Swinging in the Breeze
Posted By Kathleen David on September 24, 2004
I was listening to NPR this morning while I fixed my coffee and cleaned up the kitchen. They were talking about the states where currently the election is too close to call. The swing states I believe they are calling them. I wonder how the voters in the other states feel about the election results already assumed and therefore they are not important to the candidates right now. Might be later if the poll numbers change but they have those states pegged as either Democratic or Republican. Meanwhile the swing states are getting a lot of press and having their issues addressed by the candidates. If I were in an assumed state I would be really ticked off right now.
Caroline has a new game. She takes her small pink blanket by one corner and spins around in a circle causing the blanket to fly beside her like a cape. She spins until she falls down then sits until she regains her balance and does it again. She is also jumping both feet off the ground without a bear to land on. Last night she woke up screaming at 5 AM. Peter, bless his heart, got up to deal with her. He wrapped her in what was my baby quilt and rocked her until she fell back to sleep. He put her in her crib and she started to wake up. She clutched at the quilt she was wrapped in and didn
Heh. I live is Texas, so even I assume the President Bush will carry my state, even though I plan to vote for his opponent. I find the assumption that he’ll carry the state annoying, but I find the reality of the situation even more annoying.
And in regards to Ariel, Mozzeltov. My appologies to the editor in you, Kath, as I’m sure that I’ve spelled it incorrectly, but I don’t have any good reference material handy and the spell-checker on Word just looked at it and choked.
Speaking as a resident of a Red state who plans to vote Blue (Indiana), I find it very vexing indeed that neither party seems to be willing to fight for my vote, and wish that they would give us at least a token effort. But in many ways, I blame this much more on the faults of the Electoral College than the political parties, who are, after all, merely making politically expedient choices. Not that it’s not still annoying. I feel a bit like a wallflower at the big dance – no one even notices me.
On the other hand, this is by far the most peaceful election season I’ve ever been through. Having grown up in Michigan, a large, politically divided state, our tv regularly seethed with election-related bile for about four months before every national election. And when they added the lovely tactic of pre-recorded phone calls in 2002, it made me want to take an extended European vacation. These days, I figure it’s just as well I’m not seeing any campaign commercials, because if I had to see Republican campaign commercials 20 times a day, I might just kick in my television screen, and I can’t afford to replace my tv right now. 🙂