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Jewish World Review Oct. 31, 2000 / 2 Mar-Cheshvan, 5761
Chris Matthews
Mine hasn't counted in years. If every voter in my giant
suburban county wrote in the name of Hannibal Lecter, or
even less likely, voted for George W. Bush, Maryland
would still go for Al Gore. Let's face it, the state went
Democrat even when its governor — you remember
Spiro Agnew — was on the Republican ticket.
All those years I lived in Washington D.C., my vote
mattered for even less. Put the name of Marion "Mayor
for Life" Barry on the ballot, and I'd still not bet on the
GOP in this wall-to-wall Democratic capital.
This sense of electoral worthlessness in presidential
elections is now a national reality.
"My vote doesn't count," you hear people say from
Brooklyn to the San Francisco Bay, "I live in ..."
New York? Gov. George Pataki was in Scranton, Pa.,
last week drumming up votes for Bush. Why should he
stay at home? With a 5-to-3 registration edge in New
York state, the Democrats have it locked.
California? With a 7-point lead in the L.A. Times poll, the
Gore team has refused to waste TV ad money in a
political market it believes is secure.
Texas? George W. Bush owns it.
Three-fourths of the states are in the same category: judged "safe" by one
party, hopeless by the other. Heard of any downtown rallies in Boston lately?
In Salt Lake City? Waiting for those newspaper pictures of Bush or Gore
barnstorming through New Haven or Cheyenne? Forget about it.
No. This election is limited to the "battleground states." If you live in Oregon,
Washington, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arkansas, West Virginia or Florida, this campaign's
for you.
But if you live in the other three-fourths of the states, don't count on a lot of
excitement this last week before election. Bush and Gore are focusing all their
travel time and TV ads on the swing voters in the swing states.
People ask why so many Americans are so unexcited about this presidential
election. This is why. Nobody is asking them to get excited.
If you're a liberal, pro-choice Democrat from Santa Monica, Gore has already
got you tagged and bagged. If you're a southern conservative from Jackson,
Miss., don't wait on the porch for George W. to come passing by.
No. Al and W. are taking the same shuttle these days, up and down the
Florida-to-Flint corridor, asking the same fickle voters to finally hear the
wedding bells.
Meanwhile, the great mass of us just wait around for the phone to ring with
plenty of time to read those editorials blasting us for being so indifferent and
apathetic.
So here's what I think: People say that the electoral college threatens to kill our
democracy this November by giving us a president who places second in the
popular vote.
I say the death knell has already begun. "My vote doesn't count," we sing, "I
live in ..."
As long as we choose our president by this system of winner-take-all in each
state, expect this anthem to rise. The more balkanized the country gets, the
closer the two major parties grow in strength, the more worthless our individual
votes will become.
This accounts for the safe, centrist, predictable, pandering voice of this entire
campaign.
With three-fourths of the electorate being taken for granted by one party, given
up for granted by the other, every sound you hear between now and Nov. 7
will be aimed at the retirees of Florida or the auto workers of Michigan.
Not very invigorating, is
it?
10/17/00: Play White House admissions officer
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