Sometime shortly after I would normally fall asleep, Beth came a-knocking at my door to wake me. It was time to get dressed and go to the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. This morning they held a Town Hall event hosted by the local morning radio team, EJ & Ellen. The idea was to get a variety of opinions on the election and candidates. The group between 7-8 (that was us) were “average” voters (’cept for this lonely Canuck). The 8-9 group were students at KU (who mostly came for the free breakfast - hell, that’s why I went!).

Anyway, because it wasn’t to be just another day on the farm, I put on a dress, and slipped my swollen, broken foot into my Nine West butter-soft leather heels I got as a post Christmas gift when I went to Hawaii in January. I love those shoes, and rarely get an opportunity to wear them - black and broken toe be damned! As a testament to my unbelievably high tolerance for pain, I managed to walk despite a) broken toe, b) twisted ankle and c) only one cup of coffee. That last part was a bitch, seeing as it was still the middle of the night, as far as this girl was concerned.

The Dole Institute is absolutely beautiful, if slightly creepy in a mausoleum sort of way. I realize it bears the man’s name, but the shrine to Dole - and it really is a shrine - is a bit unnerving. The staff however are true gems of the Midwest. Some of the nicest people you will ever meet, including their top dog, Bill Lacy. Pundits may remember Bill from the Reagan/Bush Bush/Quayle years. I also got to meet one of the Deputy Directors of the Institute, Lawrence Bush (no relation). He’s a friend of John & Beth, and a really nice guy. Funny, too.

The first crowd - us grownups - was pretty even in terms of who they would voted for. There were three conservatives at our table, and three liberals. Somewhere in the room there was an “undecided” couple, which worries me - how can you still be undecided at this late stage of the game? Have you been under a rock for the last year of campaigning? Subjects covered included racism, ageism (misogyny was ignored) and leadership experience. Mostly though, there were commercials. This is why I hate listening to commercial radio (d’uh). There’s an ad break every 2.5 minutes. WTF? So we sat there for over an hour to have approximately 10 minutes of discussion about the election. For this I got up early, and wore the shoes. Jesus.

Anyhow, when the grownup segment ended, the working crowd left for their respective jobs. One of the libs from our table passed by and leaned down to make a rather creepy comment about my cleavage, while his wife stood next to him. I told him to behave and wished the wife a good day. Democrats - I’ll never figure ‘em.

Beth and I hung around for a while to hear what the future of America had to say for themselves. Ohmygod! America is doomed, with the exception of a few shining students (of both party persuasions) that talked about things like the future, and security, and health. The rest of these whiny brats living off their parents’ dime were focused on only one subject: Themselves. Who will do more for students? Who relates to me the best? Who uses the most technology (newsflash, kiddo: people who don’t work 9-5 in offices really don’t hang out on Facebook that much)? Who is younger and cooler? Doomed, I tell you. we had to leave before our heads exploded. We consoled ourselves in the fact that though students love to preach about a candidate, they rarely get out and vote.

Can I just say that Lawrence, Kansas is an adorable little college town? Love it. I hope we go back again soon. Though maybe I would be more comfortable and fit in better if I wear Birkenstocks.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Kansas, Politics, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.