Lost in the Blizzard
The Electoral Vote Tracker presently shows an even split between the candidates, with Bush on 192 and Kerry on 188. Most remarkable is the massive 158 votes that could be taken by either side. Despite the masses of speeches, scraps, insults and howls of protest flying around, nothing can penetrate the suffocating uncertainty that is coming to characterise the election. Both parties have thrown up equal amounts of dust and every day we hear of something new that could swing the election, some way of making inroads into the jumbled pile of uncertain votes.
Today, according to the Boston Globe, the new uncertainty lies in the hidden intentions of a million voters in six states who can legally register to vote on the actual day of voting itself. Much of this kind of thought is a product of commentators wishing fervently they actually knew what the hell was going on in the minds of undecided voters…nobody is even close to knowing for sure what will go down on November 2nd. The one certain thing is that the day won't be short of controversy. The trouble lies in the fact that any potentially accurate predictions of that controversy made now will get lost in the blizzard. Take one possible future; if the election came down to some kind of computer failure in Florida that resulted in an artificial Bush victory and a democratic howl of outrage…governer Jeb Bush would stand there on the stage and say "well, they would start accusing us of corruption now that they've lost, wouldn't they?" And half the country would bang their heads on the wall. "But we pointed out this could happen ages ago," they would say. "And you did nothing about it. Nothing!" And that would be that. Boom. Tough shit.
Whatever happens, the uncertainty means that many veteran commentators are ultimately going to have to eat crow. Hell, so what kind of a chance does that give the rest of us? Do we simply hurl the television out of the window, muffle the radio and burn the newspapers to avoid it all for the next week and a half? Easy enough here in Britain when it's not our country on the line, but for those in the battleground states where election adverts are spewed endlessly into their living room as they grow increasingly nervous of the rest of the world glaring their way…the truth is, it would be easiest for them all round if they simply lied to the pollsters – and wouldn't that be a great scene, if the entire undecided population got together, faced the press and said in a collective deadpan voice "Actually, we're all going to vote for Nader." And then sat back and watched the fireworks with a grin.
Maybe not…nobody would be that twisted. But anything's better than this uncertainty.
Today, according to the Boston Globe, the new uncertainty lies in the hidden intentions of a million voters in six states who can legally register to vote on the actual day of voting itself. Much of this kind of thought is a product of commentators wishing fervently they actually knew what the hell was going on in the minds of undecided voters…nobody is even close to knowing for sure what will go down on November 2nd. The one certain thing is that the day won't be short of controversy. The trouble lies in the fact that any potentially accurate predictions of that controversy made now will get lost in the blizzard. Take one possible future; if the election came down to some kind of computer failure in Florida that resulted in an artificial Bush victory and a democratic howl of outrage…governer Jeb Bush would stand there on the stage and say "well, they would start accusing us of corruption now that they've lost, wouldn't they?" And half the country would bang their heads on the wall. "But we pointed out this could happen ages ago," they would say. "And you did nothing about it. Nothing!" And that would be that. Boom. Tough shit.
Whatever happens, the uncertainty means that many veteran commentators are ultimately going to have to eat crow. Hell, so what kind of a chance does that give the rest of us? Do we simply hurl the television out of the window, muffle the radio and burn the newspapers to avoid it all for the next week and a half? Easy enough here in Britain when it's not our country on the line, but for those in the battleground states where election adverts are spewed endlessly into their living room as they grow increasingly nervous of the rest of the world glaring their way…the truth is, it would be easiest for them all round if they simply lied to the pollsters – and wouldn't that be a great scene, if the entire undecided population got together, faced the press and said in a collective deadpan voice "Actually, we're all going to vote for Nader." And then sat back and watched the fireworks with a grin.
Maybe not…nobody would be that twisted. But anything's better than this uncertainty.
posted by Jamie at 10:20 AM
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