Here & There Column 10-19-10

Seniors Not Bored With This Election

Election day 2010 is November 2....just two weeks away and one perspective voting group is saying their vote does matter and that they are not bored with this midterm elections.
We have been out there talking with the "folks" and they are saying that the November 2 election is shaping up as one for the record books.
Older voters say they are going to vote heavy this election and that politicians are going to see what they are calling "the older Americans clout."
The majority of older voters we have had conversations with estimate that eight out of 10 voters over age 50 will cast ballots on November 2.
It's interesting to chat with some of the older voters who make it quite clear that they are mad with Congress and congressional incumbents.
Also high on the list of many of the older senior citizen voters is their anger about New York State taxes and how government in Albany is fractured and needs to be replaced.
The "senior" folks don't mince any words when they talk about their dissatisfaction with health care, Social Security, taxes and Medicare.
The 80 percent of 50 plus Americans planning to vote could determine what happens to our taxes, the fate of Social Security and who will be running Congress come January 1.
Outspoken seniors label our economy as the worst recession since the Great Depression and incumbent Washington politicians are allowing the largest tax increase in history.
One senior AARP group we sat in with during a discussion on New York State government noted the following:
1. Twenty years without a budget approved on time.....not acceptable.
2. Spending more than we have coming in.......our senior group can't live that way why should our government?
3. Take control of our government away from the 3 men in a room (governor, senate leader and speaker of the assembly) and give it back to the people.
4. It's time we do what the state of Nebraska has done, form a unicameral house (1 house instead of a state assembly and senate) who do nothing more than fight each other and the taxpayer and folks always end up losing.
The seniors we talked with surely did not show any sign of memory loss and they very well could be a major factor in the November 2 elections.