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Keller @ Large: 'Exhausted' Local Voters Need To Stop Complaining

BOSTON (CBS) - What a dreary scene in my local polling place Tuesday night as I cast my ballot in the Fifth Congressional District race.

Move over, Maytag repairman, the loneliest people in town are the poll workers.

I'm mindful of the fact that this election didn't offer especially inspiring choices.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

Keller at Large Dec 11 2013

The Republican nominee seemed well-meaning, but failed to do much more than complain about the Democratic nominee's refusal to engage in more than one debate.

Congresswoman-elect Katherine Clark also seems sincere, but didn't offer anything more than garden-variety partisan boilerplate.

We can only hope she'll show a bit more intellectual energy down in Washington.

But all that said, I may lose it if I hear one more time about how exhausted local voters are from all the opportunities they've had to vote in the past few years, what with all the early resignations and special elections.

Judging from the polls, my e-mail, and the earful I get every time a voter stops me in the street to talk, dissatisfaction with the political status quo is pandemic. And yet the opportunity to shake it up is waved off as a tiring annoyance.

Your vote doesn't make a difference, especially when the big money is stacked on one side?

Tell that to the anti-casino activists who've slam-dunked on big business and the political establishment in several local referendums.

There will be another big casino vote in Revere early next year after the gaming commission ruled Tuesday that Suffolk Downs could take another shot at it. Revere voted 61-to-39 percent in favor of the casino in November, but only 40-percent of the voters turned out.

I don't know if the anti-casino troops can pull another upset.

But I'm pretty sure neither side has much use for the "why bother" crowd.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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