Maybe it’s the same story in other Congressional districts, but the race here in Colorado between Angie Paccione and Marilyn Musgrave makes a cathouse brawl seem like a quilting bee. I’ve been zapping out the sound whenever their TV commercials have aired and didn’t even know till today which one was the Democrat and which the Republican.  Musgrave, as it happens, is the Republican, and if you believe what her opponent has been saying about her you wouldn’t trust her alone, not even for a minute, with your goldfish. But Paccione eats her young, keeps lizards in her basement for lewd and immoral purposes, and would make gay marriage the norm for anyone over the age of twelve. So which of these two ladies do we vote for?

 I grew up in a New Jersey town where the choice was never so difficult. There was the slate backed by the corrupt Republican machine, and there was their opponents – a bunch of “Democrats” who were hand-picked by…the Republicans for their blandness. The machine, under the firm hand of Frank S. “Hap” Farley, got things done, for sure. They built the Atlantic City Expressway to Philadelphia in the 1960s, long before there was enough traffic on the road to satisfy the bondholders; and they also created the Atlantic City Marina, later renamed the Frank S. Farley Marina, when the city was at low ebb, fast on its way to becoming Camden with beaches.

In 1972, the Democrats got uppity and fielded a slate of ostensibly clean, honest politicians. Compared to the grafters who were running the local Republican Party at the time, these guys were Lancelot, Galahad and Gawain. One was an obstetrician, another a recent graduate of Yale Law School. The Mr. Clean slate won, but in retrospect the voters probably wish they’d stuck with the corrupt but efficient and nurturing government the machine had always provided. In the end, the Clean Government guys helped transform Atlantic City from a has-been summer resort to the unregenerate cesspool that it is today – the world’s ugliest, crappiest casino town.

Voters shouldn’t be so eager to throw the rascals out, since we can never be certain their replacements will be able to deliver the goods. It’s too bad Musgrave and Paccione can’t both lose, but we will almost surely be stuck with one or the other come Wednesday morning. Worse still is that we should start seeing political ads for 2008 not long after one of these two battle axes has been sworn in.   

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Last Call, San Fran & Sydney!

There are still some seats left at the two Hidden Pivot seminar scheduled -- in San Francisco this weekend; and in Sydney, Australia on  December 2-3.  You can  request a registration form and further details by clicking here.  Please specify which session you are interested in.