X-Acknowledge-To: <BRIDEC92@IRLEARN.UCD.IE>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.politics
Date:         Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:12:45 GMT
From:         james p mcbride <BRIDEC92@IRLEARN.UCD.IE>
Subject:      election fatigue

You know, it's OK for you lot, you've really only had one election to keep
you occupied this year (don't worry Dunstan, I'm not including you).  I'm
onto my third!!  And that doesn't include referenda.

I decided this year I would take the US election as seriously as possible,
so I read the International Herald-Tribune regularly, watched CNN Int'l
whenever I got a chance to go home to my dear, grey-haired parents, and
re-joined POLITICS for the third or fourth time.

That was fine, I watched the primary season unfold, saw my first hope Paul
Tsongas run out of money and fall by the wayside, saw the 'evil menace' of
David Duke turn out to be a damp squib (this time around), and eventually
the candidates thinned to the main contenders.

As this process unfolded, the UK election campaign hit the road in March,
so I became even more addicted than usual to BBC Radio, bought British
newspapers in large volumes, and was desperately disappointed when Labour
lost again.

With that over, it was back to the US campaign, as the Pat Buchanan crusade
faded, and Clinton became a rather ominous, if not odious, prospect, with
all the s*** that was hitting the fan, between one thing and another.  But,
the one thing the British papers always said about him was that he had
prepared in-depth on virtually every issue, and it was this aspect of the
man which drew me to prefer him to Bush.  That, and a long-standing
sympathy for the Dems.

Then, just as the primaries began to wind down, up popped the Irish refer-
endum on the Maastricht Treaty.  It's perhaps revealing of how the thing was
passed in that when I went home to Donegal to vote, the first words out of
my mothers mouth were 'if I vote for the Treaty, will I still be able to
vote against abortion later?'  The assurance that she could allowed her to
vote for the treaties ratification.  If the abortion issue was more in doubt,
perhaps the Treaty would be well and truly dead by now.

Back to the US scene for the conventions, and Perot's withdrawal.  Unfortun-
ately, I was at a summer school in Essex, so I missed most of the coverage
of the Republican shindig.

So, the campaign hit fever pitch, Perot re-entered, Clinton's lead appeared
to stay solid, and eventually, after some last minute poll scares, he won.
I must admit, having stayed up through the night, that I felt slightly
disappointed, if not cheated, in the end.  Why?  Well, Clinton's victory
seemed to come from exit poll declarations.  Unlike a British or Irish
election, there were no set piece declarations of results, where a returning
officer stand up, announces the vote, and declares that the electoral college
votes for the state of xxx went to whoever.

And now, having sustained a high level of election interest for nigh on eleven
months, I find that, with the US election barely over, I'm now being plunged
into an election here in dear old Ireland.  Indeed, not only is there an
election, but also a referendum on the afore-mentioned abortion issue.

In short, I'm not sure if I can sustain an interest for much longer in the
electoral process and still retain what is left of my sanity.  B-)

Roll on November 25th...........


james


PS  If for no other reason that I feel like it, I will, in the run up to the
    Irish vote, post a series of notes on the Irish political scene, the
    parties, the electoral system, the reason for this election.  For your
    greater comfort, I'll label them clearly as being IRISH, so you can delete
    them at your leisure.
    And with that, I bid thee good night.................