Halloween Politics

Do Americans vote with their costumes? For years, observers have found a link between the sales of political masks and election results. Basically, whoever gets more people wearing his or her mask ends up winning the election. It's a strange connection, suggesting that we vote for the candidate who amuses/frightens us the most. Anyway, this year Barack Obama is apparently in the lead in mask sales. So, it doesn't look good for McCain, unless all the undecided trick-or-treaters break his way.

And just to show that Halloween politics is not all fun and games, there's been outrage about some Halloween yard displays--one in which a "Sarah Palin" figure is swinging from a noose and another involving a blood splattered "Barack Obama" mannequin with a meat cleaver buried in his neck. These displays, I think, are a bit symptomatic of the current political climate--people just can't seem to keep themselves from taking things too far. Of course, Ralph Nader would kill--or allow his likeness to be killed--for this type of publicity....