9 p.m.

• Isn't that writer's strike supposed to stop this crap from being made?

Laura Dern wore a cowboy hat, boots, a super-tight blue T-shirt, equally tight jeans, brunette wig and plenty of makeup as she rode a horse through downtown Monday afternoon. The character she was portraying was immediately recognizable: Katherine Harris.

 

The actress is part of the cast of the HBO movie "Recount" being filmed in the capital seven years after the election that for five weeks left the world wondering who would take over the White House. Harris was the secretary of state who certified President Bush's 537- vote victory. She was also the BUTT of many makeup jokes...

 

...The movie also stars Kevin Spacey, John Hurt, Denis Leary, Bob Balaban and Ed Begley Jr. It will attempt to show what happened behind the scenes from Election Day though the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended Vice President Al Gore's challenge and handed Bush the presidency.

How about showing us what happened in the voting booths when Gloria Rubenstein thought she was voting for Pat Buchanan or "Al Lieberman"? Better yet, I want to see some snarling police dogs prevent minorities from entering polling places.

7:45 p.m.

• Grocery shopping news. The personal shoppers are down until further notice. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Fuck, that means I'll have to deal with cashiers bitching about their jobs. Hey, I bitch about my job but I do it in a funny way. These people talk to each other all day asking when they're going on break/done for the day. I swear I'm going to do a "wave" or yell "yaaaaay" when this happens. It'll be just like a drinking game only without the booze -- you have to go to a state store to purchase those adult beverages. It wasn't bad tonight because our store is moving products all over the place, which makes no sense to me but a bunch of corporate idiots probably circle-jerked one night and decided this would be the best way to piss off customers and make the employees life a living hell because they would have to answer 1,000 times per shift "why are you guys moving all this stuff around?" Well anyway, there was a cute experience today when the better half and I were walking down the candy aisle and this kid was trying to get her mom to buy her something. I don't know that the kid wanted, but this was her reasoning.

"Mom please please please can I get this? It's really good. I haven't had it yet."

Oh the mind of a child.

• So I voted today. Yay. Bunch of local people -- went straight Republican or didn't vote for people I never heard of before. Oddly enough, this was the longest wait I've had ever when voting, and this was an off-year/post-mid-term election. Weird.

Speaking of local politics, this is good news.

More Republicans than ever are registered to vote in Westmoreland County, prompting GOP leaders to insist the party will be propelled to its first majority on the board of commissioners in more than 50 years.

 

When voters go to the polls Tuesday they will decide whether Republicans Kim Ward and George Dunbar will wrest control of the county courthouse from Democratic incumbents Tom Balya and Tom Ceraso.

 

The race has emerged as one of the most contentious county elections in recent memory.

We're not quite there yet, but it's progress.

The Republicans are facing two entrenched incumbents who hold a voter-registration advantage.

 

In the past decade, however, that gap has narrowed.

 

"A lot of people are voting our way but not changing their registration. It would be great if they changed their registration but it is great if they stay Democrat and vote our way," said Chairman Perry Christopher of the Westmoreland Republicans.

 

According to the latest numbers from the county election bureau, the breakdown of voters is:

 

• Democrats at 129,733, or 54 percent of registered voters.

 

• Republicans at 85,245, or 36 percent.

 

• Third-party and nonpartisan at 23,208, or 10 percent.

 

Since 1998, the number of registered Republicans has increased by 21 percent, or about 14,645.

 

Democrats have lost nearly 7,000 voters, a 5 percent drop from 1998. Ten years ago, the Democrats held a 2-1 spread in voter registration, but that ratio has been narrowed.

Besides, a lot of those Democrats are conservative, which is perfectly fine -- as long as we can keep the blacks out, which is something both parties out here can agree upon.