Twentysomething in Buffalo

Tim Russert, teacher

During the past few years, the girls at Sacred Heart Academy have had a very special relationship with
an older man. And this is not the time for a joke about the school's recent misfortunes, which fell awfully close to home for my classmates from 2005 and I.

This is a different guy, a Buffalonian of such repute that the entire country turns to his white board to track the election. Any girl of the Keifer-era … that is, was taught U.S. Government and Economics by Mr. Jonathan Keifer … found herself glued to "Meet the Press" every Sunday morning, pen in hand, in preparation for "Meet the Press" quizzes given every Monday.

Mr. Keifer, now a teacher at Bishop-Timon (his alma mater), wanted us to be exposed to a close-to, unbiased presentation of politics and government in action. And we all grew to adore the cuddly South Buffalo boy whose smile graced those that deserved it and whose stare penetrated those who tried to slip around the hard questions.

A class below me even hopped on the T-shirt train and made "Tim Russert is my homeboy"
shirts their senior year.

With discontentment, I write about losing someone who made the world of politics bearable, even interesting, to a group of young women who did not yet have their patriotic ideas defined. He made that slippery, sometimes slimy world of Washington somewhat  accessible and relatable to upper-middle class white girls who (most of us) had yet to open their eyes to that world and the importance of understanding it. Tim Russert never let us down; I can attribute a good chunk of my political interest to watching him.

Tim Russert was a son of Buffalo who "made it," and that inspired me. What are we going to
do on Election night now?

---Kristen Racjzak

The Demographic Vote

So women will vote for women and minorities will vote for minorities. I'd say there are plenty of people jumping on one side or the other based on those qualities.

But then there's me.

I'm a woman and a minority and genuinely confused over whom I support. Since I'm not black or white but Hispanic, I'll label myself a middleman.

Anyone can tell that this year's presidential campaign is different. It's not just the different candidates but the issues that are being discussed which I haven't heard yet. I'm only 21 so my knowledge of political campaigns is not as vast as someone in their 30s, 40s, or 60s.

What I do know from my observations is that a voter's age, race and even gender are becoming huge factors in the vote. Obviously, attention has always been paid to those three things, but I think they've been brought up more this year.

I'm a young, Hispanic woman. I'm young so I should be voting for Obama. I'm a woman so I should be voting for Clinton. I'm Cuban so I should be a Republican voting for McCain.

Well, I'm none of the above.

I'm not voting for McCain - so far - so I've defied that demographic. I was living in Florida during that state's primary and I voted Clinton. Her ideals fit my own, so I fit into that demographic then. But due to some recent flubs on her part, I retracted my vote, but not to Obama.

My vote is swinging away from two very intelligent and capable people. There's much to be respected about McCain but his platform is not one I want to stand on.

The Democratic nomination could be settled next Tuesday with the next primary, or we'll have to wait for the convention. I have no idea if I'll be disappointed or not and if so, for whom.

Either way there's more than five months between now and Election Day, which is plenty of time to fit into a demographic.

I may not know whom I'm voting for but I do know one thing: ignoring the race and/or gender of the candidates and listening to their words are the wisest things to do.

-- Natalie Morera
    News intern