Is anyone really going to change their minds at this point?

The battles rage... the Hillarites versus the Obamites. Edwards supporters generally post things that he has said which usually don't draw too much flak -- it's hard to tell if they get in the Hillarite / Obamite fights. And occasionally a Kucinich supporter posts a thread that doesn't seem to draw much fire.

But who is the target audience for these fights? I mean, whose minds are we going to change at this point? Anyone's? (Or at least anyone on DU?) So what good are the fights?

It seems all the screaming and yelling is directed as if there is a large forum of undecided voters, and we are trying to convince them that our candidate is better (or less underhanded, or whatever). But I propose there is no such forum on DU -- most of our minds are made up.

Yes, I have a favorite candidate, and I have a least favorite candidate. But I've given up on defending the favorite and offending the least favorite, because I've become convinced that the (potentially) hours of time devoted to such a pursuit are completely wasted -- I'm not going to change anyone's minds around here. So be it, and that is fine.

Come primary time, I'll vote for my favorite, and come November, I'll vote for the Democrat, regardless of who he/she is. If he/she happens to be the one I least like, I will pray for the best, and realize that my major concern is the Supreme Court. Even if Nader is right, and the Dems are 40% bad, while the Republicans are 60% bad, I'm still voting Democratic. At least we can exert some pressure on them that the Republicans would ignore.

PS: However, I will scrap about election reform issues, regardless of which candidate may have benefitted from them, even my favorite. I think that issue should transcend politics. But in those scraps, I'm still not attacking a candidate, although it may be perceived this way by some.

When people post half truths or untruths or the truth about a candidate, others respond with the facts and the beat goes on and on and on. You never know. One may be able to wake up another, by what they post, and change their mind on whom they will be voting for in the primary and the GE.
That's what campaigning is all about, isn't it?

been heard from so far, so we don't even know who's on whose side here.

Me, I haven't really decided who I'll vote for next month, although I have a pretty good idea. None of the candidates stand out to me, although all have their good points, and I'll probably make up my mind in the voting booth.

And I don't think I'm alone. I'm sure there will be a lot of others making up their minds then, too, and I doubt many of them will be influenced by the constant reiteration of old arguments.

The True Believers won't change, but we don't expect them to. All their arguments are aimed at people like me, but they haven't figured out that most of us tune them out.

Do their own research, follow their heart and their head, or whatever one does to help them determine who they'll pick. I think most have picked their candidate of choice.

It's a shame, though, that there are some folks who have no qualms about tearing down a candidate in order to feel good about the one they picked.

I think a lot of people need to take some time to do some searching here or on google. Some people think attacking Obama will make voters move to Edwards, others just don't like Hillary, so there is more going on here than just Obama/Clinton. Kucinich people post their share of shit too.

The average person here(DU) has already decided where they stand on candidates, but will vote for the nominee in Nov. Even if it's a 'lesser-of-two' evils. People who seek out these websites are pretty astute about who and what is happening in politics, but the sad thing is the info is not filtering through society as much as people want. The lower income segment of our society don't go online looking for political information, and the polls show that fact. Most people probably will decide based on one-liners they see on TV, and pushed by big money.

If there is anything that will get the pouplation to wake up it will be gasoline prices.

Not everyone on DU has a candidate and are still taking measure of what's being said and done. My primary is Feb 5th and I'm sure I'll be still trying to pick up until the last moment.

As an "outsider" in this game I amused at the passion and fighting here as each supporter believes they've got the right answer, their candidate is the "real progressive" or the most electable or whatever...some have supported their candidates elloquently, but in most cases, the flaming and fighting reflects bad on all candidates.

An important point here is no matter who the nominee is, I will support this person and that ANY Democrat is far preferable to the "best" Repugnican and that's all I care.