I spent some of the pre-election hours touring polling places in Las Vegas and talking to voters who’d just left the polls. I’ve condensed what they told me and cut out my meandering questions.
Charles Gee, 75: Sharron Angle
“I voted for all of the Republicans. Obama’s a good talker, but he’s not a politician. And Reid’s too old for that job. I’m 75, and I think he’s my age, and that’s too damn old. He’s been there too damn long. You need a young guy in there, and if you can’t get a young guy, get a woman! I think we can start to fix the economy if Obama stops shooting his mouth off at rich people. He shoots off his mouth at them, and who creates the jobs? Rich people! Who makes investments? Rich people!
Larry Risse, 69: Harry Reid
“I just don’t feel like when the economy is hurting like this, you throw out the man with the seniority to help our state. I’ve voted Republican before and I voted for some Republicans today. But it doesn’t make sense to me to put Angle in there when she’s going to be a freshman senator with no power. And the economy is
bad.
We moved into a new house in July, this July. The last time it had sold it went for $1.6 million. We got it for $545,000. But I don’t think you can blame him or blame Obama for the economy. This thing is not local. This thing is everywhere.”
Brian Riemer, 40: Sharron Angle
“I always vote based on money. I’ve lived here twice, and the first time was during the boom, 2002-2004. You can really see the difference between then and now. You don’t see the cranes; you don’t see new construction. I think I really want to see gridlock – you know, a Democrat president and a Republican Congress. I want them to stop passing these laws, because they’re making things worse.
Tiffany Harris, 29: Scott Ashjian
“I voted for the Tea Party candidate because I think we need something new, and I don’t like that Angle is against unemployment insurance. Reid isn’t that bad, but we really need someone new.”
Ada: Harry Reid
(She declined to give her last name, sadly. Perhaps she was one of the strategists talking down Sarah Palin to Politico?)
“I really object to the nastiness of this campaign. A lot of what the Tea Party is saying is not true, and it’s not fair, because the Democrats haven’t even had two years to straighten out the mess. I’m also very worried about the two party system. I think we need to keep it and protect it because it’s really worrisome what happens in other countries when the parties split into the fringes.”
