Early Election Results
My son’s elementary school, located in a bustling small town of around 4000 found squarely within the big battleground state of Pennsylvania, voted Barack Obama into office today. I believe that settles it, far ahead of schedule. I hope that CNN doesn’t get too upset that I’ve broken the news so early. At least everyone can get to bed early tonight, my son in particular. He voted for McCain.
I wonder if he had to wait in line. His mother and father did. My 50 minute wait to vote was an extended finale to weeks of politics overload. Pennsylvania is a swing state and you can feel it. The constant phone calls don’t allow you to forget. The mailbox is filled with pamphlets. My doorbell often signaled that another chat about our future president was about to begin.
As a long time Maryland resident and registered Republican, this pleases me greatly. Concrete statistics aside, it’s nice to feel that your vote matters. It’s nice to live in a state that doesn’t hand out its electoral votes almost as a celebration of a singular mind set. It’s fascinating to live within easy driving distance of a place where a presidential candidate actually makes an appearance. It’s nice to be loved or, at least, have your vote loved like it matters. I’d tell you that it is not all sour grapes brought upon by my political affiliation but, I’d mostly be lying.
So, I guess you might say, I didn’t take voting lightly. This one mattered. I watched every one of the debates. I read up on the issues. I took a look at my vote from 2004 and reexamined why. I wondered who’d I’d trust to shore up the economy and spend wisely. I read about health care plans and considered their feasibility. I looked for things to love with regards to education. I weighted tax plans against simple macroeconomics. I paid attention when campaigns shifted from the issues to name calling and accusations. And then I did something interesting. Something that may be interesting only because it marked my first such vote in my relatively short voting history.
I voted for a Democrat for the highest office in our country.
Good luck Senator Obama. You have a bunch of little kids voting for you. I’m just one of them.
Eludius
November 4th, 2008 at 3:53 pm #
Living in Maryland sucks for us Republicans. I voted for Chuck Baldwin. Why? Because it doesn’t matter if I vote for him or McCain. Obama will sweep Maryland. My vote truly does not count in the Old Line State.