Thinking about Tuesday.  This is awfully advanced planning for me, so bear with us.

It’s Election Day, so normally I’d have the flags up here on the site.  Since I’ll be working at one of the polling stations, I had planned on wearing something from the office casual genre.

But then I realized Tuesday is also Mardi Gras this year.  Fat Tuesday 2008.  Howling Point needs bright colors and teases of flesh.  Chuckie needs to wear beads.

Hmmm.  How to balance this.  Now I’ve got something to think about while the rain washes away my hopes for a good weekend.

Found this video at Chris Crain’s Citizen Crain.

While the video reminds Independent voters they can request a Democratic Party ballot at the poll, that’s only part of the story: Independent voters can request either Democratic or American Independent Party ballots, at least in San Diego County.

On a related note, I’ve been talking to the Inspector at the precinct I’m going to be working at next Tuesday and even though we’ve never met, I suspect she’s going to look like Myrtle.

Everyone has a different set of social references.  They help put people and issues in context and create a meaning through analogy that’s might not be possible with abstract words standing alone.  So, to help understand the republican field, here they are as Buffy villains.  In keeping with the analogy, note that several have already fallen by the wayside.  [via FireFawkes]

My internet connection’s been spotty for over a week now, and charting the fingerpointing of diagnosis and responsibility looks like the flowing arms of some hindu god. Then tonight the TV dropped dead. Just dead, not even a nice shower of sparks. Dead.

On a related note, local bureaucrats made their way down some list yesterday and let me volunteer to work the upcoming election. Chuckie’s going to bring democracy to North County. I’m going to be the Touchscreen Inspector for my little precinct. The way things are going though that might mean Dick Cheney will get California’s democratic delegates.
[Via BlackBerry]

Not just an episode, a campaign!  Ralph Wiggum runs for President.  Sure there’s no substance on the site yet, but how is that different from the “mainstream” candidates?

Beer is helping me laugh at the political choices out there tonight.  It may take some good single-malt scotch to get me to vote though. 

It’s primary season, and for the first time in decades, voting in a California primary might be relevant to the outcome of the general election.  My mail-in ballot is on its way to me now and due back by February 5.  Scary, but also kinda funny. 

For years I was registered as an independent, and didn’t really care about parties.  I voted for the best individual(s).  I describe myself as a little-L libertarian: pro choice and pro personal responsibility without wanting to join the party.  Then a few years ago California got wierd.  The electricity kept going off, we had an gridlocked state government led by a horrible governor, and we had the special election of all special elections in 2003.  About the same time the rules changed, and if you wanted to vote in a party’s primary you had to register as a member of that party.  With the Demiecrats united behind their incompent incumbent, a vote for change in the primaries had to be within the structure of one of the other parties.  And thus *poof* Chuckie became a registered rethuglican.  At the local level it wasn’t a bad decision: it came with Governor Schwarzenegger and Mayor Sanders.  It only becomes a really bad embarrassment if you look at the national party.  Long Live the Bear Flag Republic!  But this isn’t a rant for California’s independence movement, but about the upcoming electoral choices.

I have to help choose who should be the rethuglican nominee for President of the United States.  Right off the bat, let’s get one thing straight.  I will not vote for the rethuglican nominee in the general election, even if the demiecrats nominate John Kerry again.  I will decide who to vote for at some future time, but it will not be the rethuglican nominee. 

So, I’m open to suggestions. 

• The prostate cancer survivor from New York who will bring cronyism in Washington to a whole new level? 
• The actor from Tennessee who appears seriously miscast when trying to be a motivated politician?  Law and Order jumped the shark when Steven Hill left.
• A minister from Alabama who wants me to burn in hell?  He may be right about that, but it’s not the way to win my vote. 
• The slick guy from Massachusetts who also wants me to burn in hell?  ‘Nuf said.

Yes, there are others out there, but Founding Father Sam Adams is limiting my ability to type coherently. One must listen to the Founding Fathers. 

Any suggestions?  Any help?  Any thoughts about what drink will make the ultimate choice palatable?  Because unfortunately I’m still not certain the demiecrats won’t find a way to lose this race.

On a side note, this may be one of the last political rants here at Howling Point for a while.  Little should change since this has always been mostly a personal site, but at the end of the month I start a gig (yep, paid) as one of six bloggers following politics and the election for KPBS, the local affiliate of the Public Broadcasting System.  Posts will be at their Citizen Voices page and after meeting their staff and the other five writers, I think this is going to be an amazing venture with which to be involved.  There should be some great discussion and some very unique viewpoints in play.  I’m not sure yet if cross-posting or some kind of an RSS feed like I’ve set up for Beachlaw will be permissible, but I’ll figure out some way to toot our horn over here when things get good.

So, how about it?  What can I do to help the rethuglicans pick a presidential nominee?

Drinking too much coffee this morning, when I really should be on decaf.  Need a zen moment or twelve.  Its nearing the end of the month, and the end of the year for that matter, and I’ve been contemplating the Business of Law™. 

Every year there’s a slump through the holidays.  Competing for people’s money with christmas bonuses (the business clients) and christmas presents (the personal clients) is just futile.  That chubby guy in the red suit gets it all.  Looking at the numbers this year though, it didn’t start at Thanksgiving – it started during the wildfires.  The checkbooks were thrown into the evacuating cars along with the passports and treasured photographs, and that’s that.  

The numbers are really reinforcing some conversations I’ve had recently about local legal industry layoffs and a discussion over Thanksgiving about a major insurance carrier doing an out-of-state relocation.  Maybe it’s just the winter SAD kicking in, but I’m not that optimistic about the local economy.  I’m beginning to think this this will be a domestic issues election in 2008, with Why didn’t war in Iraq bring us cheap gas? replacing Why war in Iraq? as a key question.  Be interesting to see when the candidates pick up on this: before or after the Christmas shopping season plays out?  Does any candidate have the cajones to say Don’t shop, save, dark skies ahead?  If a front-runner said it, would it end up being a self-fulfilling prophesy dragging down the retail sector even further? 

Yep, way too much caffeine this morning.

Got my sample ballot last week for our Special Primary Election to replace our recently incarcerated ex-Congressman, Duke Cunningham.  So how do you replace the most corrupt congressman ever caught?  Eighteen candidates in a free-for-all.  Fourteen Republicans, two Democrats, one Libertarian and one Independent fighting for a job where if the winner can go two years without getting indicted the term will be seen as a success.

Most don’t seem to have websites, and I can’t even get information on a couple of their platforms by Googling.  Lots of names crossed out for not even running an internet-competent campaign.  Most of the rest all seem to be running on a combination of forcing their family’s values on everyone else, posturing on illegal immigration, and touting their conviction-free records.  There may be an exception or two to the mix, but regardless, I’ll vote for one of them on the 11th.  Yay democracy!

Done. Went down bright and early this morning and filled in bubbles indicating my choices. Maybe it was symbolic of the direction of the country, but after years of touch-screen voting here and elsewhere (with up-to-date 1980s technology!), the Luddites have forced San Diego county to revert to this paper-ballot system. Glad to see we’re now condemning technology for all the problems in Florida four years ago and hope this reversion to a simpler time calms some people down.

Now, heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to work I go. Just four more days until vacation.

And now, as a thank you from Howling Point for reading our crap, here are some links to good election day posts:

- Running With Lawyers
- Naladahc