Countdown To InDecision 2004

Six days.

In six days (if Florida doesn't fuck things up for everyone again), we'll know whether John Kerry will be setting up Ryder vans to head to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, or George W. Bush will stay in the White House.

As we get closer to the election, it's almost as if the rhetoric has died down a bit, at least from my vantage point. The period following the debates (which made Dubya look like, alternately, a peeved bully and a grinning sycophant) has fairly well been bereft of any more nastiness than I've been used to. Maybe it's because I don't live in a swing state, and even the Democrats have given up on Texas as far as the presidency goes.

The poll numbers nationally are just absurd. This much of a dead heat this close is nerve-wracking. I have no idea what to expect on November 3, and I think the mainstream media is more clueless than I am.

On top of that, I'm in shock at how little coverage any race other than the Presidency has gotten on local televised news. Most people only have a perception of the congressional candidates through the attack ads they see during "CSI." Sure, you can dig for information in print media, or through independent web sites like Vote-Smart.com, but in this age of readily-available information, should you have to dig for what you need so bloomin' much?

Voter registration is up this year, and I sincerely hope that more of the youth vote turns out. Not just for Kerry (wish, hope, plead) but for the candidate that speaks the most to their sensibilities. I also hope that they take the time to do a little digging of their own and not vote blindly because someone tells them that Candidate X is the best for 'em just because. Pipe dreams, I'm sure, but dreams nevertheless.

Comments

[Ali]

By the way....it's vote-smart.org, not .com....