Election eve, election morning in Wasilla - my search for a single Scott McAdams sign among a plethora of Joe Millers; sadly, the day begins very badly for someone
Tuesday, November 2, 2010 at 12:12PM 
As election eve electioneering in Wasilla is aimed primarily at motorists driving by in cars, I decided that I would shoot my pictures of Wasilla electioneering entirely from the car. I would do it at dusk, and in the early AM, before dawn, to match the times when commuters would be pouring back into and leaving the valley to get back and forth from jobs in Anchorage.
I actually intended to start a little bit earlier than I did, but just as I was getting ready to go, Jimmy, my good black cat, did something on my desk that caused my computer screen to suddenly go black, then light back up just long enough for me to see error messages flashing all over the place as hard-drive icons mysteriously disappeared. Then the screen went dark again.
I could not get the monitor to come back up, so I had to shut everything down and start over again. It took 15 or 20 minutes, but finally my screen came back up, all my hard drives signed back on and so I got in the car and drove towards downtown Wasilla - if there is any place in Wasilla that can accurately be described as, "downtown."
I don't think there is - but there is an often frenetically busy area, where the Parks Highway runs through the midst of malls, stores, kiosks, fast food joints and various other enterprises, so that is what I refer to when I speak of "downtown Wasilla."
Here I am, on Lucille Street, headed towards downtown Wasilla, at dusk.
Then I was on the highway and it was busy. I had to stop at a red light, alongside this truck.
I had hoped to get a red light at this corner, because I knew that is where the heaviest action would be, but I didn't. It was green. Up ahead, I saw a preponderance of Joe Miller signs. That's pretty much how it is in Wasilla - lots of Joe Miller signs.
In fact, it looked to me like Joe Miller had this corner all to himself... but wait... there in the shadows... the dark sign that hardly anyone can see or read... Harry Crawford! The Democratic candidate up against Don Young for the House!
This has been both a noisy and a quiet election. There has been so much noise surrounding the Senatorial race that all the other contests have seemed quiet, almost like they weren't happening.
It is an unusual thing to describe any race that Don Young is in as quiet, but, the House race has been pretty quiet.
And so has the race for Governor. These other races have been so quiet that has been a challenge for House, Gubernatorial, and, for hell's sake - local - candidates to capture the people's attention with everyone focused on McAdams........... Murkowski and ........................................................................................................................................................................................ Miller.
(Listed in order of my personal preference)
It's a fact, though, that here in Wasilla, Joe Miller dominates. Don't ask me why.
As far as I can recall, one person was denied liberty in this election: Tony Hopfinger.
And yet somehow, we must all live together. As Jon Stewart said, we build and share the same roads, where we all yield to each other in our turn. We do this everyday.
These are my neighbors. I disagree with them profoundly and believe that if they prove to be successful today, we, they and I, will all pay the price together.
Despite all that, we've all got to get along and not shoot each other.
In Alaska, we pretty much all have guns, you know - conservatives and liberals alike.
And, despite all the scare whipped up by those who would cynically use the fears of others for their political advantage, nobody in the Obama administration has made the slightest effort to take our guns away.
And we all fly the same flag.
This had nothing to do with the electioneering. The officer was pursuing a speeder. I was not speeding. I was sitting at a red light, waiting for it to change so that I could turn left.
Some say that she is a moderate and that we should vote for her to stop Joe Miller. Once, I did see her as a moderate and I liked her. And I still like her. I have met her a few times and talked to her and she is a very likable person.
But I'm voting for Scott McAdams.
For one thing, I invested a great deal of faith and money in a health insurance company that turned out to be opposed to my health care. A couple of years ago, my doctor found some conditions in me that, if not watched closely, could easily turn to cancer and kill me. To insure that this would not happen, I was told that I would need to have certain procedures done every year.
If I could do this, then I should be okay.
And what did my insurance company do? They jacked up my rates and jacked up my rates until I could no longer pay them. Now I have no insurance but I do have preexisting conditions. The only thing that I can do is hope that I soon make a big financial score and can pay for these procedures out of pocket - as I am a year behind right now - or I can just hang on and hope that I make it okay without these procedures for another four years, until the Health Care bill kicks fully in.
Yet, she opposed that bill, and despite the lies that she accurately accuses Joe Miller of telling about her, tried to repeal it. She has promised to try again, should she win.
She has actively voted against my health care - potentially against my life. In her promise to try again, she has made it clear that she would take even my four-year hope away from me.
I have many friends whom I love and respect who are voting for her - some of them just to stop Joe Miller.
But I am voting for my life - and the lives of others who either can't get health insurance or find that their insurance companies oppose their health care.
