In 2004 I was the executive assistant to one of the Deputy Campaign Managers of Kerry/Edwards. You remember Kerry/Edwards don’t you? Vaguely? Kerry was the guy who went water skiing in Nantucket which is the best way to shore up Democratic base votes. Edwards was the guy who…well…at the time he was charming and attractive and The Next Big Thing in politics. Now he’s divorced with a three year old. Regardless, in 2004 they lost. It felt like a swift punch to the gut that night. There was the inevitable anger after spending months of my life invested in this campaign only to see it end thanks to the mercurial nature of the American electorate. The day after, I walked around Farragut North and went grocery shopping for the first time in months. I remember looking at people as they perused the aisles of Trader Joe’s and shushed babies; everything was so normal. Alarmingly so. Did these people not realize what had occurred the evening before? There was exasperation in the voice in my head because why didn’t they look concerned that our only saving grace from the Bush administration had lost? They were just going on about their business as if nothing had happened and everything inside of me demanded answers as to how they could just go along without analyzing every single fuck up of the previous year.

I’m shaking my head while writing this because at 21 naivete was my strong suit. Adorable little Heather full of hope and joy and demanding to know why people do the things they do and why they don’t spend hours camped out in front of CNN playing Monday morning quarterback with every election. Probably because people have lives. Crazy, right?

There was no Monday morning QBing going on last Wednesday. Did I feel let down and devastated on Tuesday night? Yes. I felt like the wind had been sucked out of my sails. But on Wednesday I didn’t contemplate where something went wrong. In fact, Wednesday morning I slept until 10:30 and then went about my day. But how exactly does one who is so deeply ensconced in the political process go from being outraged by an election one year to being all “Yeah, that sucked. Ah well” six years later? Easily. Age helps. As does the realization that elections in a democracy are by definition the opportunity for citizens to express their displeasure in the direction of the country. If people are not happy then it is their right to voice their concern with the leadership. Period.

Could things have gone better? God, yes. But I have been looking at it this way: We live in the land of convenience and fickle behavior. We also live in a place with generous return policies. We’re people who return a shirt because it doesn’t make our boobs look great or return the Ahi Tuna entree because it isn’t as rare as we would like for it to be. If we are unhappy then we have more than ample opportunity to get our money back or complain and like that, we are satisfied. Members of the 111th congress had the opportunities to fix things and they didn’t fix things fast enough for some people’s liking. (Well that on top of having an administration who didn’t adequately express what they had accomplished. But I digress). So they were returned to their hometowns to make room for a Republican congress who would get shit done and do so better and faster. That’s as simply as I can state what happened on November 2nd without over-analyzing each and every decision. People were unhappy so they took it upon themselves to change things.

We are particular people. We like things how we like them and as quickly as possible. We are impatient. We tap our feet while in line and we are the first to express our displeasure in most every situation. The Democrats didn’t deliver in a timely fashion. So the response was “Fine. We’ll find someone who will.” Do I personally find that to be the most rational way to approach running a country? No. Do I think that come January 30th everything will be all better with puppies and roses? Hell no. So I’ll just sit back and let them try.

“People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people.  Of course, that is not true.  Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote – a very different thing.” – Walter H. Judd

There is something to be said for writing a piece on the apathy of young women voters mere hours after a rally for a congressional candidate (featuring Mr. William Jefferson Clinton) where I whooped and hollered and cared just like all of the men folk did. Crazy, right? But it is what the pundits are saying these days; young women are not interested in this election. Better yet, young people as a whole, are disinterested as are minorities which makes me a political anomaly. An anomaly who plans to be up at 6 AM, when the polls open on Election Day, so that I can get in some canvassing later in the morning.

CNN recently asked “What is pushing women away from voting?” My response (to my laptop screen) was, “Do you want like, a list? And how much time do you have?” Because in the time it took me to get to the bottom of the page I could think of at least five reasons:

1) Politicians aren’t engaging women voters.
2) Women don’t feel that candidates are speaking to their issues.
3) The fighting. Oh my God, the fighting. See also; unnecessary violence.
4) Women don’t feel connected to the candidates. Even the female ones.
5) Too much information being thrown out there; it’s hard to sift through and find out the truth and what is really going on.

