Election Fever

I tell you, one thing I miss about living in Nebraska was that we were most definitely NOT a swing state (the joke is that they spray for Democrats out there) so while our votes didn't really count, we were not subjected to the barrage of political ads at election time. Living in Wisconsin has caused flashbacks to my growing up in Iowa days where we were always bormbarded by political ads, commentary, articles, etc.

This year the campaigning was brutal here in Wisconsin, especially in the Senate race between Tommy Thompson and Tammy Baldwin. Unfortunately the commercials ran constantly on all stations so my kids learned new catchphrases like "you're damn right!" (Thanks, Tommy Thompson) and "Tommy Thompson, he's not for you anymore." (Thanks, Tammy Baldwin.) Their school got into the election, staging a mock election day complete with a polling place, voting booths, and "I voted" stickers. Henry won't tell us who he voted for; George voted for Mitt Romney because, "He hasn't gotten a chance yet."

Anyway, the day after the election I broke the news to George that his guy had lost. George looked stricken. "OH NO! Obama's going to ruin our country!" Thanks Romney & Ryan, for creating ads that apparently didn't do its intended job on adults but managed to terrify my 5 year old.

Henry and George decided to stage their own mock election in our house, with George and I running against each other for Governor and Mike and Henry running against each other for President.

 These were our stickers we got after we voted.

 The voting booths.

 George filling out his ballot.

The ballot box - note how Henry opted to not even bother cleaning out the Legos inside.