Election aftermath

If you think that the Jore/Windham race was tight, you should have witnessed the goings-on in the Leader office last Wednesday as we tried to squeeze in updated election results.

To give readers full coverage of the county vote returns, the plan was to leave a 20-inch hole on the front page so the results could be dropped in just before presstime.

What a surprise it was to discover the news hole was only 15 inches. We had to run 'em through a virtual type squeezer. That involved reducing the type size, eliminating candidates' first names, dropping the names of candidates who received only few votes, abbreviating names of elective offices, amendments and initiatives, eliminate a summary lead paragraph, and more. We probably violated nearly every typographical rule recommended by the Associated Press style book.

Final result was different looking to say the least. But, by golly, Leader readers got updated, unofficial results for all the main races and issues!

Ain't elections fun?

Well, frankly, they were "funner" a few times in the early 1960s when the newspaper would hold an open house on election night. We'd have a big chalkboard with squares for all the precincts and individual candidates and issues. Country correspondents, where available, would call in results from the precincts. Where there were no reporters, an observer at the courthouse would phone the tallies.

We'd also call in partial results to the Associated Press-United Press International election pool, and give running totals to KOFI-Radio when it called.

And ,the Democratic and Republican Central Committees would provide coffee and cookies and members from both parties would mingle with good humor and civility. Flathead Electric Service would loan a TV set so we could view national results.

Within a short time, however, there was the inevitable change. Election Central switched to the courthouse where there was a much larger chalkboard, more phones, more room, and election returns came in faster. No more waiting until 7 or 8 a.m., Wednesday for outlying precincts to bring in their ballot boxes.

It's much more efficient. But the camaraderie of those few election nights in a crowded Flathead Courier office is just not the same. It was a great experience.

And now, the 2004 general election is over. It took only a few minutes for the 2008 presidential campaign to start! And, of course, the Jore/Windham race is still keeping everyone is suspense pending an eventual expected recount after the State does its official canvass on Nov. 22.

We keep hoping that someday, statesmanship will bubble to the surface of the election waters that were roiled in 2004 by both parties with in-your-face attitudes on several national and state levels.

At times it made me wonder how our system manages to survive the storms. So far, it always has, thank goodness. But statesmanship, respect and civility would make it better.