Will the Weather Make a Difference?

The weather certainly did not matter in Missouri on Feb. 5, when our primaries were held. Then again, if we’d had on Feb. 5 the weather we’re having today, who knows?

Right now, as I look out my office window in West St. Louis County, the blizzard that started around 7 a.m. this morning shows no signs of letting up. Those who were charged with plowing our parking lot have apparently either given up or gone elsewhere. I expect my wife will call soon and ask when I’m headed home — to which my answer will probably be: “I don’t know.” If I leave now, I’m certainly not going anywhere fast, and I’d rather wait a few hours when there will be fewer cars on the road.

Elsewhere, in today’s major primary-voting states, according to online weather reports, much of Texas is sunny and mild. (Damn southerners.) Meanwhile, Ohio is a tale of three cities, moving from the SW to NE corners of the state: Cincinnati … wet but not wild. Columbus … very wet and bordering on wild. Cleveland … freezing rain.

And so two questions keep running through my distracted mind:

(1) Would I have been civically minded enough to get out and vote on Feb. 5 if the weather clock were rewound one month?

(2) Who will be the heartier voters in Ohio today, especially in Cleveland: Clinton’s supporters or Obama’s?

And why should I not think about these questions? I’m snowed in, after all, and God knows I’ve already mentally dissected this election from every other possible angle.