Oh it’s that time of year.  The leaves are colorful reds, yellows, and oranges, and the air is brisk with the promise of winter.  In Portland, it becomes wet and alive.  The carpet of rainbowed leaves are slick and shiny beneath your feet, and the green foliage becomes a vibrant emerald.  In Portland, during an election year, it also becomes a voter’s paradise.  The ballot is mailed to you four weeks before election day, and you can lazily research your candidates and measures, mark your choices, and mail it off (or drop it in designated ballot boxes).  Think how terrible it would be to have all this flexibility and not take advantage of your right to vote.  Think how even worse it would be if you got busy and put it off, perhaps thinking your candidate had it in the bag and your vote might not even be necessary.  Let us not be so sure!  I urge you all to cast your votes this election, regardless of the media’s calling of winners preemptively (ring a bell?) or influence your action in any way.

On the topic of elections, a few funny stories, all very Portland, to share:  As some Oregonians may be aware, there is a Presidential candidate out there who goes by the name “Watchman.”  He happened to show up on our doorstep one day as Peter was working (and I, very sadly, was absent).  Peter answered the door to this friendly-looking older man, who handed him a photocopied, handwritten platform and said meekly, “I’m a candidate for President of the United States.”  As Peter tells it, he had no charisma, said this statement very flatly, and just stood there looking at him after it was said.  There was no spiel, no question to follow, nothing.  He stood there and looked at Peter expectantly.  Peter’s only response, after a long awkward silence, was a clearing of his throat and a: “Well then…best of luck to you,” and slowly closed the door.  We’ve since seen him on Hawthorne, holding his Bible and speaking the word of God to nobody in particular.  Oh it’s very real.  Don’t believe me?  Here’s the platform Peter was presented.  You better believe we kept it.  More information on this interesting Portland fella can be seen on The Portland Mercury website.

One other little tidbit - As I was going through the local candidate bios and agendas in the little newsprint book we were mailed along with our ballots (which by the way, the book on measures was irritatingly worded to sway a certain way), I couldn’t help but notice (and laugh my ass off at) one candidate in particular.  I really don’t mean to be rude, but seriously?!  Instead of tell you about him, I’ll just let you see and enjoy for yourself.  Here you go.

I truly feel everyone should vote intelligently after research and for whom they want.  I prefer not to discuss politics, just as I prefer not to discuss religion, but diversity in opinion and freedom of speech, even if it’s not in accord with your own, should be embraced and not ridiculed or shamed.  Peter and I moved from a place that was extremely conservative to a place that is extremely liberal, and the one thing I take from both places is that open-minded balance is key.  And though I’ve taken strides to not show favoritism of any particular candidate in this post, I must comment on just one thing, even at the risk of totally giving my endorsement away:  I, for one, want my leaders to be educated, experienced, and qualified.  I would rather my leaders be called elite than said to be “just like me,” if they would make better leaders.  I don’t think I’m anywhere close to being qualified to be in a position of political power, and it scares the dickens out of me to think any other American would support a candidate just because that candidate seems like a buddy or makes him feel as though he could run himself.  That candidate may be down-to-earth, friendly, and a red-blooded American, but not a qualified President of the United States does that person necessarily make! And that’s all I have to say about that.

So along with all the other Portland weirdness we’ve encountered since our move, some of the most entertaining has been during this election season.  It’s provided amusement and laughter, but let’s not let it provide any ghoulish fear with the candidate you want in office losing out by a slim margin - and all because you didn’t submit your vote.  May the best, most qualified, people win.