Pubdate: Sat, 08 Nov 2014
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2014 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: David A. James

ONCE AGAIN, POT WAS MORE POPULAR THAN POLITICIANS

After millions of dollars and months of incessant unwanted phone 
calls, endless radio and television commercials, enough pop-up ads to 
bring the Internet to a halt, and mailboxes stuffed beyond capacity 
with fliers insisting that electing this or that individual to office 
is sure to lay Alaska and America to waste, we've finally reached the 
end of the nastiest and most expensive election season in Alaska's history.

What's the result? At this point we're not entirely sure, since two 
races are too close to call until all ballots have been accounted 
for. One thing can be stated without any question, however: None of 
the candidates running for statewide office received as many 
affirmative votes from the people of Alaska as did the legalization 
of marijuana.

I suggest that when the dust settles and those who have eked out 
victories get sworn into office, they keep this fact foremost in 
their minds as a reminder that none of them exactly received a 
mandate, and that they'd be wise to not act like they did.

Meanwhile, Alaskans with a bit of memory might recall the popular 
bumper sticker that sprang up following an earlier contentious 
election that read, "Pot got more votes than Hickel." After this 
year's fiasco it might be a good idea to bring that one back, revised 
to a more properly inclusive wording given the current circumstances: 
Pot got more votes than anyone.

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.

- - David A. James, Fairbanks
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom