Bright sides and silver linings

In keeping with the Biblical perspective I’ve been applying to this year’s political campaigns, let me start by saying this election has certainly resulted in “the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” One could go further and begin quoting early chapters of the Book of Revelation, but God knows we’re depressed enough without pondering the apocalypse this week. So let’s try to dwell on some good things that happened.

1. Big money did not determine the outcome of the gubernatorial race. As the BDN has reported, Democrat Mike Michaud and his “allies” spent about $4.4 million more than Republican incumbent Paul LePage and his supporters in the Galactic Empire did during this campaign. And being a multimillionaire lawyer and businessman doesn’t get you past the velvet rope and into the halls of power, as unenrolled candidate Eliot Cutler so ably demonstrated, again. In fact, a formerly homeless man can win two terms as Maine’s chief executive. That’s good news for anyone who loves democracy.

2. Most Mainers still didn’t vote for LePage. Voter turnout was, reportedly, relatively high for this midterm election — about 60 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. But factoring in the substantial number of adults who aren’t registered (about 10 percent of adult Mainers), that means more than half of us did not actively support the governor’s re-election. Furthermore, of the less-than-half that did vote, less than half of them chose LePage, so he’s got the endorsement of only about a quarter of the population (and much less than that if you include all the teens and little kids who think he’s scary). I know — that’s bad news for anyone who loves democracy, but we’re taking what consolation we can at this point.

3. A great candidate did not lose the race for governor. Michaud’s profound lack of oratorical skill was generally considered something to shrug off or chuckle about, but get real, people: this is politics! The ability to string words together into coherent sentences that make compelling points is the key to political victory, not an attribute you can do without simply because your major-party opponent doesn’t have it, either. The real losers of every gubernatorial debate I heard were logic and syntax. If you don’t even know how to say Ebola (Michaud repeatedly called the disease “Eboli,” perhaps confusing it with E. coli), you sure as hell can’t be trusted to protect us from it. Throw in a lack of substantive ideas and a heavy dependence on clichés and then throw in the towel, because no one I spoke with during the entire campaign was genuinely excited about this guy. People like Mike. They don’t love him. LePage may be hated by many, but he’s adored by enough to win.

4. Legal weed in 2016. South Portlanders refused to believe their police chief’s “Reefer Madness”-era scare tactics and voted to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, at least symbolically. Lewiston voters almost did the same, and two entire states, plus the nation’s capital, actually did legalize pot, making almost 10 percent of the 50 United States dope-friendly (well over 10 percent, by geographic area, since Alaska just joined the team). Mainers are poised to do the same following an expected statewide referendum in 2016. Only one of the three gubernatorial candidates said he was willing to embrace legal weed if the voters wanted it, and guess what? He won.

5. John Eder is on Portland’s school board. Just a few days before the election, I ran into two prominent members of Portland’s Green Independent Party, neither of whom thought former state Rep. John Eder, once the highest elected Green in the nation, had a chance to win a two-way race for the lowly school board. But he did, and he will soon join two others associated with the party on the nine-member committee. As I noted in a column last month, Eder’s election promises to shake the complacency of a committee that everyone ignores — at our children’s peril. At the very least, the new Green minority (which also includes a burlesque performer) should get people interested in what’s happening on the board that shapes the education of thousands of students in Maine’s largest city.

6. One last, albeit cheap, reason to be glad: no more political ads for another year or so!

Chris Busby

About Chris Busby

Chris Busby is editor and publisher of The Bollard, a monthly magazine about Portland. He writes a weekly column for the BDN.