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A few last reflections as campaign winds down
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Published: November 4, 2008
Two men stood near the end of a row of lockers early yesterday having an intense discussion at the Central YMCA. They weren't arguing. Neither man raised his voice.
With a TV blaring the latest from Election Central at one of several all-politics, all-the-time cable channels, the men were discussing the race for president.
The older man had been wearing a Barack Obama T-shirt; the younger man spoke in favor of John McCain.
On the one hand, the scene was a microcosm of all that's right with our democratic system of governing. On the other, it was yet another reminder that the marathon (hopefully) ends tonight.
We'll have a new president, a new governor and a raft of other changes from various county courthouses to the halls of Congress. There will be a peaceful transfer of power, and we'll all be reminded again about how lucky we are to live in a place where the system works (mostly) the way the framers intended.
We're also going to be exhausted. Burned out, even.
The good news is that it's almost over. With that in mind, consider this a final robo-call and a few parting words about the campaign season that can't end soon enough.
Precedent in Chicago
□ On the national level, this election is about the economy, jobs and the economy. Anybody with a pulse knows that much.
However, we'd be remiss to gloss over the historic nature of the presidential election and the undeniable role that race has -- and will -- play in the national conversation.
Perhaps you noticed a story in this family newspaper Sunday about that very subject. An accompanying graphic included this jaw-dropper: 33 percent of those polled said that they know someone who wouldn't vote for Obama because he's black and 21 percent who said they'd vote for him because he's black.
That reminded me of something I'd read in a collection of columns by the late Mike Royko, an icon in his native Chicago. In 1983, a black man, Harold Washington, won the Democratic primary for mayor, and that sent a large part of the city into a tizzy.
Royko, as he so often did, nailed it when he started a column about Washington with this memorable line -- "So I told Uncle Chester: Don't worry, Harold Washington doesn't want to marry your sister."
In other words, you're an idiot and a relic if you vote for or against a candidate based on skin color. Or gender, for that matter.
□ Concerning a much tighter than expected race for U.S. Senate here in North Carolina, we should thank Sen. Elizabeth "My Momma Lived In Salisbury" Dole and challenger Kay "My Uncle was the Governor of Florida" Hagan for a highly entertaining race.
Attacks about Dole being a Bush crony and Hagan as a foot soldier for Nancy Pelosi were fun. Millions were raised (and spent) to saturate the airwaves with thousands of mean commercials.
To think that Hagan initially didn't want to run.
Called that one wrong
□ On a pseudo-local level, we here in Winston-Salem have one of our own running for a seat on the N.C. Supreme Court as Suzanne Reynolds, a law professor at Wake Forest, challenges Justice Bob Edmunds for his seat on the bench.
While it's cool to have a local woman running for a statewide office -- another Winston-Salem native, Mary Fant Donnan, is running for labor commissioner -- this particular contest serves to illustrate exactly what a crapshoot judicial elections really are and how difficult it can be to make an informed choice in those races.
Reynolds is very smart, a long-time professor who specializes in family law. Edmunds is also very smart, and has spent virtually his entire career practicing in actual courtrooms. But you'd be hard-pressed to find out much more than that before voting.
□ On a final note, who was the knucklehead who wrote this on March 30 about the eventual Democratic presidential nominee spending time campaigning here? "Because once the primary's over, you aren't likely to see them set foot in North Carolina again."
Oops. That was me. Consider the source.
■ Scott Sexton can be reached at 727-7481 or at ssexton@wsjournal.com.
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