Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Musings on recent brushes with politics

As I walked past the Capitol Building on the evening of October 3, I glanced up and saw that many of the lights were still burning. The temperature inside the building had also been quite comfortable. I wondered whether government workers were working late on my behalf or just wasting energy lighting and heating unoccupied spaces.

The demonstration on the corner ahead reminded me that October 3 was a very political night. I shouldn't have needed reminding. After all, just hours earlier I had driven past a score of demonstrators in Boston waiting to deliver a message to Al Gore or George W. Bush, or both. They seemed frantic to make their points, …