Wednesday, October 06, 2004

It's one really big tree

It's one really big tree

I've had remarkably little to say about this election, given my front row seat.

What's happened is the old forest for the trees problem. I'm so deep in the woods that all I can see is one tree. And it's a really BIG tree. And it's being chopped down and turned into paper, and all of that paper is flying into our office...

The sheer BASIC-ness of the questions I'm hearing makes me think this year is a big one. The Big Ones bring out the least engaged people, who naturally have the most basic questions. 1996 was dry as toast because no one ever believed Dole had a chance. 2000 wasn't interesting until AFTER Election day. This feels like 1992.

Except in 1992 there was a different vibe. There was the whole Clinton-change thing, the end of the Cold War, and there was the anti-politics thing that Perot represented. It wa smore volatile, less predictable. This thing has been dead-heat standoff (with minor variation) from the day Kerry clinched the nomination, and I STILL think it's going to come down to the kind of turnout-absentee gruntwork we locals do.

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