Fear of Elections

It’s that rotgut, queasy stomach, sweat it out, expect the worst time again … a liberal waiting for November 2 to be over. I’ve been through this eight times already and mostly it’s been a bummer. But none quite so bad as this year. And that’s from somebody who had to live through Reagan as governor as well as the endless presidency – and post presidency. But this time it got so bad I actually had to read a poll.
And then I had to read all the Swing State polls. And then the whole enchilada of polls. And then I sharpened a pencil and went to work on the back of the 2004 Election Scorecard I had printed out. Every poll for every undetermined state since the middle of September to… tonight. Three columns: Kerry, Bush, Other (the trash bin category that included Nader, undecideds, & anybody or anything else) plus the last date of the poll with the latest poll on top.
It was just simple arithmatic. Either a “trend” (difference between the earliest and last poll number) or an average of all polls, and sometimes both. I never really looked at the “other” category.
And you know what? I have discovered a wonderful thing. Poll Obsession trumps Fear of Elections. And, according to my calculations, this ninth presidential election is going to be my lucky one.