I don’t expect a win today, in fact, it doesn’t seem the Republicans necessarily deserve to win — but only because they haven’t governed as conservatives.

That said, I bit the bullet and voted for the grumpy old guy. I’ve never been a big fan of John McCain, but I’ve grown to like him more during the last few months.

If he loses, be prepared for the standard lines from the pundits that it was his “conservative” stances that cost him the election. I completely disagree. There were a number of benchmark moments this year for McCain, and most were positive.

First, the surge worked. His campaign almost tanked a year ago because of his advocacy for sending more troops to Iraq, but the nay-sayers were wrong (including Barack Obama and Joe Biden). As the primaries trudged along, this became a plus for McCain.

Second was the forum at Saddleback Church with Rick Warren. Frankly, I wasn’t motivated enough to ambivalent about McCain until that forum. He nailed it, and after watching, it was clear why Obama refused to meet in a series of forums. It was at that point that I said to myself, “OK, I can vote for McCain.” I’m sure many more among the “base” and beyond thought so as well.

Then there was the nomination of Sarah Palin. The media has treated her like a liability — not true. Once her name was announced, I put a sticker on my car. Let the lefties reveal their latent sexism and treat her like a tart, she’ll be back and they better watch out.

If McCain loses, the day he lost the election was the day he voted for the $700 billion bailout (Obama said “aye” to it, too). He missed a great opportunity to be the “maverick,” stand up for the average “Joe” and build upon his recent conservative streak. Instead, he swallowed the “we have to do something right now” Kool Aid, leaving many conservatives and independents confused.

My vote for McCain today, however, was not so much a vote for McCain than it was a vote against Obama (not that it really matters, being in California and all). But part of me thinks an Obama win will be a net gain for the Republican Party. It took Jimmy Carter (whose second term Obama seems to running for) to give us the Reagan Revolution, and it took Bill Clinton to give us the 1994 Republican Revolution (and that split government gave us welfare reform — which Obama opposed — and balanced budgets, which would not have happened with a Democratically-controlled Congress).

Down the ballot, I only voted for one of the Palomar College trustee posts (there were three open), because I only want one to get the votes and one to get as few as possible (the incumbent that needs to lose is union-hack, sexual-harassment-ignoring Nancy Chadwick).

On the California Propositions, I voted no on all of the bond measures — the state can’t afford them and all are stupid ideas (especially the energy and high-speed train measures — please!).

As is my practice, I voted no on the others because I can’t stand the Golden State’s form of direct democracy, with a few exceptions:

Yes on 11 for redistricting, even though it doesn’t go far enough, we should end the gerrymandering of legislative districts.

Yes on 4 — sorry, the parents/guardians of underage girls should know when they’re having surgery, abortion or not. If a child can’t have their broken arm set in a cast at school without the parents’ permission, then a child certainly shouldn’t have a medical procedure to kill another child without the parents even knowing.

Yes on 8 — now, I don’t think the government should have anything to do with marriage. Leave it to the churches (see my whole reasoning here). However, Californians already went to the ballot box on this one, and judges overturned them. Also, if the government is going to have a legal role in marriage, it should go with the natural, procreational order.

That’s it. Hope you voted.