What if… Obama loses?

Yeah, I know – the polls have been telling us that it’s mathematically impossible for months, right? I’ve been watching people around here, for the last few weeks because it’s an interesting battleground… King County (home to Seattle) is so freakin’ pro-Democrat that they’ve been shitting crunchy granola blue-colored biodegradable hippy clothing for the last eight years while the rest of the state is so freakin’ pro-Republican that they all have red gun racks in the back of their trucks and W on those little Nerf balls that go on the end of car antennas. The blue has been very, very smug the last few weeks… it’s “in the bag” in their minds. The red has been cautiously watching their top guy and promoting their #2 seed, in the form of an Alaskan governor. Yet no matter what the polls say, it all comes down to the numbers after the election…

And that begs the question of “what if?”

And yes, I already voted via WA state absentee ballot!

You see, the 2004 election was a very, very painful thing for me. My entire registration process got botched so I couldn’t even vote in the election. We went through a nasty state race for governor that went on two months too long. Do you remember that one? It’s the one where we kept counting because the Democrats claimed that human counting would be more accurate than computer based and kept suing for recounts until they won. As part of that, my vote for President got bounced as well, which was no great loss for WA, but considering the fact that Floridians can’t figure out how to put a pin into a circular hole, it too was a very long “counting” race… never know when that’ll happen again and in which state. Either way it took weeks to sort itself out and when it was done, the Democrats pointed fingers because there was a Bush in FL and again in the White House and many consiracy theories clogged the intertubes online. (Never mind the fact that Kerry’s entire platform was “Vote for me because I’m not him [W]!” – that would never cause someone to lose a vote in an election.)

I see history repeating itself here.

All of the hype of the 2008 election is based around polls and the notion that this gig is Obama’s to lose. What no one ever thinks to ask is “Where are the polled people coming from?” If you came to King County and polled people, Obama would have 85% of the vote – maybe 90%. Go to Spokane and they’d ask “Obama who?” That’s one state in the Union. And while most states don’t have that wide of a demographic, the whole nation does.

What happens if McCain is simply better liked when people go behind the Curtain and asked to pull a lever?

Almost everyone I know that’s reading this will snort and say “won’t happen” with half thinking that there’s no way for “their guy” to lose. Half will want Obama – half will want McCain. All honesty here: the people that I know will be split nearly down the middle and which poll that is making the news daily is showing those kinds of numbers? Even down in the cafeteria today, I was listening to some guy go on about how “the only way for McCain to win is for the GOP to rig like 10 or 11 states.” Uh, no – he just has to win in those swing states, by getting more votes. Polls aren’t an I Ching. The media doesn’t offer the only opinion. No matter how passionately you feel about your candidate, you only have one vote: two totally uninterested people can vote against your guy with one tenth the passion and guess what? You just lost the cointoss.

Me? I voted for Rossi for WA. I’ve been completely disenchanted with Christine Gregoire since day one. She’s raised the sales tax twice under the guise of road improvements yet hasn’t done shit to help King County’s traffic. The Alaskan Way Viaduct is still untouched (and continues to sink). We have a budget deficit yet we show off a Rainy Day Fund with pride? I’m even annoyed at her ads: “Chris Gregoire, Democrat, Governor”. What the hell is that about? She’s always Chris on the campaign trail but Christine in office. And you put your party first, before the job you were given by the citizens of your state? That’s pretty much sums up your four years in office… now get out of it.

And I went with the two chicks from the Green Party for the Presidential ticket – I don’t buy into the hype of Obama, I hate Biden’s view of the “the government should control it” Internet, McCain is two terms too old to be in office, and Palin needs to train up a bit before she can come back for 2012.

Seemed less silly than Nader at any rate.