Okay, I understand your point better, and it's a valid one. Thanks!
It's depressing that random chance and surface perception drive so much of what happens in our elections.
It's also depressing that we have given our leaders so much power that so much depends on the outcomes, but as you say, that's another post altogether.
Jerry Pournelle:
We have always known that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. It's worse now, because capture of government is so much more important than it once was. There was a time when there was enough freedom that it hardly mattered which brand of crooks ran government. That has not been true for a long time -- not during most of your lifetimes, and for much of mine -- and it will probably never be true again.