Only Scott McAdams has said he would work with the basic strengths of the bill, tweak out the weaknesses, and strive to improve, not to kill, weaken, or defund, it.
I will vote for Scott McAdams. I will vote for my life.
And for those who protest "higher taxes" - even though the health care bill is primarily a private industry plan, consider this:
Over the course of the time that I carried my insurance, I spent somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000 in premiums. I got very little back for that. I was prescribed medications for various things - but my insurance company never bought me a single pill. I spent hundreds of dollars a month, out of pocket. They never covered any routine care, and, besides what I paid them, I paid tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket for the medical care that my insurance always found a way to deny me.
What if, instead of into the pockets of an insurance company that saw my health care only as obstacle to their profits, I had paid that money, even as a tax, into a federal insurance plan that would actually cover my health care, help me, and when problems arise, be there for me, rather than to seek to find a way not to pay and even to force me out?
Right now, our health insurance practices are absurd. Up until you qualify for Medicare, insurance companies - perhaps not all, but certainly those such as mine - keep looking for ways to deny you help. If you hang on and survive in good health until you are 65, then they will likely pocket the money that you spent with them and then turn you over to Medicare, where a whole new set of tax dollars will now have to pay up your care.
Wouldn't it be better to have all the premiums that you spent over the decades, either out of your own pocket or your employer's, to be there for your care health care, once you turn 65, rather then to go to enrich CEO's and shareholders who never cared about you, anyway?
So I will vote for Scott McAdams.
But where are his signs?
I did not see a single one.
Just a flood of Joe Miller, and a spattering of Lisa Murkowski.
Well, enough of that. I did not mean to get carried away like that. I did not mean to politic. I was just going to matter-of-factly say: here are the signs, vote as you will. My anger got the best of me. Now, I will let readers enjoy looking at the signs.
I get a chuckle out of this one.
So that was last night. This is this morning. I decided that on election morning, I would have breakfast at Mat-Su Valley Family Restaurant, then shoot a few more election day pictures from the car.
Here I am, at Family, where, as seen in their reflection upon the window, Connie takes an order.
As I sat there eating and sipping, a big number of emergency vehicles came by, lights flashing, sirens whining but quickly going silent. I knew that the accident had to be close by, that someone's day had gotten off to a bad start.
A very bad start. It happened very close to where I had been eating. I am back in my car, now, but still in the parking lot in front of Family Restaurant.
A terrible start. I hope not as terrible as it looks.
I hope they found success in their mission.
Just down the road, sign wavers had returned - two, at least. Both for Joe Miller. It was about 8:30 AM. Maybe other sign wavers were just waiting for daylight.
Please note the "Luv" charge on the one sign. That's the thing. It is a lie. Lisa Murkowski stood as a thorn in Obama's side. She showed him no love at all.
But you know what? When it comes to so much of campaigning, and certainly with this campaign, truth means nothing. It is an alien concept.
Wait... what is that just beyond them... just beyond the Harry Crawford sign? Is it a Scott McAdams sign?
I turn around in the Target parking lot, so I can go back and have a better look.
Yes, it is! It is a Scott McAdams sign!
I still didn't see any for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ethan Berkowitz or his running mate, my friend of three decades, Diane Benson.
I love this valley, I love Wasilla, but, sometimes, it can feel like a very lonely place.
Now I am driving down Lucille Street, headed back home. The 9:00 AM hour is drawing nigh.
I pass by Metro Cafe, where people, Republican, Democrat, Independent and indifferent, are getting their morning coffee.
I will stop by this afternoon.
I could have pulled in to vote, but I will wait until later in the day. Then I will come back here to Tanaina Elementary with Margie and we will cast our ballots.
I continue on, towards home, and see a boy waiting for a school bus.
Reader Comments (18)
Hi Bill! I really enjoyed today's post. It's true you generally avoid talking about politics and other divisive topics, but I appreciated your honesty and humility when you did bring it up.
Also, it's interesting to see so many people out with signs, despite the "cold" weather. Down here in Seattle, where the voting is done all by mail-in ballots, you don't see much of that. Sure, signs here and there, but rarely are there any people holding them. (The fact that people vote over a period of several weeks (no reason to wait until Nov 2 to mail in your ballot..) means that there's a good chance the person reading the signs has either already voted or is a week away from doing so.)
i wish you good luck.....maybe it is my European roots and now living in Canada that i never understood the system in the US....for a country so rich i don't see a reason why not everybody could have health care, that didn't run the risk of somebody loosing their house ,or have happen to them what happed to you. I think health care is a human right. Our system isn't perfect but i appreciate it immensely. And i hope nobody takes offence but when i see what is going on south of the border i'm glad i live in boring (politically) Canada. I hope after the election people can work together .
