| . Politics
& Government The
State of Things: Moderation in All Things? Here
at home, so far as we know, the elections are over and all votes
official. Governor dean has won another term with the majority of
votes cast, while Ruth Dwyer actually made a poorer showing than in her
previous run, despite spending more. And in the world of third party
politics, Anthony Pollina showed that the Progressives could pull nearly
10% of the vote state-wide with a candidate who, before the campaign, was
a relative unknown. Moreover, the turn-out at the polls
in Vermont was half again the national average -- some 75% as compared
with a mere 50% nationally. ... Did we learn
anything from this election. Maybe. Maybe not. It
probably didn't matter that much that Dean is an ostensible
Democrat. He's a Democrat of the new ilk, an elephant in donkey's
clothing when he needs to be, or vice versa. He raised his politics
or pragmatism up the flag pole and enough people saluted to give him a
clear victory. But there's no question that
Howard Dean positioned himself as close to half-way between Dwyer and
Pollina as he could, leaning ever so slightly right here and ever so
imperceptibly left there ... but leaning so little that when all was said
and done, he was the only one left standing. Isn't
Chad a Country? Here at home, so far as we
know, the elections are over and all votes official. But that is
obviously not the case in the presidential race. ... There,
through twists and turns and the canyons of court proceedings, the outcome
of the presidential race is still undetermined. The jokes have
been flying fast and furious, particularly about chads -- those little
bits of paper, hanging, pregnant, dimpled -- upon whose reading the next
president will take the oath of office. What's been
hard to tell, amid all the joking and concurrent filing of mountains of
legal briefs, is just how the American people view these events. ...
The hope going 'round here is that, after such a close race, maybe next
time more Americans will vote. That would be the best possible
outcome of this election. *******
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