After paying no more than cursory attention to my computer and the news since the middle of last week thanks to a rather nasty little cold bug, I’m trying to skim through everything I’ve missed as quickly as possible.
All the big news right now is about yesterday’s Iowa caucus, with Kerry coming out on top, Edwards coming out of nowhere to take the number two spot, and Dean ending up in a surprisingly distant third place. As a Dean supporter, it’s a bit of a bummer, but at the same time, this is only a first step, and there’s still quite a bit of jostling to go before the final nominee is chosen. While Kerry has never really caught my interest, I should probably find out a little more about Edwards, who I don’t really know much about at all.
One thing I’m curious about, though, and have yet to find hard numbers on, is the turnout for the caucus. In the weeks preceding yesterday’s event, I got the impression that as dismal as voter turnout is for major elections, turnout for the caucuses is generally even lower, usually consisting only of the really die-hard political junkies who are paying attention to all this stuff this early in the game. Yesterday, while skimming over news reports and when I caught a little bit of a news report while on my lunch break, I got the impression that the turnout in Iowa was surprisingly large, with many more people showing up to make their voice heard than anyone expected (which probably influenced the final tallies).
If this is true, I think it’s an absolutely great thing. I’ve said for a while that the only good thing I can really attribute to the Bush administration is that it’s gotten a lot more people paying attention to and willing to participate in the political process, and if we’re getting record turnout for the caucuses, this could be a strong indication of just that. If people are tired enough of Bush’s leadership to show up in surprisingly large numbers to be a part of the process of finding the best candidate to oust Bush from office nearly a year before the general elections, it makes me even more optimistic that come November, we’ll be putting a Democrat back in office again.
It’s not often that political news makes me feel optimistic these days. I like it when it happens, though.
(The caveat being, of course, that if I’ve misinterpreted the bits of news that I’ve skimmed over and the numbers aren’t all that large, it may not be that newsworthy after all — but I’ll continue to keep my fingers crossed.)
iTunes: “Hollow Man” by Kula Shaker from the album K (1996, 19:26).