So, it would appear, my vote has a little more weight than it did in Illinois.

To think otherwise is somewhat foolish.

and we have a Dem senator.

A Dem not voting in our state is hard to understand.

Then in the fall, I'll choose who to vote for again... When I mean not participate, I mean not select Hillary. I still do my research on candidates and I definitely will be voting for the medical marijuana... Despite Hillary's stance.... Obama was a compromise of a candidate enough for me. She's very republican-lite to me when it comes to wars and capitalism and free trading.

I'm sure whoever the corporations want in power, they will rig the voting machines for anyway. I still don't believe Rick Scott was ever elected!

if in stating "not participating", you mean you will be voting - then good!

Can you imagine a Pam Bondi as governor?

im not sure it matters so much in FL... I think they are programmed to do what republicans want... Establishment/ bush types.

jeb had NO support in Florida

Bondi was just an example of the kind of thing that can happen if the Dems do not vote

Connecticut is increasingly the runaway Democratic state...we have one contested congressional district. The other 4 are solidly Democratic. The GOP has no chance in Senate races. They have no chance in Presidential races.

In theory, they have no chance in gubernatorial races either (They get swept in statewide races for all other state-level positions and have been for most of my life: AG, Treasurer, SoS, etc.) except we have a long history of weak Democratic candidates (Bruce Morrison, John DeStefano, Jr., Barbara Kennelly, Bill Curry) and terrible Democratic Governors (Our current governor, Dann Malloy, is basically Scott Walker with Bill Clinton's sense of empathy. He feels the pain of state workers as he tries to break their unions, lays them off by the thousands and guts social services spending so he can avoid raising taxes on wealthier residents.) which allows the GOP to keep contesting Governor's races (Malloy has narrowly defeated vulture-capitalist Tom C. Foley twice) and win (Former Republican Lowell P. Weicker won a three-way race running as an independent, John Rowland won initially in a 4-way race in which he got 36% of the vote, M. Jodi Rell became governor when Rowland went to prison) and then get reelected on the power of incumbency. No non-incumbent Republican has won a two-way gubernatorial race in my lifetime (1979-Present)...but we've mostly had Republican governors, if you include Weicker.

Under winner-take-all, I have to vote with the majority in order for my vote to count.

If I vote with the minority, then my vote simply gets totally discarded.

If I vote with the majority, my vote not only gets counted, but it gets unjustifiably magnified.

The Iowa Democratic Caucus feels much more democratic than the Iowa General Election.

Sure, Kucinich may not have gotten many delegates here in the past, but that 15% viability threshold at the Caucus seems a more fair threshold to have to overcome than the 50% threshold that is enforced in the general election.

Our Caucus here comes in for a lot of criticism every 4 years, but it is our rather undemocratic general election practices for allocating Iowa's Electoral College votes that really need work.

Georgia looks like it might turn blue this go-round. I expect Texas to go blue in the next few cycles, if not this one. If folks think their vote doesn't matter and that's a PERMANENT condition, then it will be a self-fulfilling prophesy.

The Electoral College is an anti-democratic anachronism.

but that was after a campaign where his rhetoric alluded to an more progressive than his administration ultimately proved to be. Needless to say, that deception took it's toll and NC went red in 2012.

If Hillary is the nominee, I can guarantee without a shadow of a doubt that NC will go red in 2016. If Bernie is the nominee I suspect it would be a repeat of 08 and Dems would take the state, and probably by a higher margin than Obama did in 08.

Even down ballot. It doesn't make a difference here. No matter how bad the republican, he/she always wins.

If Bernie wins the primaries, I'll proudly vote for him. If Bernie does not win, I'll show up for the down ticket races because who becomes President won't really matter to me.

My vote counts in the primary as the delegates are prorated.

I'll still vote Dem down ticket. If that neoliberal hawk is our nominee, Jill Stein gets my vote.

So, it doesn't really matter.
I've voted Indy three of the five times for prez because of this reason. I voted all DEM downticket every time because those races are slightly less predictable.

in any election year.

But, we're "a small population, mostly white state in flyover country", so I'm told my vote is not needed or wanted by the Clintonites.