I hate to say but I think that the pundits are correct. We ARE apathetic. We are apathetic because we don’t feel connect. I’m guessing here but as a (young, black) woman, I can definitely see why my peers feel that what will happen on Election Day will affect them. With a 24/7 news cycle you would think that the stakes of this election would be more apparent but you would be wrong. Instead of informing viewers on what is at stake not just for young women but for the entire country, we are bombarded with the incident du jour. Instead of factual pieces we get the analysis of YouTube videos showing the extreme cases of what this election has wrought on this country and it isn’t pretty. On the evening news bad behavior and scandal is given precedence over the work that women candidates are doing not just for themselves but for all of us. Krystal Ball is giving a face to the adversities that young women face when running for congress and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is giving a face to how we can be wives and mothers and elected officials.

For the candidates: We young women are pretty savvy. I cannot believe I have to remind people of this but it’s true. We like to talk with you, not be talked at. When given the facts instead of facade we’re pretty good at forming our own opinions. No, we aren’t a monolith and shouldn’t be treated as such but when it comes down to it, being a woman unites us more than it tears us apart. We are inquisitive and like to be informed voters but so many of us feel uninformed and disengaged. It seems as if our opinions and needs are only required towards the end of this monumental election. Only in recent weeks have candidates come out to do events focused on women as if they’ve suddenly noticed that we are a large part of the electorate. We are not a ‘Hail Mary’ pass but we are people that would like to be engaged 12 months of the year. That, THAT, is why we are unenthusiastic. Speak to us. You’ll be amazed at how much you might learn.

And for the women: Not voting isn’t the answer. Not voting just says that you don’t care about our futures and where we are headed as a country. It’s not about who you vote for or the R or D next to their name. It’s about putting your proverbial hat in the ring and making your voice – our voices – heard. So my request of you is fairly simple: Vote. It’s easy. You might get a sticker. One of my favorite quotes reads, “People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people.  Of course, that is not true.  Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote – a very different thing.” Your mission is to prove the pundits wrong and make yourself heard.

No one ever pays attention to the Supreme Court. Actually I shouldn’t say that because tourists do. Particularly in the way that they stand directly in the middle of the sidewalk thereby prohibiting people from moving around their fanny-pack clad asses as they gawk at the building; but other than that, nope. Not really. That is until the Supreme Court hands down a decision that people are suddenly outraged by and they cannot fathom how the justices managed to interpret campaign finance law without asking the American people. I mean how dare they use their own opinions?!

At times I find the general ignorance – not necessarily in a bad way but in a “but they don’t make the laws, so why should I care?” way – about the court to be amusing. I smirk when I hear of people who pay no attention to why Presidential elections and Senate races are the two most influential things on the outcome of the highest court in the land. The President chooses a Supreme Court nominee, the Senate confirms said nominee, then that person gets to be on the bench until FOREVER and EVER and EVER.

The ambivalence towards what the nine justices do starting the first Monday in October is truly frightening. Not that I am up every night poring over recent decisions with a mug of chamomile tea by my side but I do make a point of…I don’t know…at least casually paying attention. For these are the people who are paid to interpret the Constitution and they get to do this FOR LIFE.

(I keep emphasizing the FOREVER thing because really, I mean really, being on the Supreme Court is like marriage with the whole ‘Til Death’ clause and if you decide to drop out early it can get kind of awkward and messy and then Orin Hatch wants to filibuster your ass because you might be a baby killer)

I’m telling you all of this to express the way my eyeballs shot out of my head during last night’s Delaware US Senate debate. Chris Coons and Christine “I’m not a witch” O’Donnell went head-to-head with Wolf Blitzer tossing them questions on the obvious. This being a United States Senate debate the issue of the Supreme Court naturally came up. Wolf asked both candidates if there are any recent Supreme Court decisions they disagreed witha and, I shit you not, both Coons and O’Donnell had this deer in the headlights look on their face.

It’s like walking into your Biology final, seeing ‘miosis and mitosis’ on the page and being all “Oh damn, I didn’t know this was going to be on the exam”. It’s Biology. What exactly were you expecting? These are two people who would like to be United States Senators and probably couldn’t pick Samuel Alito out of a line-up is but already have a couch picked out for their new office in the Dirksen Building.

Pro Tip: If you want to be a Senator, learn a little something about the Supreme Court.

The most recent case that O’Donnell could come up with was actually a decision by a Federal District Court so naturally her back-up was Roe v. Wade. I wonder how she feels about Miranda v. Arizona or even Plessy v. Ferguson while we’re at it. Her final response was “Can I get back to you on that one?” Then Wolf turned to Coons who mentioned the Citizens United case. And Wolf said, “Anything else?” And Coons said, “Nope” and Wolf said, “Alrighty then!”

