Elections and Meltdowns

I am a bit late "filing" this blog post. I spent election day morning on the Staten Island ferry gathering quotes for this article, Political Families Go Head to Head in Staten Island, and spent a good portion of the evening at the Department of Journalism editing reporting done by undergrads on How Gen Y Voted. The reporting behind the political families story included coffee with Bob Straniere's spokeman, conversations with twenty Staten Islanders over a month period, a Congressional candidate's debate, four ferry rides, online research and phone conversations with political experts in New York and even Missouri. And now it's over.

Every time an article is "put to bed," written and published, it's like a little funeral. You hope that all of the reporting led to something informative, worthwhile, and maybe even thoughtful. Yet, at the same time, you know its life is likely to be incredibly short-lived. Just another small contribution to a vast sea of news and information being poured out into the Web. Sigh.

At this point, November 4 is a distant memory. Now all the talk is of January 20, and plans for the inauguration. There's definitely a part of me wishing I were still living in D.C. to witness history being made there this January. But in New York, at least I get to witness the financial meltdown firsthand. Woo hoo...

I spent this past weekend in Ohio. Friends and relatives talked about disappearing jobs and fear of the coming recession. Cities like New York and D.C. haven't truly been hit by the economic downturn yet. They chug along, mostly unscathed. Though the Wall Street Journal screams terrible economic news at me each morning, I feel the weight of the downturn most when I talk to family and friends in Cleveland, in Sarasota, and in Charlotte.

We can only hope that the new roster of political office holders does a better job with the economy than the last bunch.