The Highs and Lows of Campaign Season in NH

My daughter is six. A clever girl with a sense of humour, she's also a very sensitive girl, emotionally speaking. And so, like her mama, she sometimes feels things very deeply.

She needs a name...and because what I've chosen to name my kiddos for blogging purposes has been heretofore criticized --*Mara rolls her eyes, and lights a smoke*-- I'll give her a pseudonym that isn't descriptive, but in some ways similar to her given name. We'll call her Samantha, or Sam for short--she has a name that when shortened, could be a girl or a boy. Come to think of it, so does her little brother...I only just realized that. Anyway while I'm at it, my boy should be named. So, she's Samantha and he's Pete. Not for any reason other than it just came to me.

So, Sam is a sensitive one--and she's been paying a lot of attention to my interest in politics. She's clearly learned of my disdain for Romney. Last week, a neighbor put a Romney sign at the end of his driveway. Upon seeing it, Sam said angrily, "Hey!! That sign wasn't there before. What's he doing with a sign for Mitt Romney?!" This is following her pointed request several months ago that I provide her with "just three good reasons" why I don't think Romney should be president. Did I mention that she's six?

Last night, Jim Lehrer came on. She came into the room a few minutes into the broadcast, so she missed the intro where they were talking about the latest campaign advertisements. All she saw was a snippet of an ad, where John Edwards said, "...when I'm president, I'll..." and she thought it was all over. That John Edwards was actually going to be the next president.

She was elated! She came bounding into the kitchen and told her dad excitedly, "He did it! John Edwards is our next president!!" She was so excited, she was jumping around. Jim (what I've just decided, by the way, to call my husband on this new blog) had to reel the poor girl back in with the harsh blow of reality..."No, honey, not yet...the elections haven't even happened yet. He's not the next President." At first she was insistent--sure that we'd missed something, and Mom's guy had won!

Crestfallen doesn't begin to describe her once she truly accepted that Jim Lehrer was showing a commercial as an example, and that "...when I'm president..." was Edwards' way of coming across as confident to the voters that he'll win the election.

The election that Has. Not. Happened.

She burst into tears.

The emotion, the elation, the joy she displayed was so complete, that when she discovered it wasn't true, she just lost it, dissolving into a puddle of little sobs. "I was so happy! I thought he'd won..." she sniffed to me, as I hugged her, stroking her silky light brown hair. It was such a let-down for her, my heart was breaking for her.

Ah, the highs and lows of campaign season.

P.S. Pete is four, and has declared his own alliance with Hillary. When asked last night at dinner, Why Hillary? He said simply, "I think she's the best."