Chris Heinz, Ralph Nader, My Clan
October 5 in Santa Fe, New Mexico was heralded by torrential rain. Lightening crackled the sky. Thunder pounded our walls. A gas line broke on the south side of town rendering many homes and businesses without power. The sky stayed dark and rain fell well into the gray morning. Welcome to the first day of early and absentee voting.
I began my day by scooting over to the Santa Fe County Courthouse where, I'd been told, Chris Heinz, stepson of John Kerry, son of Theresa Heinz Kerry, would be talking with new, young voters on hand to either register or vote. This wasn't entirely true. Heinz was there, surrounded by the middle-aged and older, answering their questions and making lighthearted jokes in the wet morning. He seemed mildly amused by my questions ("Do you have an Oedipus Complex?" The answer is no, FYI). In truth, it's hard to want to know much from the potential First Step Son, although he seems like a good frontman for the campaign—he looks so much weirdly like JFK Junior it's enough to make even a cynic entertain a few conspiracy thoughts.
Speaking of conspiracies…
It looks like Ralph Nader is once again back on New Mexico's ballot, wreaking havoc with early voting, since the ballots, as I understand it, will again have to be reprinted. Sheesh! Bad news for the Dems (or so they say. My guess is anyone that intent on voting for Nader might not vote for Kerry anyway, but what do I know?). Meanwhile, in our other high-profile voting case, new voters will only have to show ID if they registered by mail. That should make for some confusion at the polls.
Our last voter project, Oct. 1, was a big success. DJ Apollo was awesome. I interviewed him a bit about hip hop and politics and hope to get that interview into the paper, or somewhere, soon. Next week, I'm planning a bit of an election diary for the cover story. Local Democrats registered about 30 voters, which is pretty amazing given how saturated the voter-registration rolls are. We definitely did our part. Now it's just about the election (and planning the election party, of course).
Meanwhile, the VP debate is tonight and my family is in town so I can watch it with a bunch of rowdy East Coast liberals. I am looking forward to this debate even more than the presidential ones because the contrast between Edwards and Cheney seems more exciting. Edwards is so hot; Cheney is so not. (Clearly my values have devolved beyond repair).
I began my day by scooting over to the Santa Fe County Courthouse where, I'd been told, Chris Heinz, stepson of John Kerry, son of Theresa Heinz Kerry, would be talking with new, young voters on hand to either register or vote. This wasn't entirely true. Heinz was there, surrounded by the middle-aged and older, answering their questions and making lighthearted jokes in the wet morning. He seemed mildly amused by my questions ("Do you have an Oedipus Complex?" The answer is no, FYI). In truth, it's hard to want to know much from the potential First Step Son, although he seems like a good frontman for the campaign—he looks so much weirdly like JFK Junior it's enough to make even a cynic entertain a few conspiracy thoughts.
Speaking of conspiracies…
It looks like Ralph Nader is once again back on New Mexico's ballot, wreaking havoc with early voting, since the ballots, as I understand it, will again have to be reprinted. Sheesh! Bad news for the Dems (or so they say. My guess is anyone that intent on voting for Nader might not vote for Kerry anyway, but what do I know?). Meanwhile, in our other high-profile voting case, new voters will only have to show ID if they registered by mail. That should make for some confusion at the polls.
Our last voter project, Oct. 1, was a big success. DJ Apollo was awesome. I interviewed him a bit about hip hop and politics and hope to get that interview into the paper, or somewhere, soon. Next week, I'm planning a bit of an election diary for the cover story. Local Democrats registered about 30 voters, which is pretty amazing given how saturated the voter-registration rolls are. We definitely did our part. Now it's just about the election (and planning the election party, of course).
Meanwhile, the VP debate is tonight and my family is in town so I can watch it with a bunch of rowdy East Coast liberals. I am looking forward to this debate even more than the presidential ones because the contrast between Edwards and Cheney seems more exciting. Edwards is so hot; Cheney is so not. (Clearly my values have devolved beyond repair).
posted by Julia at 11:28 AM
<< Home