2010 Elections: The race is on!

Above: My hero, Antanas Mockus

With less than 4 weeks until the first round of the presidential election, things in Colombia are getting much more interesting. Mockus's popularity has been skyrocketing lately, and, much to his surprise and despair, Santos's popularity just keeps falling in the polls. It's almost inevitable that Mockus and Santos will face off in the 2nd election, but politics in Colombia tend to be dirty, and elections are not always won fairly, so I'm not ready to guarantee a win for Mockus. (Even if I desperately want to!)

It seems that, in Pereira at least, Mockus is the only candidate anyone is supporting these days. A few billboards around town advertise other candidates, but the real indicators are the campaign signs hung in the windows of apartments across town. I have only seen posters for Mockus or Partido Verde--not a single one for Santos. The administration at LPV are wearing Mockus bracelets, the students are selling Partido Verde t-shirts, and the other teachers are proudly sporting Mockus logos on everything from laptops to backpacks. When I hung up a Mockus poster on my desk, my students cheered.

During lunch on Monday Warren and I talked to the school psychologist, and we asked her why she personally liked Mockus. She told us that it was because he isn't a politician, he is an academic and a teacher. She also explained that he demonstrated he can make a difference when he was mayor of Bogota, and that he can help make the future better for Colombians. I'ts a lovely summary of exactly why I support Mockus, too.

So far, my favorite sign of support was a car we saw over the weekend. It had 2 posters hung in the windows, a Mockus sticker on the bumper, another Partido Verde sticker on the windshield, and a fake sunflower (the symbol of the Colombian Green Party) bobbing up and down in the passenger window. Warren and I almost started cheering for it!

Of course, this election is not the only one in the world: today is the British election, which is outlined well on Warren's blog and I just got the first email regarding the gubernatorial race in Illinois. In case you can vote in Illinois and you are a Green Party supporter, make sure you check out Rich Whitney! It's time Illinois gets a decent governor instead of the crazies we've had to put up with in the past!