Natalie and I did our part by joining more than 1,000 of our neighbors to vote in the Washington state Democratic caucus today. We filled a local school gymnasium to overflowing, talked about the issues, and walked away energized behind the goal to kick George W. Bush out of the White House.

Although it looks like John Kerry has pulled out a majority in Washington today, Natalie and I stayed off what is largely being viewed as the safe bandwagon and stuck with our convictions to vote for Howard Dean. In fact, I will be one of the four Dean delegates from our precinct when the Pierce County Democratic Caucus is held on April 24.

Why did we stick with Howard Dean? Simple. Dean is someone who has a record of actually accomplishing something as a public servant, and among the candidates he has the best record to face Bush in November. John Kerry is being christened by Big Media as the runaway winner en route to a showdown with President Bush, but Kerry has no leg to stand on. He voted with President Bush on the decision to rush to war in Iraq, on the unfunded mandate of No Child Left Behind, and on passing the Bush budgets. If John Kerry has any backbone to stand up to George W. Bush, he hasn't shown it yet. And while his chants of "Bring it on" may be popular among bandwagon jumpers, many of those people would be better off asking where Mr. Kerry has been during his time in office as an elite Massachusetts senator. Mr. Kerry hasn't bothered to show up for some of the biggest votes during his tenure in office, and when he does show up, he simply votes to support George W. Bush's ideas.

We need fresh ideas and someone who will really represent us in the White House. Howard Dean is eager to serve, and he has a record to stand on. The decision was easy. With his past record, I am not even confident that John Kerry would bother to show up for the inauguration if he were voted into the White House.

- 9/11 was more than two years ago, but we should all remain afraid (Translation: Only I can keep you safe from the boogeyman)

- On the Patriot Act, it has helped catch drug dealers and criminals, and it may even someday help catch terrorists

- Asserts the right to defend the U.S. against countries that may support terrorism. (Translation: Watch out Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and any other country that the administration feels it can overrun, with the help of thousands of American troops, many of whom will die)

- People of Iraq are free (Translation: We own the country now, and we plan to bail out as much as possible before the November 2004 elections)

- "We feel the pain when one is lost" (Let alone when more than 500 have already died in Iraq alone...)

- The only way to defeat terrorists is to kill them, not indict them. (This also works wonders in places like Israel, which should now be the safest country in the world...)

- "Weapons of mass destruction related program activities" (The new doublespeak to cover the fact that Iraq posed little threat to the U.S. prior to the start of last year's invasion, and that no weapons of mass destruction have been found...)

- A long list of countries that paid $100 each to support the war in Iraq. You too can be part of the coalition. Just send $19.95 to...

- This economy is strong and growing stronger (Despite the fact that many more of you are out of work today than when Bush took office...)

- Much of job growth in fields like health care and biotechnology (especially in the growing need for RNAs and other low-wage fields...)

- Jobs for the 21st Century (aka summer school...)

- Pro-growth economic agenda (aka businesses get to do whatever the hell they want, even if it means sending your job overseas)

- Tax cuts should be permanent (so that no one has to pay for all of the military spending, at least no one alive today. Let the kids pay!)

- Social security changes (let people roll the dice with the money that could support them in their old age)

- Temporary worker program (to make it easier for businesses to hire people from overseas to work as serfs, saving the companies' money while not requiring them to offer living wages or to make any commitment to these workers)

- Medicare - "Giving seniors the modern medicine they deserve" (and padding the bottom line of pharmaceutical companies thanks to the provisions that prohibit the medicare program from negotiating for lower priced drugs)

- Private system "makes America's health care system the best in the world" (especially for those who can afford health care. Many of my friends have no health care, and the situation is getting worse. Nothing in this address deals with this problem. But if you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist...right?)

- $23 million for schools to do their own drug testing (privacy rights be damned...)

- Double federal funding for abstinence programs (Talk about flushing money down the toilet while ignoring the exact issues the Bush uses to justify the expenditure, children's health be damned...)

- "Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage" (Translation: It's time to send those homos back into the closet)

- "Even the youngest understand that we are living in historic times" (Especially poignant since all times are historic times...)