Observations of the politics of neighborhoods.

Not too long ago Mr. Field Notes commented that we live in one of the most 'Democratic' neighborhoods on our city. That raised an eyebrow from me, being that I'm pretty skeptical of any claim that apparently lacks evidence even when it comes from the mouth and brain of Mr. Smarty Pants (who likes to brag about his 790 GRE score and his Raven Progressive Matrices test results.. but that's another story!).

Back to his claim.. I don't know if he's right or not, but our neighborhood is populated by cars with bumper stickers that could easily have come from this catalog: Northern Sun, 'A Catalog for Progressives.' Their current cover has that distinctive flag motif Obama O. We also live one block away from a private liberal arts college knee deep in capital L liberals — professors and students alike. Our neighborhood .. and especially our block .. is pretty blue collar. But we also live within 4-5 blocks of stately million dollar homes. That's how our town largely is - economically mixed, block-by-block, rich by poor(er).

But today while driving home from an errand, we went through a neighborhood that is more homogenous, full of solidly upper middle class homes. The McCain/Palin signs were the only ones out. Just more evidence wealth is associated with being 'Republican.' I pointed out that the neighborhood on the other side of the college is one I perceive to be solidly Democratic — and it is also solidly upper middle class if not upper class.

I think what really happened is that all the McCain signs were delivered today. The Obama ones have been here a long while now, but according to letters to the editor that have been streaming into the newspaper, thugs are stealing the Obama signs.

Some people wear their political leaning on their sleeves, others just prefer to keep it to themselves. It's fun at work listening to the 'on the sleeves' people. I asked a more reserved colleague if she was going to watch the Veep debate this week. She said her mate had rented a movie, I forget its name, about kids going off to Christian camp. She couldn't watch because it'd make her puke. Ditto for the debate.

The spineless, ill prepared puppet makes me want to puke too, but I think SNL is so much funnier if I see the fluff that inspires it.