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With few words, Conrad cuts right to it By Paul Fattig Conrad Hulen has a word of advice for journalists in the wake of gun-jumping on election day: "Patience." That kernel of wisdom comes from a fifth-grader at Orchard Hill Elementary School in Medford. Just a 10-year-old kid. Pompous pundits, judgmental journalists and partisan politicians on both sides of the aisle have had their say ad nauseam. They�ve turned the race for the 43rd presidency into Indigestion 2000. And we still don�t know if we�re going to get amBushed or Gored in the White House. It�s time to turn to a fresh face, someone who has been studying the issue from a new perspective. That would be Conrad, son of Buddy Hulen of Medford. He has a younger sister, Alexia, a chipper first-grader at Orchard Hill who has yet to tackle the weird world of politics. A bright fellow sporting a CNN cap, Conrad likes basketball and baseball. He also enjoys reading, especially the adventures of Harry Potter. He figures even Harry would be challenged by the goofy events occurring in the land of Disney World this past week. "We stayed up when it was still Oregon and Florida," he says of election night. "It got too late, so we went to bed. "But we did learn that every vote counts," he adds. And that every vote needs to be counted � sometimes more than once. Conrad has been keeping track of the presidential race this fall with an electoral map handed out by his teacher. He colored Bush�s states orange, Gore�s blue. Oregon remains white since the outcome is still up in the air. Florida has a brownish hue. "I�ve had to color Florida three times," Conrad laments. Unlike many adults, he has a handle on the electoral process. "Somebody could win all the blue states here but somebody else could win big states like New York, Pennsylvania and California," he explains, pointing to his map. "They could win with those big states even though somebody else got two-thirds of the country. "It really doesn�t make any sense to do it this way," he adds. He knows a candidate needs 270 electoral votes to receive the keys to the Oval Office. He can tell you that Gore has 262 electoral votes to Bush�s 246. And he knows that the one who receives Florida�s 25 electoral votes will be the next president. His class held an electoral college on the presidential race. The winner? Bush with 288 electoral votes, leaving Gore with 250 votes. Bush also carried the popular vote, Conrad reports. "The Electoral College is strange," observes Conrad. Since he has more sense than most of us journalists, he tends to ration his words carefully. But he thinks we ought to use the nationwide popular vote, now constitutionally irrelevant, to start electing presidents. "That way we wouldn�t have had all this happening on Election Day like it did," he figures. But he urges caution when messing with the Electoral College created by the U.S. Constitution. "We need to cut it down slowly, then get rid of most of it," he says. "It would be too much of a big shock to do it quickly." Patience, he reminds us. Change, such as that brought by a third party, can only help, he says. "The Republicans and the Democrats have been bashing their heads like bulls for who knows how long," he says. "It�s time for more choice." But can adults be trusted to make the right decision? "Maybe," he says after a long pause. Looking back on White House history, he sees Abraham Lincoln as having presidential stature. What about Bush and Gore? No comment. Hey, he�s no dummy. Nor will he make a presidential prediction now. "It�s still 50-50," he says. Conrad won�t be casting his first real vote until the year 2008. That�s eight years down the electoral road. He hopes we adults will have the road straightened out by then. "Yeah, it needs to be improved a little," he says. "It would sure help the country." It sure would. You can reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.