And then I prayed for the state of Delaware because OMFG. Good luck!

It is 2010 and we have a bevy of information literally at your finger tips and I’m assuming that as a candidate for the United States Senate you also have staff with access to the Internet who could at least provide you with the URL of Wikipedia. I was a big fan of Oyez during the college years which includes oral arguments and a handy dandy calendar. And there’s always a little site called GOOGLE.

Oh and I don’t know what Wolf meant by ‘recent’ but since O’Donnell went with Roe v. Wade and Blitzer (kind of) accepted that as an answer; I think I’ll go with Bush v. Gore as a case I disagree with. Sometimes I dream of a world in which the outcome to that case were different. There are a lot of rainbows in that dream.

Other takes on the debate:

O’donnell’s Palin Moment

How Christine O’Donnell should have answered the Supreme Court question

“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.”  ~Alexis de Tocqueville

Two weeks ago I was on a conference call on policy which quickly turned into politics. In particular the House and what they would get or could get done before the end of their brief fall session. We all guffawed at that one. They’re much too focused on themselves right now, someone said through laughter. I’m sure there were nods in agreement because “focusing on themselves”, their futures, their aspirations; is what got so many of the current members of the House into the trouble they find themselves in today. It’s hard not to question whether their focus was on their constituents, a higher authority, or perhaps 2012, 2016 and 2020.

As far back as I can remember I have wanted to be a member of the House and now I am realizing that I could never do it. No way, not ever. I couldn’t be pulled in – literally 70,000 – different directions. Are they even allowed to listen to their gut or is it tainted by all of the other opinions? You and I would go with gut and find the outside chatter superfluous but members of congress rely on the ‘superfluous’. Crazy (some) or not, they are the voters. Whatever it is, right now everyone hates the incumbent.

In New York, the details of which I will get to shortly, I have the immense – and I mean that – pleasure of knowing some stellar members of the House. They’re just nice people. And I’d be quick to call someone out on their bullshit or falsies but nope, they’re kind and seek me out in a crowd. They even ask how my mother is doing. OK fine, it might be BS on their part but it’s well played if it is. I am inclined to believe that a majority of members of the House of Representatives want to do right by the people in their districts. They are there because they really do want to help with the Upstate economy. But of course the few bad apples give the rest a bad name. But the others – the masses – believe in a higher authority that isn’t the will of Nancy Pelosi but representative democracy. That is what I’ve encountered and it is what I will believe until proven otherwise. Yet so many have not had that experience.

Joe is angry about his health care costs and “socialized” medicine. He expressed his anger, loudly, at a Town Hall meeting last summer. Unfortunately his congressman voted for it.

Susan’s a public employee who is recently laid off. She needed that $10 billion bail out or else she would surely drown. Unfortunately her congressman voted against it. It passed but she deserves to be angry.

People are scared. The recession, though supposedly over, is still felt across the country. There are still so many questions to be answered – TARP, Afghanistan, how the Affordable Health Care Act will affect families. But what people are finding is that those who voted for these proposals don’t necessarily have the answers.

The above is what House incumbents face and right now it seems as if they are failing while bearing the brunt of Americans’ anger. Even members who have been considered safe for so long are feeling the heat. For the last several weeks polling has been quite the indicator of voter dissatisfaction; showing most incumbents (most of whom are Democrats as they are in the majority) trailing or without a comfortable lead against a challenger. When Larry Sabato and Charlie Cook, two powerhouses in handicapping races, said that the GOP would take the HOuse by 40-44 seats…well…that’s when my heart sank. Only 37 seats are needed to flip the House. And then comes the “we’ll shut down the government…” threats.

Things are not good. So what now? Well now we wait and see. There’s that whole polling hubbub that keeps people on their toes but I prefer someone with cool calculation like Nate Silver of the famed FiveThirtyEight blog. It’s another good place to keep your eye out and check to see how your member is doing and whether or not they have a fear of falling or failing.

Now to New York (courtesy of the New York Times):

You guys, you don’t hear this often, or ever but I have so much respect for my congressional delegation. I cannot say it enough. So much of the policy that happens in Washington cannot be done without the House going first (of course then that starts a whole back and forth between the House and the Senate where the House gets shit done and the Senate likes to filibuster. Say it with me now, “I love democracy”.) These are the races in  New York that everyone is talking about. The ones to watch, if you will.

