Kevin Drum writes why he's for Hillary over Bernie and in so doing, writes a good summary of why I can't generate much of a preference there. Basically, he notes that what each of them wants to do doesn't matter as much as what each of them would be able to do as Chief Exec. That doesn't seem like a huge difference to me. A huge difference would be like the gap between either of them and whoever gets the G.O.P. nod.
As Drum notes, Sanders and Clinton are now reduced to fighting over who's more anti-gun. Really? When the N.R.A. gives Hillary an F and they give Bernie a D-minus? Is there any voter whose view on guns is so nuanced that they would support one but not the other because of that variable?
I am well aware that my vote doesn't matter much. One vote never does but it means even less when you live in a state that went 59% to 38% for Barack Obama. The Democratic nominee is going to carry California regardless of how I vote or whether I vote at all. If that person doesn't carry California by a decent margin, the Republican will have won the presidency long before the polls close here.
I suspect that right this minute, Clinton is more "electable" than Sanders. By Election Day, who knows? Much will happen before then.
Assuming Martin O'Malley doesn't suddenly gain 48 points and grab the nomination, I will vote for one of them without holding my nose or even thinking we could do a lot better. But I will not delude myself or anyone else, the way some people like to, into thinking I'm voting for a perfect, flawless candidate. I'm uncomfy with a lot of Hillary's foreign policy stances and decisions. I'm uncomfy with Bernie's tendency to frame everything in life as a battle of the rich versus the poor. (Jonathan Chait has a good piece up about that.)
In this election, I don't think a lot of voters are going to cast their ballots for the person so much as for the party. If you hate everything (or almost everything) Obama has done, you're almost certainly going to vote for the Republican, whoever it is. If you don't want all or most of that undone, you're almost certainly going to vote for the Democrat. That maybe all this election is about: Build on it or tear it down and start over. I'm for building, though I draw the line at a wall along the Mexican border.