There isn’t much difference between covering politics and covering sports.  Even the metaphors are the same and like sports each candidate is handicapped and hyped or dismissed by the media before the game even begins.  This makes finding a candidate of any genuine substance, who actually stands for something and is willing to put forth an opinion that hasn’t been carefully groomed and constructed by a campaign team almost impossible.  For all of the "hope" and "change" the Obama campaign has spouted there is little real substance to be seen and we get the feeling that we are merely seeing politics as usual represented in a new looking package.

            That’s why it was decided by the editorial staff of Fish & Chips that we need to look to the future.  If we are truly going to find a candidate who will bring about meaningful change it must be an outsider before they can be molded by the system into just another cog in the political machine.  When first asked to write this story on our endorsement, the candidate for the year 2036, I was skeptical.  Is eight too old to be unaffected by the cynical game of politics.  Then I met her and everything changed.

***

            It is just after lunch and the crowd is high on Oreos and juice boxes.  This is the first student government assembly of September at Cline Elementary and most people have already been jaded by past experience and the word "popularity contest" is being banded about.  Nonetheless, there is an unfamiliar buzz in the air this time and there is a sense that this election might be a historic one. 

            The incumbent is Missy Quintus, a sixth grader who hopes to extend her administration to another term as student council president.  She has both rabid supporters and equally impassioned detractors.  Many feel that her administration only represents the elites, the kids with Hannah Montana tickets who never get picked last for dodge ball.   Despite this her stickers and posters can be seen all throughout the auditorium.  Her supporters chant "one more year" throughout the crowd. 

            What makes this a possibly historic election is not the incumbent but the challenger, Athena Courier.  Having made a failed bid for treasurer the previous year she has taken advantage of the animosity with the current administration and skipped up several rungs of the latter to make a campaign for the presidency.  This is a move that is simply unprecedented for a third grader with little name recognition but even more startling is how her grass roots campaign has gotten so much momentum to the point that people are actually consider her a viable contender.  Coming into this debate she is poised and confident.  For the first time many underclassmen feel they have a candidate who represents the concerns and values of the youth of America.  "In my America, everyone would be able to afford Hannah Montana tickets!" she shouts to huge applause.

       While this is the kind of enthusiasm and hope that has marked the quick rise of this candidate the Quintus campaign has tried to paint it as empty style over substance.  "She talks about all this hope and change but has no plan to get us there," fired back Quintus at her opponent.  These are the kindest words that Quintus has leveled at her challenger.  While Quintus avoids making low blow attacks at Courier directly her campaign is famous for spreading wild unsubstantiated rumors about her opponents.  This includes allegations that Courier "eats her own boogers" and "is a tattler."

            To get an idea of Quintus’s relentlessness just ask Billy Taylor who ran against her the year before.  "She spread the rumor that I wet the bed and smelled like pee," said Taylor now in Junior high school and retired from politics.  He still is noticeable shaken up by the memories.  "I could take it but I couldn’t stand to see the effect it had on my family.  They still tease my sister about it." 

          Moving beyond this kind of thing is supposed to be what the Courier campaign is all about.  "This kind of dirty politics is what I’m trying to clean up," said the candidate as she sat and talked with me about the campaign.  Even for her age she is small and petite but her words hit with a surprising forcefulness and she appears to be an "old soul" in a world where adults often sound like children playing at maturity. 

           "Do you see this as the first step toward an eventual U. S. presidential run?" I ask her.  

           She wrinkles her nose and takes a sip of her Hi-C fruit punch through her crazy straw.  "I’m flattered by the endorsement but I can’t live and die by such things," she replies.  It is a politician’s answer and one I’ll just have to accept.  "It would be nice to be the first female president," she says.  "Or possibly the second," in reference to the Hilary campaign that was just warming up as we talked. 

          Weeks went by and then the election.  To the surprise of some, the third grader actually pulled it off.  She won a slim victory in a tight race beating her more experienced opponent and upsetting the applecart of Cline Elementary politics.  Despite the frenzy of attempting top establish her administrations goals she agrees to meet me for a second time.  "How does it feel?" I ask after going through the ins and outs of what she hopes her new administration can accomplish. 

         "Like I have a lot of work to do," she says with a quiet smile. 

          Our conversation ends as her father comes to pick her up from school.  She tries to wave his hand away when he attempts to help her cross the street but them reluctantly takes it.  I watch her pass the crossing guard and make her way to where her father’s car is parked.  There is a moment where I wonder if I’m watching the future of America right now.  She waves at me from the car right before her father reminds her to put on her seatbelt.