November 4, 2009
Your vote doesn’t matter. Right up until it does.
One of the crazier stories from last night is just how close the mayoral race was in NYC. I know a ton of probable Bloomberg voters who didn’t vote because the story was that Bloomberg was going to win in such a landslide that it didn’t matter. And I know several would’ve-voted-Thompson people who are kicking themselves today. I hated both candidates, and felt NYC would lose no matter which one of them won, but for people that genuinely preferred one over the other, the closeness of the race was sort-of shocking. As Thompson-voter/Bloomberg-hater Elana noted on her twitter: “only haters like me bothered to vote and even then only voted out of hate.“ Looks that way, except Thompson-haters came out in slightly larger numbers. Spending 100 million on a mayoral race, as Mike Bloomberg did, made that happen.
And of course, there’s the obvious hand-wringing by the loser’s side. What if the White House had stepped in, even a little? What if Democratic donors hadn’t deserted Thompson because it was such conventional wisdom that Bloomberg was a lock? Ah, what if. Always fun the day after election day.
UPDATE: Congressman Weiner wonders aloud if White House assistance would have changed the mayoral outcome. The White House has a super-classy comeback.
I can’t believe it took me so long to come here and comment and what is even more surprising is the lack of comments. 
Henry Stern gave some really fascinating statistics. 68 years ago, 2,262,369 people went and voted for mayor in New York City. on Tuesday, 1,100,649 people decided it was worth going to the polls.
Every time I get into a deep intense political conversation with someone who generally loves discussing Bush and Obama and Clinton and anything D.C., I ask who they voted for Mayor, if they know who their councilman or assemblyman.
It’s a shame that there could’ve been another million voters throughout the five boroughs that could’ve changed this election. As years go by, there is still that person who thinks, “Damn, Why didn’t I vote? I thought it wouldn’t have mattered.”
I hear that year after year. After year. And it’s the SAME FRAKKIN PEOPLE, too!.
Posted by: daniel at November 8, 2009 at 2:21 pm
