The ink isn’t quite dry on the stats from Sunday’s Super Bowl results and today our country is going to be thrown into the fray of another type Super Bowl as 20 states experience their form of the presidential primary season as they casts their ballots. Political analysts country wide will be forecasting the various ploys the different candidates and parties will be using to acquire votes and to see to it that the voters, in fact, do turn out to vote. Endless hours and many careers will be predicated on the outcomes of these voting results on the part of not only the candidates, but the media types covering their struggle for votes as well.

Just as it is with the various football match-ups, weather plays a big role in voter turnout. Certain types of weather see different types of voters turning out to vote while other groups will stay home, all depending on the weather. Of course, the weather will be blamed if some groups either do, or do not, turn up to cast their vote.

Discussions on the appropriateness of early forecasting of possible results as seen through exit polls will undoubtedly come into play as the media “experts” will be continuing their coverage the day following the Fat Tuesday primary voting today.

Coincidentally, today is the eve of the Lenten season, the day called Fat Tuesday for Mardi Gras revelers; the big blow out on the eve of giving up a life of decadence for tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, begins a period of six weeks prior to Easter, when Christians are asked to abstain from certain aspects of their lives until Easter. Today, voters may, in a way, abstain by not voting for certain candidates and thus curtailing their quest for the office of president of the United States.

I’m sure by dawn tomorrow, we all will feel as if we will have gone through our own political Fat Tuesday as we will seemingly be suffering from a hang over of sorts from all the discussions of political outcomes we will have been subjected to tonight on various news broadcasts of the outcomes of the primaries. Although the whole process is vital to our country’s next Presidential selection process, I think we all are tired of the length of time the various political parties have chosen to pursue that outcome. Everybody I talk with about this topic is about to scream, “Enough Already!”

Every possible candidate for President this year has been spouting CHANGE as one of his/her main goals. I think they need to change the amount of time that campaigns may be allowed to function prior to the actual election for President. The amount of money spent so far in total, by all the candidates, could go a long ways toward easing the national debt.

Maybe we all need to give up any more political campaigns for Lent so we can have a break.

Larry Wilson is a 50-year resident of Sparks and a retired elementary school teacher. You can contact him at lawilson-16@aol.com.