Keller @ Large: Reading The Messages Sent By Election Day Voters
BOSTON (CBS) - There is something special about an election day.
Votes are taken virtually every working day in some governmental body somewhere. Polls, scientific and otherwise, are taken virtually every waking minute.
But votes and polls don't speak with the finality and rough eloquence of the judgments rendered in an election.
And while those of us who follow politics are constantly trying to read the messages being sent by votes and polls, their significance is dwarfed by the message voters send on election day.
So, what messages did they send Tuesday?
Locally, voters in Lawrence sent a disturbingly mixed message.
Given a clear choice between a former mayor with a legacy of corruption and an incumbent with a clean record, voters barely re-elected the incumbent. Do they not know the damage dishonest dealing does to their community and its image?
Or do they just not care?
In Framingham, voters could have played it safe by voting for a well-qualified establishment figure. Instead, they chose an impressive political novice who happens also to be a woman of color.
They didn't care about that part, and why should they?
And in Boston, despite the presence of an appealing challenger, two-thirds of the voters saw no reason to remove the hard-working, well-meaning incumbent. Marty Walsh is now set to be mayor for life if he wants to be.
Meanwhile, there were clear signs of anti-Trump backlash in Virginia, where voters have a front-row seat to observe his administration at work.
Lots of messages in there, all of them important.
Just wait until a year from now.
The message machine will be working overtime then.