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Health & Fitness

Being Courted by the Republicans

My allure as a voter seems to have caught the eye of the Republican Party and during this past election cycle, I found myself being flatteringly wooed by the GOP.

I have always thought of myself as an average voter; a voter that usually garnered little attention during the election season except for the barrage of phone calls a couple of days before the vote as a reminder to get to the polling centers on election day. However, my allure as a voter seems to have caught the eye of the Republican Party and during this past election cycle, I found myself being flatteringly wooed by the GOP.

It began with a knock at my door. A nice young man carrying literature greeted me and briefly described all the wonderful things the Republican party would do for me if I gave them my vote. I politely thanked him, gave him no promises and took the literature to peruse at a later time. It must have been my initial acceptance of his gift that led to the flurry of attention I was to receive over the next couple of months.

My Republican suitors began the courtship by inviting me to parties in order to meet their candidates; notes were left on my door; phone messages asking for my vote were almost a daily occurrence. I was even invited to and participated in a teleconference town hall meeting with one of the Republican candidates which allowed me to hear, in real time, the concerns of his constituents and the solutions he offered. As if to seal the deal on election day, a nice young man called to ask, again, for my vote and offered me a ride to the polls.

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When I arrived at the polling center (under my own volition), my Republican suitors were there to meet me, this time, as a young lady who offered me a “sample ballot”, apparently assuming my dance card had not yet been filled out. I graciously accepted her sample ballot only to find that the Republicans had kindly filled in their names just in case I had forgotten who had been calling on me these past few months. I was not surprised by their tenacity.

All this time, I kept looking over my shoulder waiting for my Democratic suitors to call, but I heard nary a word from them: no invitations to parties, no notes left at my door, no phone calls telling me all the wonderful things they would do for me if I was to give them my vote. I was left wondering if I mattered at all to the Democratic Party. Maybe, they lacked the finances to come calling. Maybe, they decided to spend their money in another, more crucial district. Maybe, they felt overly confident and decided they didn’t need my vote. Ever hopeful, I could only conclude that they were being held hostage somewhere and were unable to get word to me.

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I voted my conscience, as I always do, in spite of the wooing of the one and the neglect of the other, but my brief courtship has left me wondering about other voters who might have easily succumbed, without a rival, to the Republican’s political charm. The Democrats need to comb their hair and shine their shoes and become a willing suitor during this 2012 Presidential election. There appears to be only one competitor vying for the voters attention in my area and for the sake of the voters, I advise the Democrats to come calling.

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