I couldn't believe my eyes. This morning I actually saw two exuberant women at the corner of Martin Luther King and Colorado boulevards holding up
"Hancock" signs.
Wow, what excitement!
Let me state up front that I have over the years, officially and unofficially observed elections from
Guatemala to
Trinidad, Canada and not to mention
Jamaica and even in
Canada, the
elections had spirit.
In
Denver though,
blah!
Of course the only election campaign I have ever been exposed to in
Denver is the 2011
mayoral election, but if this is any example of how elections are run here, then I have only one word for them;
boring. Of course I was not in
Denver as an election observer or even present by design, but just happened to be here between April and June while the election raged (for want of a better word) and being an avid political watcher, couldn't help but pay attention.
These elections had become necessary as the previous mayor resigned in January to become governor of
Colorado. The
preliminary election was held on May 3, 2011 and the final election to see who is to become mayor will be held on June 7th 2011 between Senator Chris Romer and Councilor Michael B. Hancock
The May 3rd run off had 10 candidates but only 3 had a decent showing; they were Chris Romer with over 38%, Michael Hancock with over 27% and James Mejia with just over 25%. The run off on the 7th June is between Romer and Hancock (both democrats) with Mejia throwing his support behind Romer.
When I arrived in Denver and heard there was to be an election, my interest perked up but if I was waiting for exciting street meetings and parades, I was sorely disappointed. This election has been dominated by television debates, media ads and placards placed on the lawns of their supporters only. Even on election day on the 3rd May, I saw little outside activity. I guess this is because mail in balloting is the order of the day here. And it might as well be so for with this lousy weather I guess people are not too excited to go outside.
I admit the issues during the debate are quite interesting but the zest is missing. So boring is the campaign that when Romer put out a tv ad condemning Hancock for voting a pay increase for himself while he was a member of the city council while not supporting increases for city employees, it was condemned immediately by the Hancock team for being unfair and when it was withdrawn, they claimed it was because the governor had intervened and told them to withdraw it. The governor denied this....... yawn. Now when is an ad that is so true and relevant, distasteful, I ask?
See what I mean by boring?
So yes, that is why I got so excited at seeing two women with placards that I even bothered to do a blog on these elections for that's the only election type thing I saw!
have seen or heard so far!
