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No time like the present for elections
Holding the primaries in March means the candidates will have to stick to the issues
By Deborah Taylor-Hollis
I am a devout voter, having never, in more than 20 years, missed any election, be it national, state, local, PTA or family vote. I love everything about this democracy thing--the secrecy of voting, the rhetoric of the speeches, the respect for individuals conveyed by the counting of each vote.
This year, for the first time ever in the great state of California's history, our primary national elections come in March--March 7 to be exact. Are you surprised? You should be. It's awfully early in the year to be thinking about just who's lying outright and has guts versus who's lying casually and with great fervor and therefore has brains. But that is not why you should be surprised. If you're feeling caught "off guard," the reason is simple--nobody has pounded home the issues until you want to scream. They haven't had time.
Our usual June ballot time is long past every other important election in the U.S., so that all the politicians, after whirlwind tours and voter courting, have time to slowly, methodically and, in perverse fashion to the way they will govern, consistently blanket us with information. But, by pushing our primary into the thick of things, we have also found an effective way to keep our mail boxes blissfully empty of campaign trash; they haven't had time to bombard us.
I think I will love this kind of election campaign. The participants are going to have to stick to the issues; they don't have time to start smear rumors, wait for those rumors to take root, and then come riding in on gleaming white horses. They have to stick to the issues. I can go to my mailbox and not have a cascade of useless information pour out. There isn't time to send daily mail to me for a month beforehand.
I will still have time to read up on every issue and every candidate, but I won't have to get bleary-eyed reading "a slam a day" mailings about their opponents. The candidates will be so busy campaigning in other early-primary states they won't have time to bombard me with useless fluff before the big day. They'll barely have time to fly here and point fingers at each other on TV.
Speaking of TV, having an early campaign also means that candidates, having depleted their money in other primaries, won't have weeks to recharge their coffers before spending here. I'm hoping that means that I will get to see (and enjoy) their television ads, but that they won't have enough money to repeat them ad nauseam, every hour on the hour for a full month.
During one particularly nasty election, I saw the same ad so many times I could repeat it verbatim, complete with the phrase, "This advertisement brought to you by the citizens' committee to watch out for campaign refinance reform on Indian tribal gaming lands prior to the first elective cycle within a full-moon period over water. Thank you."
I don't know whether I should feel elated to be freed from the constant jabber or depressed that I won't have months to ponder, debate, weigh, re-ponder, and eventually consult one of my lifelines before I get to meander down the street (maybe in the rain). There I will walk into that gym at the church, tell the nice volunteer that my name is RIGHT THERE (even upside down I can find myself quicker than they can) and then pull the cheap cardboard booth comfortably around me. I will give one last gasp of surprise at how few meaningful choices there are as my stiletto-sharp poker and I stab our way though another voter ticket. But I am happy to know that, at least this time, the whole darned thing won't have already been decided before I get to come up to the plate.
Readers can contact Deborah at DTHollis@metronews.com.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
