Thoughts from the (now former) center of the political universe
So, did you enjoy all the attention of the last week? National candidates paying such close attention to Wisconsin that one wonders if they signed-up on the Green Bay Packers' season ticket wiaitng list? Well, it's over.
It took only a week, but our time in the national spotlight has come and gone. That's a good thing. We have a bit of a complex here in Wisconsin, that we're the ignored area of the country. That all that matters in the U.S. is the northeast, some big cities in the south, Chicago, and California. So, when everyone moves their attention to little ol' Wisconsin, we kinda want to eat it up. And, now that the Wisconsin Primary is finished, you'll hear next to nothing about Wisconsin in the national media until we get absolute conformation from Brett Favre if he's returning to Green Bay.
I must say, seeing people who either could be President, or are related to a President, come to my hometown was neat. You see plenty of these people on TV, but to see them bother to set foot in Wisconsin -- and not just Wisconsin, but western Wisconsin -- made me feel a bit special, or something like that. Yeah, I know why they were here: purely to get votes for one election day. Will Barack Obama, or Chelsea Clinton, or Mike Huckabee ever come back to Eau Claire? Doubt it. Yet for a few days, there were here, and that was pretty cool.
And not only was seeing the candidates sweet, but seeing the national media that came along with. When I was in the press area observing the Obama rally, I saw the national media folks come hustling through at the last minute, since they arrived in Eau Claire at the same time as Sen. Obama. You see a guy with a CNN badge walking through, then another pulling this HUGE black cable (apparently so the speech could be carried on live national TV). I saw one of the main NBC reporters (Lee Cowan) standing to the side. Honestly, that part was almsot as cool as seeing the candidates themselves.
And the best part is you feel good after it's all done. You feel like you learned about the candidates, you feel better informed about who to vote for, you can better understand such an important topic like the factors in a Presidential election. We may not get to see them again. But for our glimpse in the spotlight, we're better for it.
