Election Eve

Tomorrow is Election Day, and I'd be remiss if I failed to mention it. You see, the last few weeks have been tinged with pervasive campaigning. You cannot escape it. Banners, campaigners, fliers galore. Fair enough. But one campaign element is truly unlike any I've ever encountered.  

It's the movable, musical billboard featuring dancers trying desperately to stay coordinated as they move to horrendous music blasted at ear-piercing decibels. Or, as I like to refer to it:  an ice cream truck gone terribly awry (imagine an ice cream truck which gave out no icy treats but instead played shrill tunes, a la "This Land Is Your Land" -electronic recorder style, as a prelude to the driver yelling at you to vote for him... anyway, it made sense in my head). These campaign-billboard trucks have been plaguing the city for weeks, and they seem to be everywhere. This morning I heard one driving down the alley outside my window, and then later at work another was parked directly across from my school.

I wasn't joking about the awful music. I personally have heard "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "This Land Is Your Land", and I've read of others who have experienced "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Jingle Bells." What I cannot grasp is how any of this inspires confidence in the candidates or encourages people to get out and vote. Maybe it's a matter of whose trucks are least annoying...?