A year ago we were all in the doldrums about the elections, weren't we? So many candidates with seemingly so little to offer, and the prospect of a year of campaigning and mudslinging before the real grind of primaries began. Now here we are at the primaries, and suddenly this election has turned into the most interesting in a long time, probably in my lifetime. Who remembers Bush/Kerry, Bush/Gore (okay, the actual general election was interesting), Clinton/Dole (snore), Clinton/Bush, Bush/Dukakis, or Reagan/Mondale (I don't remember that one, I was only 4)? I know there were other candidates mixed in the bunch, but I forgot most except Perot, Dean, and a few others. The mixture of generations, classes, races, genders, and regional characteristics is what makes this year's election intriguing. Most will fall by the wayside as the months wear on, and only a couple will emerge. My prediction, and my hope, is that McCain and Obama will win their nominations, and not just because David Brooks says so. I won't go into all the reasons, but these two, as different as they are, seem like the clear choices for both parties.
To segueway, the combo of the writers' strike and the elections has also been compelling. Should candidates cross the picket lines to get their messages out there? Huckabee, Hillary, and Ron Paul at least already have. I don't know how I feel about it, but at least they provide non-writer material for the shows, enabling other non-writers to get back to work.
Which brings me to the return of Stewart and Colbert last night. How many times have I seen fodder for satire in the elections, not least of which occurred during the Democratic debate on Saturday, when Edwards told Hillary, "You look terrific tonight," and she all but blushed. What might have been. Anyway, many critics are saying Colbert performed much better than Stewart under the circumstances, which objectively is true (Colbert is funnier anyway). But Stewart was handicapped by not having his correspondents and not having a character to fall back on. I also believe he told dull jokes and asked dull questions on purpose, to show empirically how much the writers are needed. Still, nothing was funnier than Colbert's "strike beard," which resembled a cross between Gandalf and an Amish man. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. Probably during the last new episode of 30Rock.