Thanks Bill for sharing your story once again. I too had to ditch my ever increasingly expensive health insurance and rely on the contents of my bank account to cover any procedure that would be necessary. Case in point, I've recently had a squamous cell carcinoma removed from my face, it was a very early stage event but the procedure and followups have bled over $1400 from savings. My old insurance policy had a $5000 deductible so it would have been worthless anyway.
I do question the motives of the Miller supporters that I know. Many of them have children that enjoy Denali Kid Care as have Miller's children in the past. Some of them enjoy Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. Yet these people will vote for a man that wishes to take these benefits from them. Joe Miller and his family will be fine. He will enjoy a Senatorial salary and all of the health benefits associated with his position. His family will be fine yet those who support him will possibly end up in the bread lines or calling on the charity of their churches because they supported a man that impacted their livelihoods.
I can't begin to understand it and it seems that you are somewhat in the same boat. Always pleasure reading your blog and thanks for sharing.
it's hard to believe joe miller is drawing such crowds, given all we've learned about him.
hope your scott mcadams wins. you and me and all god's chillin need healthcare. great editorial this morning in the time - about a new book called The Rich Get Richer. this horrific state of affairs has been occurring in since 1973. don't we know it. check out
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/opinion/02herbert.html?hp
God bless -- and I'm hoping for a miracle and that McAdams wins! Funny, I now know more about politics in Alaska than I do about the people running in my own district. You have excellent bloggers in Alaska! I'm also hoping that we elect people who will make a difference in the health care problems we face in the United States.
Hi Bill! Its been no secret that while you and I share a love of Alaska we do not love the same people when it comes to politics. I am a huge Joe Miller supporter, have been from the beginning. My husband and I have had the pleasure of being able to have several one-on-one talks with him and the majority of my thoughts and beliefs line right up with his. I will be keeping a close eye on the election results tonight...as far as I am concerned a vote for RINO Lisa might as well be a vote for McAdams. Anyway......
I was supposed to head to a dr's appt at Elmendorf this AM but I heard the Parks was closed in both directions in Wasilla due to an accident, plus there was a backup on the Glenn. I decided my appt wasnt that important and canceled! Sure hope the people involved in the accident were okay.
As much as I love the snow I hope it holds off through tomorrow afternoon. My youngest severely sprained his wrist last week and so he has an appt at Elemdorf tomorrow AM and I cant get out of that one, LOL.
Good luck tonight with your candidate....
Oh, yes, it is lonely here to see house after house displaying Miller signs and Murkowski signs. But there *are* McAdams signs here and there, Bill--you just have to look for them!
Also, you will have missed the election bake sale--when I was there, the pickin's were slim indeed. The lady handling the sales said that the three tables had been full first thing in the morning.
Hi Bill -
Apparently we both live in the same district as I vote at Tanaina also. I have a large McAdams sign in my yard, but strangely my medium-density subdivision doesn't seem to have any signs of any kind. Hmmmm....
Don't be so lonely friend, there are lots of us like-minded folks out here - we just lay low and keep quiet. But that's changing too.
Best wishes and Happy Election Day!
Yes, you with Elmendorf health care paid by me the taxpayer — enjoy it! Hope you and yours stay safe and warm! We taxpayers are increasingly noting the huge amounts of money spent for families of vets — people who never served but are asking for a socialist handout. My grandfather, a vet in WWI would be so disappointed in this country. What is the difference between you who never served and the young family down the street from me who can't get into a health insurance pool save their lives?
Deborah, before you go running your mouth maybe you should know what you are talking about. I am a Navy Veteran, honorable discharged with a disability, and my husband served 20 yrs in the Navy. Dont you dare tell me that my family doesnt deserve our military healthcare or havent earned it. You have NO idea the sacrifices made by our family or any other military family. People like you make me sick.
Whooooooooooooaaa.. Ok, so on a lighter, more humorous note.. Bill have you seen the ad for McAdams when he's like .. "I'm literally twice the man Joe Miller is.. and like 4 times the man Lisa is.. LITERALLY!" It slays me everytime. I will give McAdams one thing..the man is very funny! I think in some ways, we need that now days. Lisa J, I think you are fantastic.. I absolutely do.. and Mr.Hess.. you are the cats bananas in Wasilla. I see everyones reasons for voting for there perspective candiates. I've only lived in Alaska for a little over a year and I am always very shocked at how extremely passionate people are here about there candiates. In Kansas, (where I am from) it's not nessessarly the same.. but.. it is definately an eye opening experience living here.
