The Primary

Son won a place on the ballot for the general election, but he has his work cut out for him in the upcoming weeks. It is quite an experience waiting around in the courthouse for the returns to come in on election night. Here, there is a wire strung up like a laundry line across one side of the lobby. An employee of the county clerk's office brings out a printout from each precinct as it is counted and pins it up on the line like a towel hung out to dry.

The candidates tend to cluster in groups separated from one another. Some were alone. Some came with family members. The top vote getter came in with his election committee all wearing his campaign buttons. He glided around the room with easy confidence and a warm smile. He's a salesman. The bottom vote getter wasn't there. I wondered why no women were running. The current council is totally made up of men. It's not as if women can't win around here. There are women on the county board and many of the elected county positions are held by women. I was just curious.

I chatted with the wife of an incumbent. She is also an election judge so she was very familiar with the process and the demographics of different precincts. I couldn't help but be reminded of the other times I had waited here for election returns, most notably when I ran for school board many years ago in a very emotional tight race. I lost. I felt humbled by the number of people who actually voted for me and in the long run very happy that I had not won. I would have been in for a very unpleasant experience. In the process I learned I did not enjoy campaigning. I had run because I'd been asked to run. I was very flattered. But I was running for someone else and thus my heart was not in it.

It takes guts to put yourself out there.You open yourself up to cheap potshots, rumors and opportunists. Still, as I watched last night's tallies being hung on the wire, I was seeing democracy at work. That was really neat.