I've Never Heard Of The Guy
OK, today I can officially be declared unobservant. I have slipped into the hoi polloi, the great unwashed, Mencken's "booboisie".
I'm doing my morning run on the treadmill (again - wind chills were below zero) with an eye on the TV. Here they are interviewing victims (uh, I mean, candidates) from yesterday's Iowa caucuses when Matt Lauer says to this guy I've never seen before:
"So tell me Senator, did a second-place finish surprise you?"
I come to find out the guy Lauer is talking to is Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. He's running for the Democratic nomination for President. I didn't know that. I guess I'd better start paying more attention.
And when did Al Gore drop out?
K-
ROFL!! You are unobservant, aren't you? Dare I ask who you are going to vote for president?
I am a registered Republican who has pretty much stopped voting the party ticket -- I'm too much of a Centrist and the centrists don't have their own party... yet. Edwards interests me, especially since it is looking more and more like Joe Lieberman doesn't have a chance... darn!
Actually that I wasn't paying attention to the Iowa Caucus has some rationale. Maryland has the disadvantage (maybe it's an advantage) of having absolutely no impact on the national political scene. So during primary season, we get zero attention from the presidential candidates. And because it's so small, the national presidential candidates are largely determined by Maryland's primary day. So I just wait till November or thereabouts to really start paying attention.
Last week, the Washington Post endorsed Lieberman, who because of his more centrist tendencies, didn't attract a lot of the attention of the Iowa party people. (In fact, I don't think he campaigned there at all.) We'll see how he does now that he has to start making his case. I liked him as VP candidate last time (despite some backpedaling) and I like him all the more now.
As for who I vote for... thanks to Ken Starr I'll never vote for a Republican (not that I had before Ken Starr). If it comes down to having to vote for a Democrat I don't like (this happened in the last Maryland governor election), I just don't vote for that office.
And the Gore quip was a joke; I knew he wasn't running.
K-