Signs of the Season

In the last several weeks as I've been driving around, I've seen Halloween decorations side by side with a growing number of political yard signs. In the last two weeks, political signs have greatly outnumbered the various kinds of Halloween decorations.

Because I live in an obdurately red state, I've seen more McCain signs than Obama signs. I expect to see more McCain signs in affluent neighborhoods, but I'm scratching my head when I see them in neighborhoods that can kindly only be described as being "down at the heels". It boggles my mind when I see people who vote against their own interests.

I suspect that McCain supporters in poorer neighborhoods probably are one-issue voters who are religiously motivated to concentrate on social wedge issues, such as abortion and gay marriage, and ignore their own economic interests.

However, for one state election, I'm seeing about as many Democrat signs as Republican signs. One reason for this I'm thinking is that Obama yard signs are hard to come by in my area -- I was unable to get one when I went down to my county Democratic headquarters. So, I think if Obama signs were more readily available, I'd be seeing a lot more than what I've seen, if the number of signs up for the local Democrat candidate is any indication.

And I've seen a good number of Obama signs in this one upper middle class neighborhood, which is a happy sight for me. So, not all people on that end of the economic spectrum will be voting knee-jerk Republican, either.

For the most part, I've not seen much sign vandalism. There's one McCain/Palin sign on one of the roads heading into town that looks rather battered; it's leaning on an angle and it looks as if it's peppered with BB gun shots. On the other side of town, one Obama sign is all twisted and dented in. But both damaged signs still stand.

I'll be happy to see the election over and all the signs finally gone.