The primaries are over and the Montana Election Table is set for November. The voters have spoken and, like it or not, the players have been chosen. Now, for the next few months, all the reasons a particular candidate lost come flowing out all over the social media networks. Someone must have paid someone else off.

Pick Your Poison

The most common reason a candidate loses, in the minds of his or her supporters is — MONEY. And, it’s not only the most money; it’s where the money came from. The Wisconsin ballots weren’t even cold before the cable news graphics highlighted how much out of state money Walker got compared to his opponent.

A common comment is, “Big money won this election.” I heard one person decry, “It’s the end of America.” That might be taking it a little too hard. Take some deep breaths, walk the dog, and watch the sunset. It will be a brighter day tomorrow.

Never Let A Good Conspiracy Go To Waste

Conspiracy folks go in a whole different direction. Voting machines, made by so-and-so, owned by so-and-so, who is in the hip pocket of so-and-so, were hacked and our favorite lost. Election counts are always an easy target, ever since the Bush-Gore contest in Florida. Or, you could make a case for Kennedy-Nixon all the way back in the early 1960’s. Hanging chads anyone?

It's The Media's Fault

Right wing radio, left wing cable, didn’t cover our guy or gal enough. They picked the winner, not the voters. It was their biased reporting that made the big difference. Too many negative stories about our favorite and too many “touchy-feely” ones about the opposition. Our candidate is honest as the day is long; the opponent is a known crook, but for some strange reason, that word’s just not getting out.

Dirty Tricks

Robo calls telling voters we’d already won. Yard signs pulled up. Phony scandals planted on Facebook or Twitter all led to the downfall of the candidate. Oh the unfairness.

Negative Campaigning

The opponent’s ads were full of lies and misstatements, but the election practices commission (if there is such a thing), didn’t investigate a single one. How could all those phony stats and numbers take in any intelligent voter?

Who Votes?

Are we talking about the last two words in the previous paragraph? “The Intelligent Voter?” I think you’d have a better chance of finding “the missing link.”

Of the 64,835 registered voters in Gallatin County, only 17,936, or 27.66%, felt the need to go to the polls and have their voices heard. Park County did much better. They came in at 40% of their 11,116 registered voters casting ballots.

Why such a low turnout in the freest nation in the world? Did the people in Wisconsin show up due to some emotional hype, rather than thinking of their states future? “Hey guys, there’s a “rave” at the polling place — ya gotta be there!” How many people color in the oval because they recognize the name from a yard sign?

Some Final Thoughts

We are an emotional nation. No question about it. There will always be a segment of the population that believes elections are rigged, or the media is out to get your candidate, or elections and candidates are for sale.

Does Rod Blagojevich, former Illinois Governor ring a bell? He tried to sell President Obama’s Illinois state senate seat to the highest bidder. In spite of Blago, there are people who actually do vote their beliefs, rather than just mimic their party line talking points.

So, if elections really are for sale, if elections can be bought, then why bother to vote at all? It would seem the outcome is preordained.

My vote is not for sale, to anyone, at any price. In addition, I try as hard as I can to make sure the person I vote for is not for sale either. I may not always be, an according to Hoyle intelligent voter, — but I always vote.

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