Sunday, November 12, 2000
First vote of 2000s beyond
weird
By Bill Whitaker
Even in the flat, peaceable stretches of
West Texas, Election Day 2000 proved a dizzying roller-coaster
ride.
When I finally staggered off to bed about
2 a.m., all I knew was every one of the TV networks had declared
Texas Gov. George W. Bush the next president of the United States.
Then all the lights in my neighborhood went
out.
The rest of the week saw Abilene’s
curmudgeonly, coffee-addicted soothsayers gathering at places
like the Dixie Pig to debate whether our generally hotter-than-heck
terrain had truly frozen over, and if this was a mighty political
omen about exit polls and early projections.
Only pre-Thanksgiving snowfall could have
rivaled the suspense swirling about the presidential contest.
Certainly, no local races eclipsed the battle between Bush and
Vice President Al Gore, though candidates challenging U.S. Rep.
Charlie Stenholm sure tried.
Although pursued by a Libertarian and by
a Republican accompanied by a supporter dressed up as a giant
chicken, Stenholm insisted that, in parts of the 17th Congressional
District, some voters weren’t even aware he had drawn an
opponent this election.
The nasty weather forced the Cooper Fiddlers
to cancel their performance at the Taylor County GOP victory party,
which was just as well. Republicans spent much of the evening
staring glumly at a big-screen TV as their man’s chances
for an easy win dwindled.
I sensed similar disbelief at a party mounted
by local Democrats, though at least it was coupled with cautious
optimism as results favorable to Gore rolled in.
A few days later, Abilenians and everyone
else remained in a state of bewilderment over the fact that more
than 96 million votes had been cast nationwide — and that
politicians and pundits were down to quibbling over a handful
of ballots in Florida.
“I’m just glad I’m not in
Palm Beach,” said Taylor County elections administrator Pauline
Pittman, who refused to say anything about the Palm Beach County
punch-card ballot — designed by a Democrat and endorsed earlier
by Democrats — except that she’d never seen one quite
like it.
By week’s end, devout Democrats and
Republicans, here and elsewhere, had settled down to a wintry
wait amid loud declarations of outrage and civic indignation.
Typical was Republican activist Claire Johnson
of Abilene, who stood in freezing rain in Albuquerque, urging
New Mexicans to vote for Bush, only to watch democracy bog down
in what seemed like an electoral process managed by third-world
bunglers.
“This,” she sighed, “may
be the first inaugural you wear a spring formal to.”
With fuzzy Florida numbers yielding only
cloudy conclusions, I had to agree with a friend in New Zealand
who’d been watching as all of the stupefying electoral intrigue
split the nation.
“Whichever one of them finally wins,”
he told me, “your next president will still be a four-letter
word.”
True — at least to half of America.
Contact associate editor Bill Whitaker
at 676-6732 or whitakerb@abinews.com.
His column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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