Election 2012: Perception vs. Reality

Perception is reality it is said, but after this past election, that adage may have to be modified.

We all saw the polls and the crowds and the signs and considered who was going to win the presidential race and others. Funny thing is, what we perceived to be true and what was really true was often far apart.

Take Mitt Romney for instance. The polls showed a nearly 50-50 split or Romney holding a slight advantage. The crowds at his appearances spoke of a groundswell of support and pundits across the spectrum were predicting either a Romney landslide or an Electoral College tie that could end up in the House of Representatives, if not the courts.

What we did not see or in some cases, or maybe not wanted to see, was that President Obama had more support than many people realized. The polls that sampled heavily Democratic were on target, much to the chagrin of several radio talk show hosts and websites.

Locally, there were some perception issues as well.

Many people I talked to thought Mark Ouimet was a lock to keep his seat in the state House of Representatives. The voters thought differently. They gave challenger Gretchen Driskell a 3,000-vote margin to win the race. She was part of a Democrat sweep of the four state House seats up for grabs in Washtenaw County.

The perception that Washtenaw County is still a Republican stronghold needs to be wiped away with the reality that this is a blue county. It may be light blue, but blue nonetheless. That’s not to say the GOP is done here, but results are showing the county’s urban centers are going Democrat and have been for several presidential election cycles.

Saline has become a safe zone for the Democratic Party that makes Driskell’s win easier to understand. She has been mayor for 14 years and on the City Council for 20 years. With that kind of support, it wasn’t a stretch to see her win coming.

The same goes for Brian Marl’s win in the mayoral race. An aide to the House Democrats in Lansing, Marl has a strong base of support in the city. He is personable and outgoing. Nothing against Glenn Law, but Marl got an early start and had strong support from many sectors in the community.

The one result that boggles the mind is the voters’ rejection of the slates in the Saline school board race. The election pitted Smita Nagpal and Diane Friese against Paul Hynek and Karen Delhey. The four ran as pairs in hopes of getting a like-minded person elected.

Instead, voters went a la carte and picked Friese and Delhey. What this says about the voters’ intent or name recognition remains to be seen. The feeling before the election from people I talked to was Nagpal and Hynek were the favorites.

How this going to shake out and the ramifications on future elections remains to be seen. In Pittsfield Township, the Democratic slate is effective and popular. So a slate may work well on that level.

So dealing with this reality, we must now come together behind the winners. We need to see how they do when they are sworn in, but we must also hold them accountable. That's a reality that our elected officials have to perceive accurately or they will be on the sidelines soon enough.