Victory

Thank goodness this election is now behind us! I don't think any of us could have survived a repeat of 2000. When you work in politics, Election Day means either a pink slip or the promise of a few more years on the job. Thankfully all my friends still have jobs today. :-)

Election Day in Idaho is a real non-event. It POURED rain all day and the electricity was out for most of the day. When I finally made it to the polling place I was reminded of how easy Idaho politicians have it when I received my ballot. Out of the 8 or so races, only 3 had opposing parties; the rest were unopposed Republicans. (Why bother to vote?!) It's so funny to go from the exciting races of Orange County, California to the mundane one-candidate-only "races" of North Idaho. On the other hand, it's been a great education experiencing both ends of the political spectrum. I've learned about how small town America views politics and government. And those are lessons I know will benefit me for the rest of my life, especially in politics.

The most interesting race in this election for me was the Daschle/Thune Senate race in South Dakota. John Thune is the first Biola University graduate to hold elected office so I am especially proud of him. Not only did he win a Senate seat, he knocked off the most powerful Democrat on Capitol Hill. The last time a candidate accomplished such a feat, it was George Nethercutt when he beat Speaker of the House Tom Foley during the Republican Revolution of 1994. I remember meeting him in 1996 and thinking, "Where on earth is Spokane, Washington?" (Little did I know...)

No such luck for George this time. Patty Murray beat him handily. I had a feeling that would happen since Washington is so liberal on the west side. But Washington is a bit skitzo (sp?) and the truly surprising race is the gubernatorial one. Right now the Republican, Dino Rossi is virtually tied with the Democrat, Christine Gregoire. It will be really interesting to see how this plays out over the next few days.

Now that the Republicans hold both houses of Congress and the White House, let's see some action. It will be very interesting to see whether they actually make changes or they follow the lazy status quo. They have no excuses for not moving this country forward. But it's still up to us to hold their feet to the fire.

Congratulations to my good friend Aaron Klein who won his race for the Sierra College Board of Trustees. We've been political buddies for 8 years now (hard to believe!) and I can't wait until I can call him Governor Klein. :-)

So now we return to our "normal" lives for a brief while. And by that I mean we can watch television without being bombarded with the latest attack ads every 30 seconds. We can open a newspaper and actually read the news without being distracted by huge print ads for one candidate or the other. We can drive down the street without being visually assaulted by the countless yard signs. We can turn on the radio and listen without having to duck our heads for all the mud-slinging.

But when it comes right down to it, regardless of all the negative aspects of politics, I'll always love it. :-)