A long time ago, I remember reading an article about whether the Simpsons (who are, after all, the most typical American family imaginable... well, sort of) would vote if given the choice between George W. Bush and John Kerry. That was actually a fairly simple exercise - Marge would have been solidly for Kerry, while Homer would have gone for the incumbent. This primary season is far more complex than the 2004 general election, so I reckon it is worth asking the question again (with apologies for demonstrating far too good a knowledge of the Simpson's back catalogue): who would the Simpson's vote for?

Marge is fairly easy, I suspect. She would have to be a Hillary supporter, I reckon. Although she now doesn't work and stays at home, Marge was a bit of a second wave feminist when she was school (as I remember, she burnt her bra on one occasion and also wanted to be a female astronaut), so she would certainly feel affinity with Hillary's bid to be the first woman president. Also, despite her liberal politics, Marge is pretty religious, so she might not have been that impressed by Obama's comments about people clinging to their religion.

Now Homer is a bit more of an issue. He is the classic Nascar Dad who would probably have been for Bush in 2004. He doesn't like taxes, politicians, or liberals (and you can bet your life he watches Fox news). So would he be in McCain's column? Maybe. Homer would also be the kind of voter that the Democrats know they have to get back if they are going to win the White House back in November. And at the outset, that seemed a good bet, as an economic downturn encouraged millions of Homers towards the Democrats. But the long and divisive primary may be putting him off. Certainly Homer would need to be convinced to vote for Obama, as he is the demographic that has given the Illinois Senator most problems during the primary contest.

Just for fun, let's just assume that Bart and Lisa can vote too. Bart - the classic millennial generation child - would surely be for Obama. And even if he weren't before this weekend, Obama's Jay-Z-style brush off of Clinton would surely have sealed the deal. More than that though, although supremely confident, Bart needs a bit of hope in his life. His school is hugely underfunded, while his teachers think he is destined for a career working in Krusty Burger (and that's before we even talk about the bullies he has to put up with everyday). I think Lisa is the least predictable of all the Simpsons. She is really clever and believes the world can be made a better place. But she is also quite cynical. I suspect she might have started out supporting Clinton (like her mother, she is a bit of a feminist). The question is how she would have reacted to the campaign? Would she believe that the Clinton's had gone negative and rejected them for it? Or would she regard Obama as rhetorician lacking in substance? It could have gone either way. But if I were making a prediction as to what Lisa Simpson wanted in her heart, it would probably be this: she probably has her fingers crossed that Al Gore gets nominated at the convention.