Super Tuesday Through The Eyes Of A Pollworker

I woke up this morning with a text from 'Math' Kevin. It read: "Guys, I need help. I need a quote for class! Who did you vote for and why? Is the race for presidency clear and over?"

Did he think I could answer this in a text? I asked if I could message my response and he said sure, so I did and I thought I'd post it here as my post-Election Day response.

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You should have known you'd get no short answers from me!

I voted for Obama. He was not my first choice, but he was my "realistic" choice and became my only choice once Kucinich dropped out. I voted for Obama because I want a liberal in the White House. I don't think 'liberal' is a dirty word and that's also why I liked Kucinich so much. While Clinton is a Democrat, she's also sort of part of that old political machine of which I think people (and our generation, especially) are getting sick. When I say I want to see change, I almost want a complete revamping of the government. I guess I think - between the two of them, at least - Obama is the one who is most likely to think independently of that old machine. He's young and his "inexperience" may be what makes him the least corrupt among all the candidates.

But even in terms on inexperience, I think Obama has more than Bush did! Obama - I think - was a State senator for a while and then became the junior Senator from Illinois, so he's held public office for probably ten years or so in one form or another. Bush was a governor. That's it, as far as I know. He didn't even hold that office for very long. [I could be wrong, but I don't remember ever hearing about him holding any other political office. He owned a baseball team before he was governor, right!?] He was never in the Senate. A lot of presidents haven't been Senators. Experience in public office has never been this pressing an issue before.

Anyway, I voted for Obama because I really think he's the future of the Democratic party and is in the best position to pull the US out of this crazy war and all the other messes conservatives have left us. I also think he has a better chance of beating anyone the Republicans put up. Republicans seem to hate Clinton and can probably get more Republican voters to come out and vote against Clinton than they could against Obama. Clinton has baggage that Repubs can pull apart and unite their constituencies against. Again, Obama's "inexperience" saves him from that.

I don't think there are any clear winners, especially on the Democratic side, but even on the Republican side. Obviously, the Obama / Clinton race is neck and neck. McCain seems to be pulling ahead, but the Republican race seems to change almost daily. A few days ago, it was McCain versus Romney and no one was even talking about Huckabee. Now, Huckabee has won some key states and he looks to be back in it. While it's probably safe to say that McCain will win that nomination, Romney and Huckabee aren't even close to dead yet.

Huckabee terrifies me. The last thing we need is another religious fanatic in the White House. I'm so sick of that. Religion is actually a reason why I didn't like Edwards much. I don't want a religious man running the government. I want a man (or woman...haha) who can think objectively and make decisions on what's right for the nation (and the world, since the US has that power for now) as a whole, not just the religious percentages that fund their campaigns. I think that's so dangerous and it scares me - truly scares me - how many evangelicals come out to vote versus the rest of us. Running a country based on religion is not the way to go, especially considering our asses are in deep shit with this war. God's guidance has sort of sucked in this case and it's time to start looking at the actual human suffering and making decisions based on the people who actually exist and what's best for them. You can believe in God, but you shouldn't base laws or make decisions for an ever-more secular nation based on "Oh, God said so."

Bleh. This is long. Sorrrrry!

I think we'll have to wait out the Democratic side for a while. I feel like Clinton could get it, but that's just because I'm setting myself up for disappointment. I don't have anything really against Clinton and I will absolutely vote for her if she wins the nomination. I think either Democratic candidates will do a hell of a lot better than Bush (but I also don't think that's saying much!). I hope that - regardless of who wins the Dem. nomination - that citizens are fed up enough with the Bush administration that, even if they don't like Clinton, they'll vote for her over McCain. McCain seems to just want more of the same in a lot of ways. The only thing that makes me feel slightly better about McCain is that, at least, he WAS in a war and may have better perspective / strategy than Bush, but I'd still never vote for him.

Wow. I knew this would be long, but I didn't think it'd be THIS long. You probably only needed, like, a sentence, and I gave you a paper, but you gotta give me a break: I'm a PoliSci major!

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I was pondering the difference between hope and optimism yesterday as I drove back to Quibbletown (where Jess and I were pollworkers for the election) from my own polling place as Fellowship Farm. I suppose I can say I am hopefully Obama will win the nomination and the election, but I am not yet optimistic. I think you can have hope without really having a reason behind that hope, but optimism requires some firm evidence that things will work in that favor. I think optimism is an "educated hope."

There were lots of voters yesterday, more than we ever expected (as was evident by the fact that the town didn't give us nearly enough voting slips). Lots of people (including myself) declared party affiliations, almost all Democratic.

What I liked seeing the most, though, was - believe it or not - kids at the polling places with their parents. I think going to vote with my parents when I was younger is a huge reason why I wanted to vote so badly once I 'grew up' and why I only wanted to turn 18 so I could register. Of course, it wasn't computerized when I went into the booth with my parents. Haha. I just remember going with them and the impact that had on me. Now, with such a monumental and historical race going on, I hope that some of those kids remember this election and its importance, regardless of the outcome, and grow up to be good voters too. This election really could change everything, not in just who becomes president, but in the minds of future voters. If either Obama or Clinton win, the younger generation will no longer be stifled by the idea of someone who isn't an old white dude being president. It won't be an impossible / improbable idealistic thing anymore; it'll be something real. I know when my parents were younger, they could never have imagined a day when a woman and an African American were even in the race for president this far down the line.

I guess my thoughts went to the future partially because I am not optimistic, though very hopeful, and if liberals don't succeed this year (and if the US hasn't blown the world to bits by 2012) that the generation watching their parents vote this year will grow up to vote in the next election(s) - with this one in mind - and really force change to occur. I think this election has the power to really stick in people's minds because, regardless of who wins between Obama and Clinton, it WILL be a historic election. Neither one of these candidates was ever supposed to get this far. That, in and of itself, is something of a success and if we're not quite strong enough to pull it off this year, I am optimistic that we will be next time because it won't be such a taboo idea to have a "minority" run.

Someday, in the not too far off future, I hope women and non-white candidates become as normal in elections as computers and iPods have become throughout society. These things that never existed before have become so much a part of the culture that we can't imagine ourselves without them and I hope this sort of trend in electoral politics continues in a similar way. This is the first step and whether we take off or stumble, it's better than nothing and we're on our way.