It’s Halloween today, but Tuesday is Thanksgiving — sort of. Yes, Election Day doesn’t exactly connote thoughts of giving thanks, but there are plenty of reasons to do exactly that.

First, we can be thankful for Iowa’s legislative redistricting process. Instead of relying on politicians to draw lines, and by extension favoring the party in power, a nonpartisan bureau creates districts regardless of incumbency.

The process isn’t perfect, as the Legislature still votes the plans up or down, and it rejected the first plan. As a result, the Des Moines suburbs are split between congressional districts and Polk County holds 60% of the vote in a district that includes some very conservative rural counties (notably Grundy and Lucas). But since the Legislature approved it, it’s put up and/or shut up time in both state and national races.

Those lines also created four very competitive races, something else we should be thankful for. Having four districts with no clear winner — “an unusual concentration of competitive contests,” the Des Moines Register said in an editorial Monday — brought national attention to the Iowa races.

The contest in eastern Iowa between incumbent Jim Leach and challenger Julie Thomas caught the attention of The New York Times. Representatives in this state do not always adhere to party lines, either, as Leach was one of six Republicans to vote against using force in Iraq, and Leonard Boswell is considered to be a “conservative” Democrat.

Iowans should also be thankful for having two very capable men running for senator. Tom Harkin has done a lot of work for Iowans and others, and was instrumental in what, depending on your opinion, is “the Harkin farm bill” (Democrats), “the Bush farm bill” (Republicans) or “the farm subsidy bill” (as termed by the BBC this summer).

Greg Ganske, after unseating long-lasting Rep. Neal Smith in 1994, has worked for what he believes in, and also has a “maverick” streak in him, shown by the bipartisan work he did for the Patients’ Bill of Rights. We should be thankful for being able to choose between two who have represented Iowa well, even if we disagree with some of their other actions.

For governor, perhaps there is slightly less to be thankful for. The gubernatorial race is second in nastiness only to the Senate campaign, and in large part revolves around what the candidates have or have not done, or have or have not associated with, instead of what each will do for Iowa in the future. But after Republican Terry Branstad left office after a long tenure, the position has become competitive again, not unlike a certain football rivalry.

In all this thanks, one thing to decidedly not be thankful for is the misplaced, unobjective tradition of newspaper endorsements. While news and editorial departments of newspapers are separate, one cannot help but wonder where biases lie when papers proclaim support for one candidate over the other.

The fact that the Daily has not endorsed a Republican for governor or president in any election for at least the past 12 years — 1990 was as far back as I could go — does nothing to alleviate cries of “liberal bias.” (However, in all fairness, it has endorsed Republican incumbents Chuck Grassley and Jim Ross Lightfoot for other positions in that time period.)

Finally we should all be thankful that we have the opportunity to vote. At the beginning of this country, that right was not extended to all, but today every citizen over 18 has the privilege, right and obligation to elect our officials.

And if you’re sick of the whole thing on TV, be thankful that at about 8 p.m. Tuesday night we’ll be back to our regular fare of seed and herbicide commercials.

What I am the most thankful for is that opportunity to add my number to statistics that are in the history books. In 2000, my vote counted in the second-closest county in Iowa (Tama County, where Al Gore won by 11 votes), in the third-closest state (only New Mexico and Florida had smaller margins than Iowa) in the closest election in history. For 2002, I’ve already sent in my ballot. Make sure you show your thanks in the polls on Tuesday.

Jeff Morrison

is a junior in journalism

and mass communication and political science from Traer. He is a copy editor at the Daily.