This just in ... I'm an election winner

I'm an election junkie, meaning that I actually look forward to the wall-to-wall media coverage of local and national races. Between checking websites and clicking between Bay Area and national television stations, I'm soaking up every tidbit of information that scrolls across the screen. CNN reporter Ted Rowlands, in fact, just reported on California Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization initiative, by standing next to a plate of marijuana baklava. The network then came back to studio analyst Jeffrey Toobin who pointed out that brownies are the food of choice when marijuana is an ingredient. Fascinating and important stuff. Some of my election choices -- both in people and propositions -- were winners and some were not. Still, though I am not a candidate, I feel like a winner simply because tomorrow is Nov. 3 and I have to believe that I will no longer receive junk mail from candidates and television stations will quit showing wall-to-wall ads about Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman and Anna Caballero and Anthony Cannella and on and on. The signs littering local streets and stuck in lawns around the community will be coming down; soon I hope. Regardless of who is in power nationally, we should expect more of the same -- gridlock, partisanship, vitriol -- on the national scene. Four out of 10 Americans who were eligible to vote were expected to turn out today, according to NBC News. That is sad, but that is the way it is. I voted, for good or for bad, and I couldn't imagine why anyone would pass on that opportunity to participate in the democratic process.