my first [election] memory:
since i'm on something of a blogging roll today, and now that blogger.com has woken up from its long, dark winter, i thought i'd share a couple of stories:

first, the title track: my first election memory is actually a post election memory. i remember Reagan, the Great Dumbass who did more to ruin the Western Hemisphere than any President since Monroe, getting elected for the first time, and then bizarrely getting credit for "freeing" the hostages in Iran. i remember being confused by this, even as young as i was then.

and now, my second election memory: walking the streets with signs for Clinton-Gore '92 California, when i hadn't yet figured out that Clinton was a fucking conservative. (see, e.g., workfare; IIRAIRA; AEDPA; DOMA; NAFTA; GATT; telecommunications and financial services deregulation, etc.)
even the libertarian whackjobs at the Cato Institute say that Clinton was arguably more conservative than GWM: http://www.cato.org/dailys/07-31-03.html

and another not-so-fond election memory: in 1994, when i was in college, some people asked me, being from California, what the fuck was up with Prop 187. (footnote about San Diego's mayors: the alum ranks of the mayoralty include Pete Wilson, who was touted as a moderate when he was elected Mayor.) well, i laughed, and basically said to not worry about it, it would never pass, it was the nature of the citizen initiative process that sometimes fucked up nonsense got on the ballot. and then the good bigots of California passed the stupid thing with 59% in favor.

okay, memory lane is getting depressing.