Curmudgeon's Corner

The Final Few Days...

Posted by Al Campbell on Oct. 26, 2010

Political, Quality of Life, U.S., Wisconsin

The final few days preceding the election are upon us and the pace of advertising is picking up…if that is even possible.

It is interesting to observe the posturing that takes place at this point in campaigns.  There are some candidates who have to know they are trailing badly, BUT they’ll not admit it thinking they can fool a few more voters to continue supporting them.  There are some candidates who know they’re leading, BUT it is as if they’ll be punished for gloating so they refuse to admit they think they’re ahead.

There are still some races that seem too close for predictions, according to some polls.  And yet those very polls may be suspect depending upon how they go about conducting their polls.  Do they talk to registered voters or likely voters?  How do they apportion the numbers of Democratic voters and the numbers of Republican voters?  Do they actually talk to people or do they run automated polling?

All this and more go into the internal polling results, too.  I suspect that candidates can become infatuated with getting good numbers if for no other reason than to gather the energy to run the last lap or two of this grueling race.  There are pollsters who specialize in Democratic polling and there are pollsters who specialize in Republican polling.  There are pollsters who poll for their livelihood and there are the student-conducted polls that rely on the political science professor and a bank of telephones.

The mudslingers are at it again especially at this time in the races.  If they can muddy up the other guy or gal, they think they’ll potentially pick up the handful of votes they might need.  This is disgusting from my perspective, but it works and that is why it is trotted out every political season.  I suspect this is aimed at those who are only involved on a surface level, those who don’t take the time or have the inclination to dig deeper to learn more about the candidates.  It wouldn’t continue to be a favorite tool if it didn’t produce results.

And finally, this is the time in each political season when I wonder how in the world any person can keep up the pace required today to win the big races.  I wonder how in the world the candidates can take the beatings they receive and not become so angry they could scream at their opponent standing a couple of feet away during the debate.  I can only imagine how the families of candidates must feel at the end of a race, having seen the husband or wife or mom or dad or brother or sister vilified and having been unable to do anything to protect them.

But the real ‘last thing’ I think about is this:  how does one spew falsehoods or virtual falsehoods about the opponent and then live with himself or herself after doing so?  Do they somehow come to really believe this garbage?  Or do they simply ascribe it to “politics” and think nothing more about it after it is said?