Who's getting your vote? reason's revealing presidential poll

Reason, Nov, 2004

2000 vote: For whomever the Libertarian Party candidate was. You expect me to remember?

Most embarrassing vote: Lyndon Johnson in 1964, my very first vote. Because Goldwater was scary. Did I know scary?

Favorite president: Speaking of scary, the office is. So the least effective: Warren Harding.

WENDY MCELROY

McElroy is a Fox News columnist, the editor of ifeminists.net, and a fellow at the Independent Institute.

2004 vote: I'm voting for No One for at least three reasons: I) As a Canadian, I am spared the insulting process of punching a ballot to express which power glutton should prevail; 2) as an anarchist, I refuse to legitimize the process that puts anyone in a position of unjust power over people's lives; and 3) as a practical matter of value returned for effort, the time is better spent enjoying family or working.

2000 vote: No One. I admit to being so anti-Clinton and so appalled by the prospect of political correctness continuing that I uttered out loud "anyone but Gore"--which, in practical terms, meant Bush. Those famous last words are right up there with Socrates saying, "I drank what?"

Most embarrassing vote: I have never voted in a political proceeding. But when I first became a libertarian while living in California, I did support the Libertarian Party candidate. This would be more embarrassing if I had not learned from my mistake. The lesson: It is not the particular man in power that I oppose but the power itself, which is unjust. As a matter of logic, if nothing else, I cannot oppose the office as illegitimate while waving a straw hat and yelling, "Elect my man to it!"

Favorite president: Thomas Jefferson in his first term because he did less harm than any other president.

CHARLES MURRAY

Murray is W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author, most recently, of Human Accomplishment (HarperCollins).

2004 vote: Reluctantly--very reluctantly George Bush. I find the Democrats so extremely obnoxious that I have to vote against them, and I can't do that voting Libertarian.

2000 vote: Harry Browne.

Most embarrassing vote: For Bob Dole in 1996, because I found Bill Clinton so extremely obnoxious that I had to vote against him. Probably my 2004 vote will be my second most embarrassing ballot.

Favorite president: Gotta be George Washington. He was acutely conscious that everything he did would be a precedent, and just about every choice he made was right.

P.J. O'ROURKE

O'Rourke is H.L. Mencken Research Fellow at the Cato Institute and author, most recently, of Peace Kills (Atlantic Monthly Press).

2004 vote: George W. Bush, because I don't want Johnnie Cochran on the Supreme Court.

2000 vote: George W. Bush. (I always vote Republican because Republicans have fewer ideas. Although, in the case of George W., not fewer enough.)

Most embarrassing vote: A 1968 write-in for "Chairman Meow," my girlfriend's cat. It seemed very funny at the time. As I mentioned, this was 1968.

Favorite president: Calvin Coolidge--why say more?

CAMILLE PAGLIA

Paglia is a professor of humanities and media studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.