The morning after

I can't say I'm surprised by the results of yesterday's voting, but I am disappointed. Especially because, where I live, I voted in the majority on nearly every candidate and issue. Maine went solidly for Kerry; both incumbents (Dems) for the House of Representatives were re-elected; the scary California-esque tax cap referendum was defeated; and even my choices for state Senate and House (Dem incumbents) won. (I was wrong on city council, where I have to admit I was less informed than I ought to be, and on the bear-baiting question, which came down to a north-south split.) So clearly my views are not all that out of place in this blue corner of the country... the area where, as Jon Stewart said last night in the only election coverage that didn't increase my blood pressure, we'll all be huddling together and weeping for the next four years.

Perhaps that's why I feel so disappointed - we've got our nice, liberal bubble here in the Northeast, and though my boss and my mother are conservative Republicans (both Catholic one-issue voters) I just don't have tons of contact on a daily basis with super conservative "folks." I did witness a nasty little incident at the polls yesterday morning over gay rights, which ended with one of my fellow citizens calling a gay rights advocate a bitch and storming out. (Darren and I then noisily expressed our support for both civil rights and gay marriage, hoping to make the advocate feel better and to encourage others to sign her list.) Still, that sort of thing doesn't happen that much around here.

So I guess it's time to start watching Fox News and reading the Wall Street Journal editorial page in an attempt to discern what the hell my fellow Americans are thinking. Egads.