It all started out so innocently. I got dispatched to the Wal-Mart in my zone like I do two or three times a day. I drove slowly by both entrances and I saw a guy who normally takes a cab back to the Imperial Inn where he works. He has always been a pleasant passenger and tips decently. I smiled, waved and picked him up.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in a while," he said. So, who are you going to vote for?"

I've been asked that question more than a few times in the last handful of months, and I've politely told everyone that I don't get to vote until November. It's really not up to me who the Democrats decide. I'm not a Democrat. I couldn't vote in the New Mexico primary (which Hillary barely won), and I like being an Independent.

Still, he pressed me. "But out of the three, who would you vote for?"

I said I'd go for Obama. He's got a little more inspiration than the others. I find Hillary a little too bitchy and McCain is flat out old.

"I don't find him inspirational at all!" he barked. "We don't know him one bit. He doesn't have any experience. I'm a staunch Democrat, but there is no way I can vote for him. We don't know what he's going to do to us!"

This is exactly the reason I don't want to say who I'm going to vote for while I'm working. I'm just trying to get people from Point A to Point B safely and soundly without ruffling any feathers. While I don't think I'm making the wrong choice, this guy obviously did, and he wanted to debate. So we debated.

"Look," I calmly said. "I don't see how Obama can be any worse than what we've endured for the last eight years. Did Bush have experience? We voted him for two terms and he did the job worse during the second four years."

"That's what I'm saying," he yelled. "He didn't have any experience. I have no love for Hillary but she's been around. She knows what she's doing."

"Yeah, Hillary's fine, but I'm really sick of this Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton thing. It just makes me think we are a nation of simpletons to keep going to the same two families."

"What about McCain? I haven't voted Republican in forever, but I thinking about it."

"Please. I probably would have voted for him eight years ago when he was the maverick candidate, but now he's gone back on pretty much every old principle he had. Plus he looks plain old now. Just think about how he will be in a couple years of the hardest job on the planet."

"Yeah, I hear you."

"So," I asked, wanting to turn the tables. "Who do you want?"

"I'm really hoping that the Democrats go to the convention and decide on Al Gore. He has that movie, and the environmental issues."

Holy crap, I thought. This guy is delusional. Not only is he against all of the actual candidates, he's living in the past.

"You think that's really going to happen?"

"I wish it would. I'd vote for Obama in eight years when he has more experience, but not now. It's too soon. Way too soon."

That's when it hit me. This guy is trying to redo the 2000 election. The funny thing is that it is eight years later! Waiting for another eight years for anything is insane. We have no idea what kind of world we will have in eight years. No one certainly predicted the inflated times of 2008 back in good ol' Y2K. Al Gore? Are you kidding me? He still has the charisma of a 2 x 4.

"So what do you think?" he pressed.

That's when I laid the truth on him. "Honestly, I am one single vote in a state with 5 electoral votes. It doesn't matter if my state votes Republican or Democrat, the race will never come down to a state so small. Even the close races came down to one BIG state, not a little one. It doesn't matter who I vote for or for what reasons."

We pulled up to the Imperial Inn. It was a twelve dollar ride.

"But you're going to vote right?"

"Oh yeah. It's my duty as a citizen."

He gave me twenty and told me to keep the change.

"And you'll think about it, right?"

"Oh yeah, we'll have this discussion again."

I helped him with his groceries and sat back in the cab. Hmmm, a bribe. That might be the way to change a man's vote. I just might end up voting for Al Gore after all. Eight years too late.

Chris Jungle has a vote for sale. Bidding starts at $100.