Serendipity. Who would have thought: we actually matter. With a primary that is fairly late in the primary season, few people were, a few short months ago, making the claim that ?Wisconsin will matter.? Well, we do. That means you and I, dear reader, and the rest of our fellow progressive cheeseheads shall bear the immense responsibility of helping define who this nation chooses as its next leader.

So what?s an undecided Badger to do?

My initial choice, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., is long gone. Judging from the response I get whenever I mention his name, he may not have ever really been in the race. Colin Powell rejected my entreaties to rescue Republicans from near irrelevancy and Alando Tucker isn?t old enough to run.

So who do I vote for on Tuesday?

Kicking off his Wisconsin campaign with a packed Kohl Center rally that came off more as a concert than a political rally, Sen. Barack Obama seems to be a clear Wisconsin favorite. He?s been here longer, more often and has an impressive network of Obama-friendly college students to tap into. He?s been endorsed by Wisconsin?s largest newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and now it seems that even God Himself has it out for Sen. Hillary Clinton, as weather has postponed her first appearance in Madison this year from Sunday evening to Monday night.

Given such setbacks and possible divine intervention, it?s hard to imagine that Ms. Clinton can stem the seemingly inevitable tide of Obamaic excitement. But, according to polls, Wisconsin is still in play, and quite a few of my fellow students have surprised me with their ardent support for Ms. Clinton.

Ms. Clinton?s Wisconsin supporters remember her ?thirty-five years of experience? and seem to insist that America is a country that rewards people like Sen. Clinton. People who fight for change, even when that change is unpopular (universal health care, anyone?).

People like that, people who have fought hard and long, and continue to do so, deserve to continue to lead this country. And that?s why Ms. Clinton should be allowed to do so.

As Senate Majority Leader.

Mr. Obama is a near mirror image of Ms. Clinton on many important issues: they both want universal health care, they seem to agree on how to get out of Iraq and, on the issues ? supposedly his weakest point ? Mr. Obama and his advisors have shown an intelligent command. To hear Mr. Obama speak on economic issues is music to this economics major?s ears. I once bought into the belief that he was all speeches and no solutions, that his words were poor substitution for Ms. Clinton?s experience. But once I stopped listening to the media buzz and started reading the candidate?s own words, speeches and issue papers, I realized there was a brilliant solutions-oriented man behind the stump speeches and flowery rhetoric.

But the realization that his command of the issues and solutions ? yes, Mr. Obama has quite a few solutions up his sleeves ? is not what convinced me he deserves the presidency more than Ms. Clinton. It only put him on equal footing.

So why will I be voting for Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday? It?s the fact that I have grown up in a country that has been ruled by Bushes and Clintons for the last 20 years. It?s the belief that we deserve something different and altogether better. It?s the fact that he will sit down with our enemies and confront them with our qualms. It?s the realization that, while a candidate for the Senate, he spoke out against a war that was at the peak of its popularity ? an interesting analogue to Ms. Clinton?s unpopular work concerning universal health care in the ?90s.

It?s the fact that just having Mr. Obama as our president will change radically what the rest of the world thinks of America and what America thinks of itself. It?s the fact that when he leads, Americans and their elected officials are more likely to follow than if Ms. Clinton leads. It?s the fact that even now he is forming a coalition of independents, moderates, conservatives, liberals, Democrats and Republicans.

Ms. Clinton has faced more issues, solved and caused more problems than Mr. Obama has. She?s shaken more hands and knows more people. She may even have a base of knowledge far superior to Mr. Obama?s. Thank goodness she?s on our side.

But on Tuesday, we are not nominating a senator, we are nominating a president. We are not nominating a knowledgeable advisor. We are electing the leader of our country and, to some degree, the world. We are electing the face of America. The face I want to project to the rest of the world, and to ourselves, is Barack Obama?s.

Gerald Cox ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in economics.