Zenberg Blogue: Signs of the Times

The day after my impaled tire incident, while I was riding my bike home, at the same place on Cayuga where I had the flat the previous day, and about the same time of day as well, an old 1970's Chevy pickup truck passed me bearing a RUDY bumper sticker... the first one I had ever seen. Next to it was a McCain bumper sticker... the first one of those I had seen as well. Wow, two firsts on one truck.

As I continued riding home, I thought about how strange it is that the big Republican front-runner has no visible support (at least in our community) except for one sticker on an old truck, next to a RUDY sticker... which implies to me that McCain wasn't his first choice. In contrast, there are hundreds of stickers and yard signs for the front-runner of the Democratic party. Barack Obama obviously has the biggest showing of support here in Santa Cruz, which is not very surprising given the fact that Surf City has a predominantly Democratic populous.

What is surprising, is how much visible support there is for the invisible candidate. Ron Paul also has hundreds of signs and stickers strewn about Santa Cruz County. He had more than everyone else combined for awhile there, but lately I see more Obama yard signs and bumper stickers every day. Obama's visible support is reflected in the polls, which currently puts him in the lead of his party, unlike Paul, who most folks assume is out of the running, or an insignificant third-party candidate because the media has so successfully ignored him... This is strange, and a little scary, considering Paul has more grass-roots support, and more remaining budget than any other Republican candidate. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Ron Paul is a real boy, and not a puppet, like John McCain.

Hillary has the next best showing of support in Santa Cruz, but has nowhere near as many signs and stickers as Obama or Paul. I still see lots of support for Dennis Kucinich too, even though he is officially out of the race now. I saw five Romney yard signs, and about that many stickers, but have never seen a single Huckabee sticker or sign. So here's the breakdown for visible support* here in Santa Cruz County... as I see it.

First place: Obama with hundreds.

Second place: Paul with hundreds - Paul had more support early on, but was recently surpassed by Obama signage.

Third place: Hillary with about a hundred.

Fourth place: Kucinich with less than one hundred stickers on cars in town.

Fifth place: Romney with ten or so signs and stickers.

Sixth place: Edwards with about four bumper stickers.

And, least but not last, is a tie betwixt McCain and Rudy with one sticker each, (I suspect I'll see more McCain ssupport as November draws nigh).

In last place, with NO visible showing in Santa Cruz, is Mike Huckabee with a big fat ZERO.

If an outsider, who knew nothing about the candidates came to Santa Cruz, they would assume that the election was between Barack Obama and Ron Paul.

* Yard signs, bumper stickers, graffiti, home made signs... the stuff one might see while touring about our fine berg.