It's no fun living in a bulletproof Republican district. While epic wars rage in other parts of the country, all is tranquil in northeast Indiana. I've seen very few political ads, and the charges candidates throw at each other are pretty lame, the political equivalent of, "The other night, my opponent didn't eat his broccoli," countered by, "Well that's nothing. My opponent got a C- in eighth-grade English." Nasty, nasty stuff.

When I voted this morning, I was surprised to see several state-wide seats up for grabs, including a US Senate seat. I thought this was the year free of Senate races, but no, there was Richard Lugar's name on the ballot. Lugar has been a senator since the Pleistocene era, and I like him. But he obviously took our district for granted, and figured he would save his campaign funds for other districts. Likewise for other state-wide seats.

For probably half of the positions on the ballot, the Republican candidate had no opposition. That stinks.

I said previously that I wouldn't vote for Mark Souder, our Republican congressman, but I wouldn't necessarily vote for his opponent. Well, I did vote for his opponent. Initially, he may have fantasized about pulling a huge upset, but I can't imagine that lasted long. For most of the campaign, he exerted energies exuding false optimism, rallying troops in a doomed cause, convincing people to contribute money to a sinkhole, and generally playing the role of sacrificial donkey for the Democratic party. I gave him points for effort and general pain and anguish, and voted for him. This can only be described as an act of irresponsible, cynical citizenship on my part.

I like the new voting machines.