Twas The Night Before Election

‘Twas the night before election
and all through the house,
the candidates were calling
one another a louse.

With promises and accusations
all being said
each candidate hoping
his chances weren't dead

Ma in her kerchief,
me thinking of bed
getting sicker and sicker
with each talking head

The tv was blaring
with such chatter
I asked my wife,
"What does it matter?'

Tired of watching
each open his yap
I shut off the tv,
I'd had enough crap

Yes pholks, the blitz of campaign ads is over, at least for a few months as the political wanna-be's take a rest and gear up for the November vote.

With so many candidates running in the primary, we were bombarded even heavier than by late night TV infomercials.

I back this up with a simple and unscientific study of TV adds on election eve.

From 7:30 to 8 p.m. on Monday night, I used the remote to switch between two local channels to track the political ads being aired.

I may have missed one or two since some of them were only 15 seconds or so. But I counted 20 political ads. These were in addition to the regular commercials and network promos. The commercials I saw were for such offices as Congress, California Secretary of State, insurance commissioner, governor, superintendent of public instruction, Fresno County District Attorney, several judgeships, state controller, and Fresno County Supervisor.

I wasn't able to jot down much about each ad, even with the repeats, but pholks the majority of the ads centered on the candidates opponents, not the candidates. That pholks is called "negative campaigning" and this primary had more than I have ever seen.

My best guess is that 12 to 15 of the 20 ads I saw in those 30 minutes were aimed at opponents. They didn't use words like liar, cheat, scoundrel, pervert, wife beater, thief, or related terms, but the messages were clear. "Vote against that creep ‘cause I'm not as bad as he or she is," seemed to be the theme I heard.

Maybe, just maybe the general election will be a little more mild even though some of the March foes will be pitted against each other in run-off campaigns.

If there is something to be thankful about in this election year, perhaps it is the fact that the political campaign and deluge of campaign ads will be over a few weeks after the start of the holiday barrage of commercials.

It was the month before Christmas
and all through the house,
no candidates were creeping,
not one single louse.

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