Primary races: May 2009 Archives

I'm still getting used to these conditions I've been living under since I hit 40, and had to acknowledge to myself that I'm middle aged.

Contemporary pop culture is now an unfathomable mystery. I can no longer wear my baseball cap backward without looking like an idiot. Worse, I starting to suspect that I NEVER could! And I can't stay up until 2 a.m. on Wednesday without still feeliing it Thursday.

All of which is an unforgivably convoluted way of saying that my butt is still dragging from covering the primaries Tuesday night.

I'm not complaining, though. I'm enough of a geek to find politics entertaining. And it always does my heart good to see the people who care enough about their communities to go out and vote in municipal primaries.

Thank God for the self-appointed government watchdogs. They keep this big ol' engine of democracy humming (albeit with a sometimes strident undertone).

I stopped by Red Lion before coming to work this afternoon.

They've got two slates of Republican candidates running against each other for the primary nomination, which will likely determine the makeup of borough council in November. It looked like a contentious race, based on the sheer number of campaign signs around town.

I ran into three candidates -- Thomas Shellenberger, Bradley Smith and Andrew Tome -- at one of the polls. Shellenberger told me that the campaigning was intense, but things hadn't become ugly. Basically, there were no hard feelings, he said.

I didn't get a chance to talk to the opposite camp for their take, but I still find it significant that he said that. In pretty much every contested race I've ever covered, from local school board to U.S. presidency, I hear from the candidates that their own behavior has been above reproach, but their opponents stooped to dirty tactics. The opponents, of course, tell me precisely the same thing.

Shellenberger specifically contrasted the situation in Red Lion to the supervisors race in Shrewsbury and the mayoral primary in York.

Like I said, I didn't get a chance to confirm that statement with the other side. But if it's true that the different factions managed to keep it from getting personal, that would be nice to see for a change.

Make no mistake. Politics is a bloodsport.

I been a reporter for ... Dang! ... something like 20 years now. I've dealt with a lot of different politicians at a lot of different levels. And yes, I've encountered more than a few whom I've considered to be weasels, thugs or fools.

But I have to afford a certain respect even to those I didn't care for otherwise, simply because of their willingness to enter that arena.

I'll keep that in mind tomorrow, as I'm writing about the primaries in boroughs throughout York County. Because I think running for local -- as opposed to state or national -- races comes with its own set of challenges.

I always end up doing a double-take at this time of year. OK, in tomorrow's primary, I'm going to vote for ... Wait a second! I'm not voting for anybody. Because I can't.

I'm registered as an independent. That's for professional reasons. When I moved to York, I knew that I'd be covering politics, and I didn't want anybody to be able to accuse me of bias on the basis of my voter registration.

People still accuse me of bias all the time, of course. But since liberals and conservatives tend to level that accusation in more-or-less equal amounts, I figure I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping partisanship out of my writing.

Pennsylvania has a closed primary system, meaning you have to be registered in a certain party to vote in its primary. And even though it would benefit me personally if the state government changed that, I don't think they should.