Potomac Primary

Teddy and I voted in the Potomac Primary today. Neither of us were registered, so we were hoping for some dispensation that would allow us to register and vote on the same day. The poor woman behind the table, faced with a long line and a fussy Teddy in the Baby Bjorn, stuttered and said "Well, sure. You can submit a provisional ballot. Would you like to register as a Democrat or a Republican?"

Now, as a first factoid, the DC primary is closed so that you can only vote in the primary of your declared party. Next, DC is so heavily Democratic that there's absolutely no point in voting any other way in a general election (the ultimate example of throwing your vote away is voting for a Republican in DC.) The result being that the only meaningful election for any race in DC is the Democratic primary.

My political adversaries out there (and you know who you are) will be pleased to know that Margaret and Teddy's papa is now a registered Democrat. As a longtime independent, I hesitated for a moment and then blurted out "Democrat, I suppose" in response to the pollworker's query. However, in my "defense", any other affiliation in DC is a waste of time as I noted earlier. And for those of you who know my political positions (again, you know who you are), it's not clear where someone with my odd political positions should reside (in a recent online test, I matched up best with Ron Paul - who ironically wants to fire me.)

Teddy and I got two special envelopes, filled out our ballot, and dropped it in the special box. The gentleman who monitored our vote gave us a heartfelt "Thank you" which, if nothing else, made me feel good for exercising my civic duty (something that I tend to be very cynical about.) For whom did we vote? I won't say except to note that in anything other than an extraordinary election, I wouldn't have voted (again, I'm typically a cynic.) Teddy voiced minor complaints the whole time (a cynic in training - or perhaps he objected to my choice), but people in line grinned at us as we left the polling site.

Ironically, our vote may not have counted anyway since when filling out the provisional form, I signed it with a date of 2/13/08. What the heck? Am I a moron? Perhaps since that's the type of thing that would get a ballot disallowed when the vote counters go through them. So much for introducing Teddy to representative democracy. But we did get an "I voted" sticker that he wore on his way to daycare. He seemed to drool on it a lot.

Here, then, are some photos from the last week. Including some from our weekend trip to Pittsburgh. Where it was cloudy and cold (as befits a trip to Pittsburgh - amazing how the weather changes as soon as we pass Breezewood, PA where we get on the turnpike) and Teddy met a puppy named Bailey who seemed to really take a shine to him.