As the intensely close game neared the end, Charger fans watchingthe game on television were prematurely severed from the broadcast byKatherine Harris, Florida’s Secretary of State. Her image blitzedtheliving rooms of Charger fans as another victory was rudely announced– Bush’s.

It was like stepping into a hot Jacuzzi only to find yourself headfirst in a near-frozen pond. For those final few minutes of theCharger game, the purity of football and the ugliness of politicswere juxtaposed. The interruption jarred me into the realization ofhow little I care about the election results and how much I have cometo despise both candidates and what they stand for.

When I care more about a 1-11 football team than I do about theAmerican presidency, something is amiss.

The gap between the average Joe and the average Americanpolitician has never been wider. Bush wants to trick Americans intobelieving that he is “one of us.”

Don’t believe it.

His “youthful indiscretions” would have put most of “us” inprison. His boyhood follies include three DUI arrests and oneconviction. It is simply luck that he never killed anyone.

Cocaine “flirtation,” another little folly of his youth, getsother misguided “children” 10-year prison sentences. It is the veryfact that Bush is not “one of us,” but a spoiled rich kid, that kepthim out of prison.

Who could possibly relate to this man?

AndGore is no better. His crimes were white collar and Bush’s whitetrash, but the differences between their infractions run no deeperthan class. The Gore campaign has been involved in more illegalfundraising and money laundering than the average drug cartel. Doesanyone really like this man? It was only in choosing the lesser oftwo evils that more than half of American voters punched the holenext to his name (or Buchanan’s, if you live in Florida).

While the Chargers fought honorably, if ineptly, for their firstvictory this season, Harris proclaimed the fiasco in Florida a”triumph for democracy” and expressed pride in the way her statehandled the election.

This presidential election was anything but a triumph fordemocracy, and the state of Florida should be anything but proud ofthe way it handled things.

I am more proud of the incompetent Chargers.

Floridians should consider themselves lucky we don’t simply returnthe state of Florida to Spain as if it were a recalled Firestonetire. This election has flawlessly illustrated the lack of characterin both candidates our political system gave to us — a far cry frombeing a triumph for democracy.

Neither Gore nor Bush truly deserves the presidency. If either ofthese candidates had any character, they would both argue for everyvote to count. Bush would insist on the hand count of the votes castby liberal Florida retirees. Gore would argue that technicalitiesshould not stand in the way of counting the votes of the men andwomen of the military — the people who protect our great country.

You laugh, but why is it such an absurd fantasy that ourpresidential candidates would show class and honor? Instead,Americans watched a sad display of partisan squabbling that couldhave been confused with an episode of Jerry Springer.

Americans deserve a choice between men and women of conviction,intelligence, honor and character. We don’t need puppets created bypublic relations professionals.

If this election has accomplished anything, it’s brought to thesurface the tragic lack of effective leadership in this country.

The people we vote for have more in common with the averagecriminal than the average American. Politicians spend their termsgathering funds for re-election and their money on misleading TV ads.They will say anything and pretend they are anybody if they believeit will earn them our vote.

And we vote for them because we have no better choice. Thesepeople are frauds. They are spoiled trust-fund babies, packaged andmolded into nothing more than a product the pollsters believe can winan election.

Gore is not one of us.

Bush is not one of us.

It is time we elected one of us.

–Reed Albergotti is a journalism junior. Send e-mail to daletter2000@hotmail.com.

–This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDaily Aztec.