Cast your Ballot into the Net
by Louisa C. Brinsmade

"I don't bother to vote," a friend of mine said, and took another sip of his beer. "I'd just be electing the same person over and over again, and that's a mistake. Politicians might try to look different just for the sake of providing a modicum of change. But that's just another hair color or another brand of watch. I don't give them what they want, I just avoid the whole scene." Sigh. We talked about music instead.

Politics isn't even a fun anymore, is it? One thing I miss about my parents -- they were political, and so were their friends. They took sides, wouldn't talk for days if someone hit below the belt, and what made it all interesting was not that Nixon or Ford or Carter were such standouts, but that my parents thought differently from their friends, and felt differently than each other, and said so.

No one talks about politics anymore -- it just seems pedantic to even bring it up these days in a group. The only possible way we can have a political scene in America again is pretty obvious: Put it on the Internet. Let the people vote there, chat there, argue there, and maybe it'll all get fun again.

Election.com is providing online voting for Arizona's Democratic primary that's going on right now (March 7-11). It may be the first time official online election results will be taken from the Internet, but several straw votes, polls, and test elections over the Internet have been taking place in the past year. For instance, VoteHere.net provided straw voting for remote communities in Alaska where getting to the polls is out of the question in the middle of winter. It'll be interesting to see how the turnout turns out.

The Poet King Looks for a Princess
Despite the egg on her face last week, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is being wooed to replace the Czech Republic's President Vaclav Havel by none other than Havel himself. During Albright's visit this week to her home country in honor of the Czech Republic's entry into NATO and the birth of Czech national hero Tomas Masaryk, Havel commented that he would consider it "excellent if she were to run." The poet king to be succeeded in dynastic fashion by the ultimate Jewish American Princess? Or, as some call her, the "Queen of Mean." For now, this is her response: "My heart is in two places, but America is where I belong."

Running on Running Mates?
It looks like the prediction that McCain was planning all along to run as an Independent was just wishful thinking. He and Bradley are both out. No one, it seems, wants to stand in the way of the heir apparents. Vice President Al Gore, the son of a U.S. Senator, and George W. Bush, the son of a president (and former Senator, and head of the CIA, and Ambassador to China…) will have the cotillion all to themselves. Even Reform Party leader Ross "Let Me Finish" Perot isn't inclined to cut in.

So far the election looks to be about anything but issues, so maybe the focus will end up on running mates. Who's on the short list? For Gore: Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana, Dianne Feinstein of California or Bob Graham of Florida, or former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Even Senator Robert G, Torricelli from New Jersey, who has made several campaign contribution "errors," possibly in judgment, is said to be on the list. Bush: His list is so short it only has one name so far, and she's not even a viable contender. Who is it? His former competitor, Elizabeth Dole.