Since the mid-term elections are coming up next week, I thought I'd post this excerpt from a letter that former State Rep. hopeful Dave Friedman sent to his supporters (and I was proud to be one) after he was narrowly defeated in the recent primary....
"In the wake of the September 17 primary, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to talk and listen to me over the course of the campaign. As you have probably heard, I was edged out by incumbent Brian Golden by a slim 232 votes, 2,172 to 1,940. (The other candidate, Paul Felker, received 237 votes.) It was a hard-fought campaign, and we knew we had the incumbent scared when he resorted to desparate attacks on my legal work for people with mental disabilities.
In the end, my biggest disappointment is not that I lost, but that so few people voted in the primary at all. In a district of roughly 38,000 residents, only 4,349 voted in the primary (11%), and our state representative prevailed with fewer than 2,200 votes (6%). When so few people choose to vote, our entire community loses."
Wise words, and some seriously depressing statistics. The percentages are always lower for mid-term elections, and especially for primaries... but sheesh... 11%? I'm not going to get on a soapbox here, because we've heard it all before. At the very least, we should vote so we retain our right to complain about the government. That's always fun.
Speaking of the election, don't miss the Daily Show this week, and especially their live broadcast next Tuesday. Their "Indecision 2002" coverage is guaranteed to bring the funny.
So we got TiVo, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Time to hunker down for the winter. (And I think that's the first time I've ever written the word 'hunker'). More on those two top-notch entertainment purchases later.