Lisa, you didn't get my point — you obviously served! I have a great deal of respect for those among us who have served. I have many family members in your situation, one a Vietnam vet who is entirely disabled. My beef is with the excellent health care afforded their families and not other families in this country. Also, my grandmother was not covered in my grandfather's veteran care. I am sorry I assumed you weren't a vet and for this I apologize. As to my "socialist" comment, I think the sarcasm escaped you.
Deborah, please accept my apologies for my harsh response to you. One thing I hate about the internet is that its so dang hard to get the tone behind ones posting. I admit to being a bit emotional right now due to some things going on in life and I shouldnt have snapped at you like that. I am sincerely sorry for some of the comments I made to you. ((extends hand in friendship))
Rocksee, love ya girlie, you rock. You're also absolutely right, Bill is the cats banana in Wasilla! :0)
There were three of us waving McAdams signs out in front of Bailey's furniture on the Parks highway between 7 and 8AM Monday and Tuesday AM. We were outnumbered, but we were there! We've been by Newcomb Park between 4:30 and 6PM with a larger group. Next time around, come on down and join us - we always have extra signs!
LisaJ and Deborah I appreciate reading your comments and you seeking understanding of each other. If more Americans did this we would find that as different as we are we're still the same and we're all Americans who love our country. Best wishes to all.
Thanks Mocha. I get very passionate about the military and my beliefs and sometimes my emotions get the best of me. I do respect ALL the opinions stated on this blog and I felt very badly about reacting the way I did. You are so right....we're all Americans who love our country and just want the best for this great land of ours.
All my best to EVERYONE!
Dave - Even in years where it is cold - so far, this has been as warm a fall as I can remember here - when pre-election temperatures have been below zero, people are out there, waving signs, jumping up and down. You can vote early in Alaska, too, and can send in your ballots absentee by mail even if you are not really absent. I think, though, that even if all our balloting was done by mail, you would still see people out with signs, in all kinds of weather. That's just how it is up here. People want to speak up and they do.
Twain12 - I hope so, too - but I would be surprised. It just seems to get worse and worse and worse...
Alicia - Sorry that you are in the same boat as me, after having spent so much money - but very glad you caught the carcinoma.
Dahli - as the old song said, strange things happen in this world.
Ruth - I wish that he would have won, but it didn't work out that way. Odd, to look forward to turning 65, but I understand.
Grandma - That is pretty interesting. We do have excellent bloggers and we have been under the national spotlight.
OmegaMom and D Witt - That is true and I have seen some of those signs in neighborhoods - not a lot but a few. My post was just focused on the "downtown" activity, where we were next to invisible. But nice to know we are not alone.
Dan - It looks like I missed you by about half-an-hour. Darn.
Lisa and Deborah - I am glad you found common ground, and peace. This gives me hope for society at large.
And Lisa, you have definitely earned the right to health care! We Americans all owe you for your service. I am glad it is there for you, your husband and children. I strongly back up the right of you and all veterans to that care.
I feel that I, too, have earned the right to Health Care. I have earned it by investing somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000 of my hard earned-money into a health care system stacked against me. It is now like I took all that money and threw it away, as it has been taken away from me and I get no health care in return. Now I have genuine health issues and they are not being addressed, because, even though I have earned my health care, I must pay 100 percent out of pocket and I can't and there is a very real possibility my life will be shortened because of it.
This is not hyperbole, this is fact.
In my lifetime, there have been Presidents, both Republican and Democrat, who have tried to address this problem but have always failed, due to the power of the health insurance lobby.
One President, Barack Obama, managed to make some headway. Not perfect, but good enough to prevent the kind of injustice that I have faced from happening in the future and good enough to create a platform that in future can be improved and would allow people like me, now denied it, to have the same kind of care that you and your family rightfully receive. Lives will saved.
But there have been many lies and scare stories told about that plan, and now there are those who have capitalized on this fear who are now going into Congress where they will enjoy generous health benefits at taxpayer expense, yet who promise to undo all the progress made on behalf of people like me and so many of those whom they frightened so badly that they convinced them to vote against their own interest. If they succeed, they will kill people - people like me.
They may not pull a trigger, but through their obstruction they will kill people. And this happens in no other wealthy nation but ours. In this, we alone value the ever increasing pocket books of the extremely rich over the health of the hard working individual.
Rocksee - Thank you. Always good to hear from. I must think about this cat's banana thing. None of my cats will eat bananas.
Mocha - Yes, we do love our country and I love it when you leave a comment.
Whew! That was a lot of comments to answer!
And maybe most of you have moved on beyond this post and will never even see my responses.