It's almost Election Day, and our city and the immediate environs, in all likelihood, will be picking the next president of the United States.
Been that way for a few cycles now that Pittsburgh's the epicenter of U.S. politics, but never to this extreme. Our airwaves and ad spaces are bombarded around the clock, our phones are flooded with messages and, more telling by far, both candidates have taken up near-permanent residency here, up to and including scheduling their final campaign events here for Monday.
Seriously, it's been nuts. Flattering, I'll add, albeit in an accidental way. Filling everyone with a sense of extra responsibility, absolutely. But more than anything, it's been exhausting.
And yet, somehow ...
I want to word this carefully, but it feels safe to suggest that it's still been infinitely more likely to hear people Downtown talking about the passing game, the power play or the poverty baseball franchise than anything related to politics. Maybe because that's become such a terribly touchy in-person topic. Maybe because we'd just rather not share our private views. But maybe, too, because that's just who we are.
I kinda like that about us. We'll walk, but we've got enough Danny Smith in us that we don't forget how to chew gum.
Anyway, nothing changes here: I'm happy, as always, to answer any questions anyone might have in this weekly space about the Steelers, Penguins or Pirates, and anything else anyone might have other than, as ever, politics.
To remind regarding the format:
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• I'll answer the first 20 questions that don't repeat and that don't seek #$%^@ predictions. If I were Nostradamus, I'd already be enlisted in a far more lucrative line of work.
• Enter only one question.
• Above all, please don't use this like an ordinary commenting thread, meaning don't answer or respond to questions that you don't ask. If you've asked the original question, by all means, feel free to follow up.
Thanks for reading and for participating!
And for listening, of course:
