How’d you like a pre-election postcard from central Florida? I left 30-degree Vermont Monday and landed back in what seems the middle of July, made all the hotter by the political hot air.

My friend Matt and I volunteered to spend the last week before the election helping MoveOn’s political action committee turn out the vote for John Kerry. We landed in Tampa and immediately hit the phones and started knocking on doors. The difference between cinch state and swing state became immediately obvious.

We were assigned to canvass a wealthy neighborhood on an island in Hillsborough Bay. Our hearts sunk as we arrived on the streets. The lawns were dotted with Bush-Cheney signs, but there was not a Kerry-Edwards placard in sight. “Maybe people are using the Bush signs for scary Halloween decorations,” Matt said.
Continue reading »

In my wallet is a green and white card with my name, address, date of birth, height, weight (approximately) and eye color, along with various codes and numbers. It’s my driver’s license and unlike almost every one of the millions of other American drivers’ licenses, it does not have a photo.

Vermont is the only state to still issue non-photo drivers’ licenses and Vermont now only issues them to people who already hold one. All new licenses must have a photo. My club is small and exclusive.

State officials explain our iconoclastic licenses by saying we’re a small, rural state and Department of Motor Vehicle offices, until recently were few and far between and yada, yada, yada. Truth is, Vermont is an eccentric and contrary state. Vermont is the only state where it is legal to shoot fish (three months of the year), the only state that does not require a permit for concealed weapons and drivers are allowed to pass on a solid yellow line (provided they do not exceed the speed limit).
Continue reading »

Tonight’s first presidential debate will be a carefully stage-managed event; much has been made of the 32-page Memorandum of Understanding agreed upon by the campaigns, with provisions requiring the candidates to shake hands and prohibiting them from moving from behind their podia or posing questions – or even directly addressing – their opponent (rhetorical questions will be allowed).

Among the things patricians George Bush and John Kerry share in common is they both studied debate at Yale. Mr. Bush, famous for his “gentleman’s C,” did not pursue the art beyond the classroom, but Mr. Kerry joined the debate team and is said to have been a legendary “strong persuader.” That goes a long way toward explaining why debate is no longer the spectator magnet it once was.
Continue reading »

Things are getting stranger. The Florida Marlins played two “home” games at the White Sox’ park in Chicago this week against the Montreal Expos. Their stadium in Miami was recovering from Hurricane Frances and fretting over Hurricane Ivan. It was the first time two National League teams had met in an American League park since 1946, when the Boston Braves hosted the Philadelphia Phillies at Fenway. That shift was due to wet paint on the seats in the Braves’ park.

In Toronto, the Blue Jays did not play the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday in deference to that night’s World Cup Hockey final, in which Canada beat Finland, 3-2. It may have been the first time a major-league baseball game has been called on account of hockey. You could look it up. It’s been this way ever since we fell down the rabbit hole (The millennium? The 2000 election? 9-11?) and have been groping in the dark ever since, trying to find our way out. The worst part is, we seem to be getting used to it. Our standards for rational behavior keep getting lower.
Continue reading »