TAKING AMERICA’S PULSE

[Geee]

Human Events:

PRESIDENT: The leading figure in a small group of men of whom — and of whom only — it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for president.

– Ambrose Bierce, “The Devil’s Dictionary” (1906)

 

WASHINGTON — What another lexicographer, Samuel Johnson, said of Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” can be said of this campaign: No one ever wished it longer. Voters, having heard enough, might agree that it is splendid that in “Hamlet” Polonius gets stabbed. He deserved this because his speech to Laertes taught politicians how to speak bromides.

Tuesday night, as returns reveal whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney has the smaller gigantic number of Americans not wanting him to be president, notice other indexes of political change:

Wisconsin has voted Democratic in six consecutive presidential elections. Although George W. Bush lost there by just 0.2 and 0.4 percentages in 2000 and 2004, respectively, Obama won it by 13.9 points. If Romney wins Wisconsin, one reason will be native son Paul Ryan, but another will be the unsuccessful attempt by government employees’ unions to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker. His counterattack created a durable political infrastructure.

Pennsylvania, which has supported five consecutive Democratic candidates, has the fourth-highest percentage of its population over 65 (behind Florida, West Virginia and Maine). If Romney wins Pennsylvania, or even comes close (in 2008, Obama won by 10.3 points), this will indicate seniors’ skepticism about Democrats’ contention that Republicans offer the elderly only wheelchairs, and only for the purpose of rolling grandmothers off cliffs.