I filled out and mailed in my absentee ballot a long time ago, but since we’re coming up on the big enchillada, I figured a post about it might be in order. Most of the choices were obvious (Obama for President, Feinstein for Senator), but here are a few notables:

• House: The recent round of redistricting took me out of the swingy reaches of Jerry McNerney’s district and into a deep-blue district that’s seen some of the toughest intraparty fighting in the state between Congressman Pete Stark, a good progressive and the only “out” atheist in Congress, and upstart Eric Swalwell. I went with Swalwell, though after a good amount of thought. I have no issue with Stark, I like that his atheism bugs the intolerant right-wingers who know and care, and obviously giving up seniority like he has shouldn’t be taken lightly (he would be next in line to become Ways and Means Chairman if Dems retake the House, which is arguably the most powerful committee chairmanship there is). But Democrats aren’t going to retake the House, most likely, and Stark is 80 right now. Seniority doesn’t mean much when you’re not in the majority, and if I thought Democrats were going to retake it before 2016 I probably would have tipped just on Stark’s side instead of going slightly the other way. But now is the right time to get someone in to start building up seniority–frankly, it’s either going to be now, or a few years from now, so it’ll be better for the district for it to be now. Ultimately, I figure Stark will get another term anyway, but I thought this was the smarter move.
• Ballot Measures: You know I voted for Prop 30, a tax measure which is essentially a referendum on whether we get to still have a school system. Voted against Prop 32, a rather audacious attempt to screw unions over again. And I voted for Prop 34 to end the death penalty. All three are knife’s edge at this point, but I have hope.

Any of you out there have tough choices to report, or close races to watch?