Final Days of the Race

• November 4th will actually be the first time I will ever vote. At 21-years-old, I could have voted the last three years, I know. But it hasn't really happened due to concern about whether I should register to vote in California or Utah coupled with the boringness of non-presidential year elections. I turned 18 less than two weeks after the 2004 presidential election, which I often look at as a blessing these days, as I totally would've voted for Bush, but now I can say "Well I never voted for the man, I have a right to complain."
  
• I have seen several pro-Obama campaign ads on TV in the last couple weeks (and none for McCain). Every time I see these, I want to shout: "What campaign strategist thought this was a good idea?! Spend your money elsewhere!" Not even the most optimistic Democrat could possibly think Obama has a prayer in the state of Utah. But I've recently heard that the Obama campaign is worried about getting all of the money they have spent before election day. This is probably why I'm seeing ads. What a problem to have. On Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me they were talking about ideas for how they could spend this money and someone suggested: if Joe Biden makes it to the 4th without saying anything else stupid, the Obama campaign will give everyone in American a free taco. That's change I can believe in.
  
• A couple weeks ago, I realized that election day was coming up, and I couldn't even tell you what I'd be voting for aside from president. But I've been doing my research since. As far as the "yes-no" type measures go, I'm voting "yes" on all of them. There is nothing controversial on those points. I agree with all of the Utah State Constitutional Amendments on the ballot because they're all simple changes made for clarity or for getting rid of something archaic. I'll agree that all of the judges stay on because there aren't any major problems with any of them. But I do have a vote for governor and for state- and federal-level congressmen, so those are somewhat exciting. I sometimes catch myself in an interesting mind-set when I think through these races. In an effort to not be Uninformed American Citizen Who Votes Straight-Party, I find myself tempted to do something almost as bad: be very purposely bi- (or even multi-) partisan. I'll be reading about the different candidates thinking things like, "Well, if I'm going to vote for the Democrat for this position, I should probably vote for the Republican for this position," or "Maybe I should throw in a third-party vote for one of these, just to make sure there's some representation there". I'm fighting it, but keep worrying that I'll end up being just as bad as the Straight-Party Voter.
  
• Aside from the presidential election, the most interesting thing to see on Tues night will be how the Prop 8 vote turns out in California. And if there are any friends of mine in CA who haven't voted yet (the only ones I can think of would probably be voting absentee, but you never know), I would highly encourage you to vote "yes" on Prop 8. Do it because you believe in the sacredness of traditional marriage or do it because you believe that democracy should trump abuse of judiciary power, but please do it. I, though generally fairly liberal on these things, think it's very important. This clip sums it up fairly well in my opinion:
• Confession: I know that it is the job of Uninformed American Citizen to vote for a candidate based on something ridiculous, and this obviously isn't the basis of my decision, but I still can't help thinking, whenever I hear John McCain speak, "This guy doesn't know how to use a computer. This guy is old. This guy said his favorite recent film was Casablanca." Visions of an old man struggling to utilize MS Office applications ("Cindy! What does this thingamabobber do?") swim in front of me and I can't help but think to myself "We expect him to run a country?" I know he's actually an intelligent man, and I try to fight these things. But it just happens.
• Perhaps some may argue with my assumption that McCain is an intelligent man above. McCain used to be smart in nearly everybody's eyes. But he has sold out. Sold out to his party and stuck to his guns on things that I think he could be more flexible on in a changing world. This article in Slate sums up what I'm talking about nicely.
• When I said I'd be voting "yes" on all of the "yes-no"-type ballot questions, I forgot a possible exception to that rule. On my sample ballot, there are 5 "American Fork City Ballot Propositions" on there, and until today I couldn't find anywhere that explained what any of them are, with the exception of a road bond, that apparently someone was bent enough over that there's a blog about it. And (here's a case of someone making a difference in their community through something simple), I'll probably vote "no" on that bond. Just because I have read a list of cons and nobody on the internet offered pros. Making a decision based on who-even-knows-whose arguments? Yes. I've decided it's too much work to be Informed American Citizen. And, I admit, I haven't even read any of the rest of the city proposals yet.
  
• And for something utterly useles, but highly amusing: