So, the election went as I thought when the campaign started. I wavered, though...I admit it. There was a time, listening to neighbors, facebook friends, colleagues, and friends and acquaintances, that I thought it was going to go the other way.

I live in a state where no one bothers to campaign much for the national election. President Obama's adopted home state. Illinois. So my votes generally don't count for much. Illinois, like New York and California, other states with large diverse cities, usually goes Democrat. Actually, "always" is more like it. And the area I live in is just the opposite. They are conservatives generally, even when they shouldn't be. (I think I've blogged about that before...)

Here's my theory. There's around 45% of the population who are not going to vote for a Democrat, ever, ever, ever. There is an equal percentage of voters who will never vote for a Republican. So it's that 10% in the middle that determine elections. Those are the people who need to be "swung" toward one candidate or the other.

I'd like to think I'm one of those. I've voted Republican in some elections, and Democrat in others. I can be persuaded, with facts and with solid positions, to go one way or the other. When I find those arguments unpersuasive, I don't swing that way.

One candidate tried hard to appeal to swing, independent voters like me. One did not. I voted for the one that made more sense TO ME, that seemed to be more centrist.

It's hard, I know. The party adopts a platform and the candidates must adopt it as their own. Trouble was that one party didn't try to include ME and those like me in their platform. They tailored it to the extreme wing of their constituency. The other party spoke to me. At least more than did the first party.

I'd venture to say that the rest of the swing voters felt similarly. And obviously I'm describing Romney/Ryan and the Republicans as the party that catered too much to their extreme wing, and the Democrats as the party that tried to come to the center. You can't win on the wings. Either one. I thought they might learn this in '08.

I have no qualms about voting Republican. I don't consider myself "liberal" or "Democrat". If a Republican candidate appeals to my values and my interests, I'll consider voting for him or her.

I hope that President Obama takes into consideration the very real problem with the federal deficit and the amount of debt we as a country have. I don't feel that they did a very good job of addressing it with solutions. I felt that the Republicans paid a lot of lip service to it, but didn't show me a sensible plan for dealing with it either.

Cross your fingers and hope for the best.

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