Thursday, October 30, 2008

Is it November 4th Yet?


I’m waiting for Martha Stewart to call me back. She has an idea for how I can use all those oversized postcards I’ve been receiving from the Presidential candidates to make a centerpiece for my Thanksgiving Dinner table.

It’s said that everyone’s vote counts and judging from the number of postcards I’ve received in the mail, e-mails, and robocalls; my vote must be worth one heck of a lot. Yesterday I only received two robocalls, both on behalf of John McCain. I didn’t take them just played them back off my recorder later. One actually sounded like a live person reading from a script.

Working for a radio station I have mixed feelings about political advertising. It helps pay for my salary, but I do grow weary of hearing all the ads. As for the television ads, when they come on I’m flipping channels.

Being a news reporter I get to interview candidates, mostly local, for the election. I can honestly say that it’s rare that you get a straight answer to a question. There’s a lot of dancing around and history lessons, but not often an answer about how that candidate is going to deal with a certain issue.

Those running for office for the first time lack the knowledge of how things really work. That doesn’t mean they won’t do a good job it just means they may not have a particular idea about how to solve a problem. They are usually well aware that there is a problem.

Usually at the end of the interview I wish the candidate good luck and that is sincere. I wouldn’t want to run for office, but certainly appreciate those who do and are good at representing their constituents. It takes a certain amount of courage just to run. I applaud them for that.

People run for office for all kinds of reasons. I once knew a guy who ran for the mayor’s post in a city. I found out that he was in a bar one night and some guys told him they though he should run. They were simply having some fun at his expense, but he took them seriously. He lost by a landslide. What was his reason for running? He was a single father and he wanted to give his young son a reason to be proud of his dad.

The main thing about voting is that someone is going to represent your interests for 2, 4 or six years. If you don’t vote and end up not liking the way you’re being represented you have no right to complain.

Now, what about that centerpiece?


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