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Caucus Chaoscontinued from page 22he went to Republican Party bossesin the Northeast that had their electionson Super Tuesday. He wanted to makeall of those states winner-take-all, sothat he could wrap up the nomination.When Giulianiʼs campaign tanked,he endorsed Arizona Senator JohnMcCain. McCain won all the “winnertake-all”states on Ser Tuesday. Thisput the nomination out of reach for hisrivals and for the common voter.In late 2007, Michigan moved itsprimaries up to January 15th. TheGreat Lakes State thought that it hadsomething important to contribute tothe electoral process. The economyhad hit a rut statewide, and both partiesthought that it would be a major issuein the general election. The RNC andDNC fought back; the Republicans losthalf of their delegates, while the Democratshad all of theirs stripped. Lo andbehold, when the stock market crashedrecessed, exit polls indicated that theeconomy was the most importantissue in the campaign. As a voter inMichiganʼs Republican primary, I wasvery peeved that when I went to castmy ballot, I only got half a vote.Yes, most delegates are won basedon the votes of the people. But pleaseexplain how the votes in the NevadaDemocratic caucuses turned out. HillaryClinton won a larger percentage ofthe vote, yet Barack Obama won thedelegate count 13-12. From what Iʼvelearned in calculus, shouldnʼt Hillaryget more delegates?The Republicans might argue thatthe winner-take-all system prepares thecandidates for the Electoral Collegeand the general election in November.This is true; however, all votersshould have their votes go toward thatcandidateʼs delegate count. If my votewere, essentially, placed in a papershredder or “accidentally deleted,” Iʼdbe pretty ticked off.While the miniature municipality ofDixville Notch, New Hampshire startsprepping for their 2012 midnight primary(the first in the state), the electionprocess has to be reformed. If eitherpolitical party wants to call itself the“party of the people,” they should scrapthe current primary and caucus calendarand start anew. Start with swingstates for the first primaries. Perhapsjust hold one national primary for bothparties. Otherwise, the anger felt byvoters may be “too close to call.”Her Blue SkyElisha SchoepleinStop and think. Picture before you readthis story what truly matters in life.Jadeyn and I painted together when wehung out earlier today. Sheʼs five. So herewe were sitting in the church office with thetwo poster boards spread across the floorpainting with washable paint.My poster said THANK YOU (it was forthe pediatric nurse I worked with), and everyletter was a different color. Some were forward,some were backward, some were capital,others werenʼt. On the O in Thank You,we drew a smiley face. The nose turned outa deep red that ran into the eyes and mouth.She stuck her handprint in orange on thewhite gaps.My conscience yelled in my head, youhave to do that paper for next week, cleanyour room, clean your bathroom, study foryour mid term, work...Her poster resembled nothing even closeto mine. Hands grabbing two paintbrushesat a time, she made a simple little flower witha brown center. The grass stuck up, spikeyand overgrown. In the middle of it all, thekindergarten letters became layers of paintand polka dots that spelled Jadeyn.Getting the bathtub cleaner, I smile nowthinking of the clumped paint and the smileon her face when we finished.She messed up on the yellow sun in thecorner and decided to make it red to cover upthe smudged smiley face. We painted the skyblue and outlined her name again. Trying toskip a letter, she caught me. But by this time,My Ali-sonI was impatient to clean my room, finishmy homework, and try to squeeze in anunnecessary nap before I worked tonight.My hand holding a paintbrush, I globbedblue paint onto the page and smoothed itinto the sky. Even though I hurried her,I was surprised to say that the sky didnʼthave white lines or paint smudges or evenan imperfection. It was the perfect blue.Later, as I scrub my bathtub, I rememberthe smile so big she tried to hide it behindher hand. Her mom peeped throughthe door at our work. Jadeyn must havefelt like Picasso.“Jay, youʼre the best artist Iʼve everseen. This is such a beautiful picture weʼllframe it. Thanks, Lish.”As I rinse the bathtub cleaner off,I realize that cleaning my bathroom ortaking a nap or oing that paper for nextweek didnʼt really matter at that moment.I remember a line from my favorite poemwhen I was little: ”Life is short, donʼtdance too fast.” We step on each otherʼstoes and cast aside dance moves for a lifeconsumed with our agendas, jobs, problems.We forget that life is about the simplethings—moments. Saving the neighborkid from a two mile walk from the busstop. Holding a baby. Calling someonejust to see how they are. Taking yourmom out. Talking to the stranger besideyou on a plane instead of sleeping. Makinga little kidʼs day.Why is it that the things that truly matterare the first things to get choked out ofour lives?Angie Williamsafterglow 23