Vote Yes on No

Today is election day. I have no strong opinions for this ballot. But I am considering automatically voting "no" for every candidate or proposition where I received a phone call "urging" my support. We probably got about 5 phone calls which seemed to all occur as I was trying to put Lauren down for a nap, or just got through to a friend on the other line, or stirring something hot on the stove. And I don't give out my # very much, and pay extra for it to be non-listed. I am on every do-not-call list known. In contrast, my parents got about 5 calls per day.

(Note, similarly, I hate getting menus on my doorstep and refused to patronize restaurants who litter, on the theory that if their food was any good, they would not need to send guys with backpacks out into the neighborhood to leave menus. Also, the menus tell robbers when people are out of town.)

I didn't get his permission or anything, but here's an email my dad sent about one recent call he received:

With 24 hours before the election, the political phone calls are coming in at a hectic pace and are getting even more bizarre.

Besides the hundreds of candidates for local offices, there are 13 propositions on the Nov. 7 ballot in California...everything from alternative energy to a huge cigarette tax.

The state assembly and senate don't actually make any decisions in California, they put everything on the ballot for the voters to decide. In California, people do all they can to avoid confrontation. We think it may be that they don't want to offend anyone by casting a vote that someone would not like.

To date we have received calls from Rudy Giuliani, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael J. Fox, Bill Clinton, an elementary teacher endorsing a community college board candidate, the wife of a candidate obviously intent on keeping him gainfully employed or at least out of the house and a myriad of other, lesser movie stars and politicians.

All have been recordings until this morning.

An elderly man called me while I was in bed trying to shake the flu.

He was calling on behalf of the Women's Political Group, or so he said, and he wanted me to vote against Prop. 87, the state alternative energy initiative.

Because I thought it was a recording, I made the mistake of asking him a question. That led to a half-hour conversation during which he asked how everything was down there in Georgia. I had to explain to him that he called me in California about a California proposition. He said that he couldn't be expected to keep track of these things because he was in Illinois.

He did not have a good answer to why he was calling on behalf of the Women's Political Group and I suspect that he probably didn't remember who he was calling for because the name changed several times during the conversation.

He did ask how Gov. Gerry Brown was doing, so I told him about Ronald Reagan, Pete Wilson, Gray Davis and Arnold all of whom succeeded Gerry. But I had to add that Gerry was running for attorney general this year. The caller thought maybe this was a good idea since he was such a good president and, after all, this caller was a Democrat. I'm not sure, but I think he had Brown confused with Reagan.

We hung up, but not before promising to touch base during the next election campaign. He thought it was every two years or so, but I told him about the frequent special elections for politicians who are often recalled or convicted and the numerous annual propositions here.

He didn't know whether the Women's Political Group would hire him next time to express an opinion about the propositions, but I sure hope so.

He had a killer recipe for horseradish that I have been looking for.