In between gulps of water (I have gone thru an entire 24-pack of bottled water in 3 days), I decided to watch the Iowa Caucus yesterday, amid Steve's protests.
Now, why would Steve protest in the first place? He's a little biased because he doesn't care much for the American political system. He should be giving the system a chance to succeed. But with politicians grabbing bad press through the years, cases of favoritism hounding elections, "big business" being heard more than those who do the work, I can see where his concerns lay. Still, I thought it would be interesting to watch, since I had never witnessed a caucus firsthand.
We would be in for four hours of coverage from CNN. There were four caucuses in one middle school alone, plus a caucus of 53 people in a home. People were still reading rules & regulations for the caucuses 20 minutes in, and I thought "wow, this is going to be a long but interesting process."
Forty-five minutes in, my night was ruined: CNN already said who the winner was, with 3 hours & 15 minutes left in the program... and with 12% of the caucus locations reporting information! We have a winner with 88% of the state undecided? And with the winner, Mike Huckabee, only five percentage points ahead of Mitt Romney?
What's laughable is that these were exit polls, which were renamed "entrance polls!" Think we wouldn't recognize them, eh?
Big and quick winners are possible with elections, true. But why base a victory when 90% haven't even been reported? I counted at least six counties in Iowa that had NO numbers in. If I had been in that school or at that house, and saw the CNN feed showing the "winner", I would have left without caucusing, pure & simple.
People wonder why voting numbers are so low in the United States. Studies show there's little motivation behind elections among the general electorate. For example, do you ever hear about record turnout at primaries?
We're not looking for Alfred Hitchcock-like suspense on Election Night. But it was a shame that CNN dropped the ball in much the same way the "Big Three" networks continually drop it election year after election year.
When they say your vote counts, they say, "The people have spoken." Shove the entrance polls, CNN... let the people SPEAK before you make your declaration!
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Jay Leno, meanwhile, has been blasted today for crossing the writers' picket line in order to resume the Tonight Show. For last night's show, he actually wrote his own material.
Imagine that: a comedian relying on his or her own natural talent to come up with jokes and stories. I appreciate a comedian that does their own material, and that's all too often lost in the shuffle.
Anybody can read cue cards and call themselves funny. Anyone can have "ghost writers" in the background who remain nameless while the celebrity gets all the credit. When I drew my comic strip all those years, I didn't solicit ideas. I came up with them myself. I had my own vision for the strip, and it was ONLY my vision, no one else's.
Whether or not it was a desperation ploy on Leno's part just to get back on the air is immaterial. Sometimes, you do whatever it takes in order to get the intended result. If anything, Leno's message should ring loud & clear to those on strike: they're missed, but they aren't irreplaceable.
Kudos to Jay.
