Pubdate: Sat, 08 Nov 2014
Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK)
Copyright: 2014 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsminer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764
Author: David A. James

IN ELECTION, POT BEAT EVERYONE

To the editor: 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 flyers insisting 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 sprung 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