Inspired by this thread, who was the first winning presidential candidate you voted for. And how many elections before you picked a winner?
For me, it was Clinton in '92. Previous to that:
1972: McGovern, because I hated Nixon
1976: Eugene McCarthy as a write in (and, yes, I did it right, listing the electors). I leaned a bit toward Ford, but not enough to vote for him, and I disliked Carter.
1980: John Anderson. Still didn’t like Carter (he was as bad as I feared he would bel, but disliked Reagan more.
1984: Mondale. Reagan was probably worse in the long run than Nixon.
1988. Dukakis. Bush wasn’t bad, but I couldn’t bring myself to vote for him.
I knew my candidate had an actual chance (for once) that year when I turned up to a middle-of-the night campaign stop at the Albuquerque airport. I arrived around 2 a.m. and couldn’t find a parking place. It was at that moment I realized that if he could energize the population of Albuquerque to that extent, he was, if not a shoo-in, at least a viable candidate.
Another lucky first-time Carter voter here. Have voted for Democrats in every election since, the only time I had to even think twice was Clinton v Dole.
2000 - Voted for the candidate with the largest popular vote, but not the largest Supreme Court vote.
2004 - Voted for Kerry. My father, bless his misguided heart, voted in the presidential election for the first time in his life, and did so for Bush. He regrets his choice, I have no reason not to.
(This past year, I did vote the winner for the Maryland governor, and expect he still has better things ahead. O’Malley 2012!)
1988: Voted Bush in the Primaries and I then voted for Bill the Cat in the Election as I disliked Bush’s pandering to the far right by picking Dan Quayle.
1992: I vote 4th party, Green Party but pre-Nader
1996: I voted for Clinton.
2000: Green Party: Ralph Nader, I wanted Bradley or McCain.
2004: Lord help me, I hate Shrub’s admin so much, I voted for Kerry.