Thanks for sharing your perspective.
I think leasing SP requires some forethought. If you're going to pay money to give money away, you need to ensure you have a plan to maximize it. Otherwise you're just enriching delegators.
Check out user @d-pend. I delegate to him and he has grown a pretty big following. He runs poetry contests and stuff...it seems like a very intelligent way to use SP.
You're right to run down your voting power to zero the last day. Delegators don't get their power back for a week anyway, so it won't affect them. If at any time during a lease you are fully powered up, you are not using your lease fully.