Tuesday, May 15, 2007 Seares: The morning after By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
HOW many of us sat up all night to know who won the election?
Not anyone in those places where candidates (a) ran unopposed, (b) faced ridiculously weak rivals, or (c) ballots were stuffed into ballot boxes before polls opened.
Are there still cases of (c)? Political bosses now know they can control the votes in their fiefdom more efficiently: just buy voters off.
So the waiting is only for few people in as few places where the fights were close.
In my precinct, poll workers yesterday complained they could die of boredom. In earlier elections, they griped that voters swamped them in hordes.
If you know who'll win, you don't stay up late except for something else, use it to flout the liquor ban and debate on, why not, the electoral system.
Worse for losers
But the morning is worse for the losers.
I don't refer to aspirants who ran for reasons other than winning: to get known, earn some money, play up to the gallery. Or the poll bets who signed up when not totally lucid.
They must have no illusion of picking up enough votes to land a seat, or worry about how their 0 or measly scores will be joked about in the counting.
Those who seriously thought they'd win would be the ones really hurting.
These are the politicos who misread voters' sentiment, confused flattery with truth about themselves, and thought issues with little else could whack down their rivals.
They are the ones who spent personal fortune to run their campaign or pinned their hope on party funds that didn't come.
They are hurting today and will be days and days after. Losers can rant and wail about how their rivals cheated by breaking all the rules.
Or they can keep quiet. And just maybe they will, if they see they can't get sympathy from a public that expected them to know better when they decided to run.
