Election Day Hangover

I'm pretty disgusted this morning, though there are some high points. In our local County Executive race, a young woman named Joanie Mahoney won handily over her Democratic rival (though, to be fair, there's a 2:1 ratio of Republican voters in this county, so the Republicans easily dominate in many races). She won the primary against the endorsed Republican candidate by the slimmest of margins (21 votes!) I was excited to see her as a viable candidate, and even considered voting for her, until I read about her and the opposing candidate. She has absolutely no relevant experience and her political credibility arises more from her father's long political career than from her own activities. She reminds me of Bush - she's charming and well-connected, but she's completely unprepared for the job. The County Executive oversees a workforce of 4000+ people and a budget of over $1 billion (including fire, police, water, sanitation, and social services). It's a serious job that deserves a serious stewart, not a wannabe with a chip on her shoulder (her father was defeated in the race for Syracuse mayor 2 years ago).

The high points are the two Republican seats in the county legislature that went to Democrats, including the first ever seat in a suburban district - my own (I saw quite a few lawn signs in my neighborhood for the Democratic candidate!) That feels great!

Sadly, when I went to vote yesterday, they told me the turnout had been low - the turnout is always over 50% and hadn't hit that point. Very discouraging. And on the news this morning I heard discussion of America's incredibly low voter turnout compared to other democratic nations - we're in the bottom 25%. What does that say about us?

Among those not voting was my husband, who was on a plane to Florida yesterday. On the way to the airport in the morning he said, "What's the point, they're all corupt scumbags." I hope that he's only saying that to tweak me. I contend that local elections are just as important as national ones, in fact, in many ways they're more important, because they impact on your life more directly. Just as significantly, the less involved that voters are, the more the choice does become pointless, because politicians can see that we're not paying attention. Ms Mahoney won the primary by 21 votes. That's not very many people who decided the fate of a billion dollars.

Just to make the taste in my mouth even more sour, on Joe Scarborough's show this morning, he and his two co-hosts ALL predicted that Rudy Giuliani will be the next president. What a vile thought. I would consider a move to Canada.