(click through to see a description of each race)

CD-1 Tim Bishop. He’s whip smart on policy and will ask you questions to which you must answer “I don’t know, Congressman”.

CD-13 Michael McMahon. Voted against health care reform but voted for a recent education jobs fund that would provide public employers in his district with funds to hire back laid off employees. Public employees like teachers and firefighters. That’s a good thing.

CD-19 John Hall. He recently jammed with Pete Seeger and hangs out in my favorite downstate town, Beacon.

CD-20 Scott Murphy.  As far as elected officials go, I totally dig him. He’s a genuinely good guy and smarter than I will ever be. Smart and nice. That doesn’t happen very often in Congress.

CD-24 Michael Arcuri. Another good guy who wants to do the right thing but is also a Blue Dog Democrat, so doing the right thing shouldn’t put us even further in the red.

CD-23 Bill Owens. He’s like magic. He won out of the blue in a race that everyone thought he would lose. And now he’s that guy who likes to sit and chat about everything going on and always, always, always wants to find the best solution for the people he represents.

CD-25 Dan Maffei.  Another nice guy (do you see a pattern here?). Amiable. In tune to his constituents which is a key factor in getting elected.

CD-29 Eric Massa resigned from this seat. There are two gentlemen running and I can’t even begin to tell you who might win.

So there you have it…FOR NOW…There will be changes and I will do my best to keep people updated on the happenings of the midterms in New York State and other fun (I use that term loosely) things.

Any questions?

I feel the need to write about this particular topic because it’s a trend I’ve been seeing, oh, since…forever. The trend isn’t anything cool like brooches or statement jewelry it’s the trend of being an asshole when it comes to politics. Election time comes along and people catch a fever that forces them to dig down to the cruelest depths of their soul to spew hate at those who might have an opposing view point. A sickness is the only way to describe such awful behavior. All under the guise of “the first amendment” or “disagreement”. That, my friends isn’t simply disagreement. That is what I like to call being an asshole. Now stop it.

I like living in a representative democracy. One where we are each afforded the right to speak our minds and vote without fear of retribution. We don’t have to watch our backs each time we disagree with the powers at be. In fact, it’s encouraged not to follow blindly but to lead boldly. Plain and simple, it’s nice here. But then the elections come around and suddenly a select group of people are in dire need of an exorcism to rid them of their piss poor behavior.

Listen, I can understand the need to be passionate about what you believe and stand by your convictions. I can also understand becoming frustrating by those who refuse to listen or for some reason cannot comprehend your political beliefs. But this is politics, not a cage match. The beauty of living in a country such is ours is that we are afforded the right to peaceful political discourse. Emphasis on PEACEFUL. We can discuss politics and policy not in absolutes but in how it could be and should be. We can vote for the people we would most like to see leading this country and if we don’t like their job performance, we can vote them right on out. We get to see change with our voices and by a simple pull of a lever. Unfortunately it’s not a Democrat thing or a Republican thing, it’s an everyone thing: We have these rights.

To shout at each other, to call each other awful names, to use racial slurs, to demean one’s religion and – I cannot believe I am saying this – to threaten bodily harm to someone and/or their family, directly violates and quite frankly shits upon the rights we have been afforded. It is the aforementioned behavior which keeps people from wanting to participate in a political discussion for fear of being called awful names or disrespected based on their personal vision of this country.

I don’t think everyone is correct. I can be seen rolling my eyes at the Tea Party more frequently than not and the thought of Sarah Palin as President gives me a rash. But I listen, I observe and I am respectful. That last part being the most important. I enjoy debates and the political process but I hate the spiteful digs and the genuine acts of evil that can be the result of an election. So…please? Pretty please with one hundred cherries on top, let’s try to be kind to one another for the next six weeks. Let’s look at this process not as something that needs to form ugliness but instead form thoughtful discussion on where this country is and what it needs to move forward.

