This is not a candidate diary. This is nothing more than a little anecdote about what my wife and I observed while early voting on Friday in Texas. There just happen to be certain aspects of the experience I thought a few of you might appreciate.
Cross posted at Multifarious Ramblings
Friday after work, my wife and I finally got out and did our early voting in the primaries. We had planned on doing it over the previous weekend, but I got a nasty case of the flu that's just now starting to clear.
We've been to this same polling place a few times before and know the routine. When we voted in 2000 we did it on election day and it took quite a while to get through. Just a little over an hour as I recall. In 2004 we decided to be smart and early vote. I don't remember exactly what day we did it on, but it was an early afternoon and we got in and out within about 20 minutes. This time though it took quite a while.
We got there at around 4pm and the place was packed. The polling place is a county courthouse annex and it was the last day of the month, so they were busy to begin with. Add in on top of that early voting and it got really crazy. We were in line for around 45 minutes total. It was a really interesting crowd as well. The polling place we go to is one of the primary locations for some pretty conservative neighborhoods. Every time we go, the crowd is white upper middle class with almost no minorities at all. This time was totally different. As far as demographics go, this was a major melting pot. I mean there weren't any spots in the line where there were more than 4-5 white people in a row. Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, aging hippies, young people, seniors, you name it. It was great to see because we knew that could only mean one thing...Democrats.
The entire process took just under an hour and it wasn't too terrible. The line was long and the AC in the halls wasn't very good so we both got headaches from the bad air. We were lucky though because another lady in line ahead of us had a full blown asthma attack and had to run out. We felt so bad for her. There was just no way anyone with asthma was going to be able to survive in those hallways with all of that stagnant air. We managed to get through it, though we both would have preferred a lot more air. Still...we made it!
Now here is the funny part.
When we arrived at the polling place the lots were pretty full as we expected. In the middle of one of the lots though there was this total jerk in a giant suburban parked sideways across 5 parking spots. That ROYALLY pissed me off, but what could I do? Well, we finally managed to park and it was pretty close to where that guy was sprawled out. As we are about to get out of the truck he comes walking up to us. I can't imagine what his deal is. So he comes strolling up and says "Hey, I hate to bother you, but my battery is dead and I really could use a jump."
My initial reaction wasn't exactly positive, but I didn't say anything. I just hate giving jumps to people, especially when their vehicle is 3 times the size of mine. Not to mention I was already cursing the guy under my breath for hogging the lot. I hesitated for a second then said "Well, we want to hurry up and get our vote in. If when we are done, you are still here, I'll be happy to help you out." (My wife told me later that she actually wanted me to go ahead and help him just so he'd be out of the lot and no longer taking up the spaces. Good point, but I still didn't want to do it.)
He responds with comments about how long the lines are and that it might be an hour. I was starting to relent and was about to go ahead and help him. Then he said the one thing that guaranteed him that there would be no chance in hell of me helping him in any way.
Up to this point my wife had been quietly commenting on the situation suggesting I should help. However the moment he said what he said I could almost hear her mouth completely lock up as if a door had slammed shut. Total silence. I know if I would have looked over her eyes were probably popping out of her head trying to contain herself. It took everything I had to keep my composure and not laugh out loud as well. Instead I just managed to say "Sorry guy, voting is our priority right now." And off we went. He was polite and didn't get pushy. He just said he understood, said thanks, and went on to the next guy.
What could he have possibly said?
"I'm dying from the plague and need to get to a hospital." Nope.
"I've got a screaming case of rabies and need to get out of here before I start foaming at the mouth again." Nope.
"The last guy who tried to give me a jump shorted out his electrical system when hooking up to me, but I doubt it will happen again." Nope.
No, he said the one thing that both I and my wife immediately decided would place him heavily in the un-helpable category:
"I'm a cameraman for Fox News and I'm running late for a story."
Now I don’t know if the guy was actually a cameraman or was just trying to make himself sound important. I lean towards the latter because nothing about the guy said camera, technology, a shred of geekiness or anything like that. Though he certainly fit into the stereotypical white male Fox News Reporter demographic. Either way, he said the wrong thing to the wrong people. Considering the area, and the fact that we were getting out of a pick-up I'm sure he thought it was a pretty safe thing to say. I'm sure 80% of people in the area would have made sure to help him at that point. Too bad for him it wasn't us.
...and that's my 2008 Democratic primary story. We did our duty on two fronts that day. We participated in the Democratic primaries for the first time in our life, and left a Fox News person high and dry.
We both felt overwhelmingly patriotic on the drive home.