific as the new Creationism Museum in KY. But we've got some moderate diversity: roughly a dozen men, 37-40 yrs. old, living in SC, NC, GA, TN, VA, and WA; made up of several lawyers, a couple of college profs, an architect, a city planner, a minister, a former judge, and a Major in the army reserves slash corporate technology consultant. Most are centrist-leaning Dems, but with two traditional GOPers.

The results? About half are leaning toward Obama. Richardson and Edwards trailed with two votes each. HRC got one vote. And Rudy got one, from the stronger Republican (a former NYker). The other Republican likes Obama and says that the only thing that could possibly make him him vote for the GOP next year is HRC. Take it for what it's worth.