Don Canney

With deference to the late Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neil, who was the originator of the first half of this column’s headline.

Watching the slew of political ads on TV now returns me to my youth when an election day was nothing more than time off from school. The schools were used as polling places and we just assumed they did not want us kids getting in the way. We never gave much thought to the importance of election day and how it shaped our future and way of life back then. Remember classroom mock elections?

As snot-nosed kids, we would frequent some of the candidates’ headquarters in 60’s downtown Nashua to collect pens, pencils, bumper stickers and campaign buttons, especially any of those with what we called “wiggle pictures” affixed, those buttons that, when moved from left to right or up and down, would produce various text and images on the surface. We thought those were so cool. We typically had no clue about any of the candidates, but we’d wear the buttons to watch them move and give the bumper stickers and pens and pencils to anyone who wanted them.

Some of the local politicians I remember from that era are Mario J. Vagge, who served as a long time Mayor of the city and operated a local Rambler Dealership, Dennis J. Sullivan, who was also a long time Mayor and former postal employee, Hugh Gregg, former Governor and father of former Governor and US Senator Judd Gregg, Styles Bridges, former Governor and long-time US Senator, US Senator Thomas J. McIntyre, who now has a federal building in his honor in Portsmouth, and Norris Cotton, a Senator and Congressman who has his name affixed to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. All played important roles in their respective positions.

Many of us Nashuans and New Hampshire residents often forget how lucky we are to have such a leading-edge role in shaping not only our local political landscape but those of the entire nation. Every four years, dozens of presidential “wannabies” parade through our state, hoping to convince us they are the one. I can remember once shaking the hand of an unknown peanut farmer in the former Al’s Pizza on Pearl Street. Who knew?

Nashua has played host to a plethora of candidates who eventually came back as national leaders. From that hand-shaking peanut farmer (who eventually became President Jimmy Carter), to a former actor and governor who declared to Jon L. Breen, at that time Telegraph Executive Editor, “I paid for this microphone,” (Ronald Reagan) to the president who appears in trivia questions as the only US President never elected to that office (Gerald Ford). This city has seen it all, the good, the bad and the ugly.

In those days, there was no Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, or Instagram, and the only thing virtual was in a true Webster’s Dictionary sense versus anything computer-generated. Nearly all our news came from a black and white newspaper or a black and white Walter Cronkite.

It’s once again time to take your ballot, fill in the space next to your preferred candidate and exercise your right to vote for the individual you think will be the best to fill our local and national positions.

Whether you lean to the right, to the left, or somewhere in the middle, take the time to get out and vote. We often take for granted our constitutional right and privilege to play a role in who will lead us into the future.

Yup, come November, we will all be exhausted from the political ads and the partisan bickering and name-calling we will see within them, but bear in mind there are many countries throughout the world whose citizens would give anything to suffer through the same, knowing they had an eventual goal of being able to choose who will represent them in the future.

This year we will have the option of mailing ballots in, or donning our masks, sanitizer and keeping a social distance while voting live at out local polling places.

Are you in?

Don Canney is a freelance writer and professional voice artist. He was born and raised in downtown Nashua with great interest in Nashua history circa 1950-1970. He now resides in Litchfield.