Larry J. Sabato on OFF-OFF YEAR ELECTIONS: They Seem Important at the Time.
People who live for politics appreciate what real votes in real elections mean. It’s pure heroin for junkies.
There is no cold turkey like the one between the end of a presidential election and the midterm election that occurs two full years later. The presidential high–the flood of votes in all fifty states for the Electoral College and the thousands of contests for every other office under the sun–is intense. It takes weeks to devour the totals, and months to think through what they mean.
Then comes the void, an emptiness that rivals the black vacuum between galaxies. Six months after a president is chosen, the political community has the shakes, and begs for votes, real votes, any votes. And that is why New Jersey’s and Virginia’s contests for governor always assume a larger role than their actual importance merits.
Here we are in the off-off year again, and sure enough, the statehouse battles in the Garden State and the Old Dominion are the focus of a surprising degree of attention. Wild claims are already being made about the ultimate meaning (more about that later) but at the Crystal Ball, we understand. Speculate away, friends, and get that perfectly legal “election high.”