Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Exercising our right

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2000 | 9:26 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

TOO CLOSE to call.

That's what the pundits, politicos and people I have talked to for the past month have been saying about this presidential election, and from my vantage point just 36 hours before the polls close, there is little I can add to provide any more clarity to the numbers.

In short, like almost everyone else in America, I haven't a clue who is going to be the next president of the United States. This is the first time in my voting lifetime that I can make that statement. Every other election became clear sometime in the weeks before the big day that the candidate I was supporting was going to win, although there is always the huge caveat that the voters have the last say.

Today is different, and in some respects it is a very healthy sign for America. Since this is being written at a time when the outcome is in doubt, whatever I say has the purity of personal opinion unvarnished by what some in this town may call sour grapes. They will complain that way no matter which way the election goes because there are people, didn't you know, who just like to tear away at their fellow Americans because it makes them feel better about themselves. But enough about the small minds down the street. I'll save that for another day.

Today, what's left of it, is a day when Nevadans and this nation will choose the man who will lead us and the rest of the world deeper into the 21st century. With any luck, we'll know who the president-elect is sometime before we go to bed tonight. But if history is any guide -- and I am thinking about the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy race -- it is quite possible we won't know the outcome until breakfast time tomorrow.

My preferences are well-known to readers of this newspaper. For the first time in my life practically everything about our country -- its economy, its leadership role in the world and the attitude and outlook of its citizens about their lives and the futures of their children -- is on the upswing.

The idea of changing course makes little or no sense to me, so my vote goes to the man who has been a vital part of the team that has brought us this far. I know there are others who disagree, and that's the beauty of this great country of ours. Most of us can disagree and still be friends or, at least, civilized in our disagreements.

My support for then-Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992 was unabashed, as it still is, because I knew he had the talent and intellect to lead us away from some failed policies of the past and toward a future that would be marked by the inclusion of far more people in the promise of America. As we all look back on the last eight years, that promise has been kept and Nevadans have been rewarded for their faith in President Clinton.

I am not sure which other president would have bucked national opinion and vetoed the GOP-controlled Congress' effort to shove the nuclear waste issue down our throats years ahead of what the so-called scientific effort was scheduled to do. I know Al Gore will do the same thing.

I don't know of another president who would have been so open to Nevada's leadership -- our governor, senators and citizens -- when it came time to stand up for our chosen economic lifestyle against the wishes of people from other states who looked down upon the way we make our livings. President Clinton did and so will Al Gore.

These comments on this date are far too late to change any minds, so they are written with only a downside should Gov. George Bush win. But that's the nature of the business I am in. We have to tell people what is on our minds because, in many respects, it is my profession that is still looked to for some guidance through what has become an ever-increasing morass of rhetoric that is practically indecipherable by people with real problems on their plate.

Most people have to worry about jobs, mortgages, kids in school and making all ends meet. They don't have the time or don't take all the time they need to sort through the truth from the fiction of campaign slogans and soundtracks. So they rely in some measure on newspapers such as the Sun to help them through the mess. We deal with it every day and take very seriously any suggestions made to our readers because we know they trust us to do just that.

So when we all awake in the morning we should know the results of what has been the closest election in modern times. Some of us will be elated. Others will be disappointed. And life will go on.

But, if ever there were an opportunity to learn the greatest lesson that this democracy can teach, it is now, and it should not be lost on any of us, especially our young people, who tend to view this world with a bit more cynicism than is healthy for a democracy.

Yes, our next president, whether the fellow you supported or the fellow you chose not to vote for, will be the first to say that in a democracy, every vote counts.

It will be written that Election 2000 was the time when the people went out of their way to vote. They got off their couches, left their jobs early and managed to juggle kids, homework and weather to exercise that most precious of freedoms, the one that makes us the envy of the world.

You see, the real headline in this election is that our country learned up close and personal that in a democracy like ours, every vote really does matter.

Those who already knew that will be celebrating tomorrow.

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