The Last Time Someone Else Won, They Were Whigs

That was the line of the night. Apparently, the last time portions of New York state’s 23rd district of the US Congress were not represented by Republicans, they were represented by Whigs. It was the equivalent of a by-election for the House of Commons. But it had a very different feel. While party affiliation is huge here, so is personal contact as well as local issues that might, in Canada, be handled by someone else. So, in the bar I was invited to attend, local candidates for positions like municipal clerk were applauded in victory or supported in sad defeat by others with far grander titles and offices. I talked with union leaders, insurgent college kids from other states here to get the vote out as well as a very genial county court criminal judge who was elected to a second ten year term in a landslide.

The big news was the Congressional win for the Democrats. But the story for me was how this had the look of a church supper in a way, with local people of all sorts doing what they could to try to play a role in improving their community. Sounds smarmy but when you are chatting with a member of the New York State legislature bouncing he newborn as you hold the corner with the good cold cuts tray, it sorta has that feeling. Follow the results on NCPR and WDT.