the waiting is the hardest part

For the record, I absentee balloted last week, so my vote is in. I was watching TDS last night and nodded as Jon Stewart pleaded with his viewers to make his job hard. No kidding! Sadly, I doubt that Kerry will be fodder-free if elected.

Still, something a friend of mine mentioned today freaked me out even more about this election. I don't know why it didn't occur to me before. If Bush wins, he can pretty much do things his way, whole hog, no apologies. It would be his last term. Cheney has heart problems, so it's unlikely he'd be gunning for presidency in 2008. He wouldn't have to be moderate anymore, because he no longer would need to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It scares me, quite frankly. And I know that's my liberal lefty side screaming out, but still. I think there's something to be said for that. We need a cautious president. Caution abated the cuban missile crisis. That's a good thing.

And yesterday's post about the 18-29 demographic was mostly just ranting because so much really hinges on their vote. We have no Ross Perot. We have a bad economy, but not a deplorable one. We need the youth vote. I am closer to 29 than 18, but I think the whole demographic has a lot riding on this election, more than they think. It's too late to rant on the topic though, so I will just wait and see what unfolds.

I need some good news, frankly. I've had a bad run of it the last few days, and I know that the presidency is not something I should take so personally, but it really will make me feel even more disenchanted with life this week.

Why do I take politics so seriously, even though I have a profession completely unrelated to politics? Actually, it comes down to my upbringing. I was raised in a state where Democrat & Republican candidates flock in mass numbers, campaigning away before they are really known to anyone in the national media. I shook Al Gore's hand when I was in 2nd grade- yes, he was a Presidential hopeful even back then (I will always feel sorry for Al), even if it was just in my state for a month before he got weeded out. Yep, I was raised in a primary state. Voting was serious in my state. You got to see your candidates, and ask them questions. You saw immediate results. It's sad, actually, that it's only a few states that get this privilege. I love the quaintness of my home state (that and the state motto are the only things I love about my home state), especially stories like this, even if I don't agree with how they voted.

What's the biggest problem with these primary states? They are stark white, frankly. Most of them are not diverse, and do not represent a true cross-section of America. The political machine really needs to be reexamined. I know this in theory. But it's hard to resent it too much, since I had the privilege of growing up somewhere critical to that machine, and benefited as a result.

p.s. I love dailykos so much, I just need to give them a virtual hug. But then I have to also give them a little bit of lip for their link to that crappy outsourcing ad that Jason Alexander participated in, which is truly in bad taste.