It has come to my attention that not everyone lives their lives in two year cycles waiting patiently for the next election. There are even people who (gasp) are blissfully unaware that there is a rather competitive Midterm election going on. And if they are aware, they find it so easy to just change the channel and ignore the back and forth shots between candidates and political parties that they have no idea of how much the DCCC is paying for airtime. Sometimes I imagine that it might be nice to be one of those people. On the other hand, I’ll be able to fall asleep on the evening of November 2nd knowing that not only did I take the time to vote but I also took the time to read up and have some understanding of who I voted for and why. I could never completely disengage from a life ensconced in politics and so I will forever – OK, for the foreseeable future – speculate about presidential candidates anytime anyone steps foot in Iowa. Seriously, did you go to DeMoines last week? You did? Well then you must be running for President. But that’s just me. My hope of hopes isn’t for everyone I encounter to feel that deep sense of urgency and poll watching that befalls me starting January 1 of an even number year. My simple hope is for people to find themselves more aware and at least once a week perusing their local news to see what will be voted on and when.

This all is in response to a conversation with a dear friend who mentioned that she had no idea what was going on in New York state this election cycle. Short of falling face first off a bar stool and/or rolling my eyes dramatically; I told her that I would write a little something to help her out. Now, I’m not one to pretend to know everything that is going on in every single state which is why Washington Post’s Midterms 2010 coverage is absolutely phenomenal. It quite literally has everything short of holding your hand and walking you to the polls. It is one of my top – not too inside baseball – places to go for information this cycle.

What else should you know? Hmm…oh yes, everyone hates the incumbent. Which isn’t a shock since discontent towards elected officials isn’t unheard of but oh mah gah. This year the disdain is turned up to 11. People think that congress is a waste of space and that someone else, anyone else, could do better. Personally, I’m not inclined to feel that way but I also can walk up to my congressman and complain if the spirit so moves me. I  am also aware of how much the members of the New York congressional delegation do while under tremendous pressure and scrutiny and so, no, I don’t feel all that strongly. I believe that the average person is angry about this sucktastic economy and since congress is voting on bailouts and stimulus packages totaling in the billions , yet the money is not exactly flowing, they – Average Joes and Janes – need someone to lash out against and congress has a giant bulls-eye on its back. Where the money goes no one knows and that’s really fucking scary.

Over the next 50 (thank God) days I’ll be writing more about the 2010 Midterms; things I’m seeing and hearing and will be doing a series of interviews with some pundits and the like to give a better sense of where things are now and where they appear to be going. I’m excited about this if only for one – albeit selfish- reason: to finally hear from someone other than my peers and my select group of locals  who are admittedly far more liberal and biased than someone on the street. This will grant me the opportunity to hear what others – including a conservative or two – have to say about the direction this country is headed in. Right now we seem to be between a rock and hard place with a lot of very pissed off people. Where do we go from here?

Now, about New York:

As promised here is what is going down in New York. There’s a gubernatorial race, two senate races (which is rare and due to the appointment of Senator Gillibrand to replace Secretary of State Clinton. Gillibrand is running to complete the former Senator’s term and bonus! She gets to run again in 2012 for a full term), the entire House delegation as well as the state Senate and Assembly. I’m going to leave the latter two off for right now and focus on more nationally focused races.

Governor

The front-runner has been Andrew Cuomo, son of former Governor Maria Cuomo, for such a long, long time. Seriously. Since the second his name was thrown out as a possible contender for Governor he’s been winning. In a recent Quinnipiac poll he’s headed towards ‘landslide’. This probably has something to do with the fact that he isn’t David Paterson and that he’s been eschewing normally “liberal” view points. Also, after the disastrous turn of events with the most recent Governors, anyone with a pulse and hasn’t spent time in prison seems like a good idea. He also comes with name recognition as the current Attorney General.

United States Senate

Chuck Schumer is running against someone and I have no idea who that someone is. If that tells you anything it’s that I’m living under a rock or Chuck Schumer is so freaking popular that he’s going to win. Go with the latter.

At this point last year there were 17 Democrats running against Senator Gillibrand. Now? Zero. This is a woman who went from having opponents making national news including one Harold Ford, Jr. whose possible candidacy infuriated me not because of him as a person but because I already had people asking me how on earth I would choose between the woman and the black man. It was like Clinton v. Obama all over again with the pain of people’s ignorance. Tomorrow (Tuesday, September 14) is primary day and she currently has no serious opponent and none for November 2nd either. Once again I found myself living under a rock when until yesterday evening I had no clue what David Malpass looked like. Quinnipiac says that she will have ‘smooth sailing’.

United States House of Representatives

Forthcoming.

This is already long enough and I don’t want to bore you too much. But spoiler alert! Bloodbath. More on the House later.