Sorry we missed it.You might be asking yourself, “Why would the Maui Weekly pour months of pre-election coverage upon us and then not report the results of the elections they so brazenly demanded we participate in?” Well, one of the many challenges that befall a weekly newspaper is timing. On Election Day, we were in the weekly publication doldrums. We went to press Monday night, you voted Tuesday, and the Maui Weekly was distributed Wednesday. We just missed it—and we can’t count our electoral chickens before they’re hatched, right?
While you all know the election outcome (find election results at www.mauiweekly.com), all I know, as I am writing this, is what the politicians, pundits, polls, mounting absentee votes, media sources and my own conscience tell me. However, short of making an error similar to the Chicago Tribune’s Nov. 3, 1948, “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline, I am going to go with America’s most trusted and accurate student survey; a survey that has accurately predicted the winner in 12 of the past 13 elections. (They were wrong in 1992 when they chose George H.W. Bush over Bill Clinton.) The nation’s students picked Barack Obama in the Weekly Reader poll.
With more than 125,000 votes cast from kindergarten through 12th grade, the result was Obama 54.7 percent and John McCain 42.9 percent (other candidates received 2.5 percent). Obama was the victor in every grade—except grade 10, which chose McCain. The results were the tightest in the 11th grade, where Obama slid by with a 1.5 percent victory, followed by second grade, where Obama won by 1.8 percent. The widest spread appeared in the ninth grade, where Obama’s gigantic 85.6 percent pulverized McCain’s 12.4 percent—a whopping 73.2 percent margin.
The Obama electoral vote victory was even more resounding: He won 33 states and D.C., garnering 420 electoral votes, while McCain took 17 states and 118 electoral votes. Most, but not all, swing states went to Obama.
So, were we smarter than a fifth-grader or a 10th-grader? I guess we know the answer to that now.
Whatever the actual results, I trust we all made it through this election and life has at least returned to semi-normal. With the onslaught of political ads and fast and furious letters to the editor now subsided, the crossword puzzle, sudoku and comics have even returned to their regular position in the Maui Weekly. Sweet normalcy. (Yes, I am aware they were missing… but thanks for all those calls about their mysterious disappearance.)
So all is well—for the majority of us at least. Them’s the rules.
Remember to email your nominations for Person of the Year, Unsung Hero of the Year and Hui of the Year by Monday, Dec. 8, to editor@mauiweekly.com and type “Person of Year,” “Hui of the Year” or “Unsung Hero of the Year” in the subject line. It is crucial that those submitting nominations also send a high-resolution photo of the nominee or nominees by Dec. 8.