Watercooler talk in America…

Howard Kurtz suggests that the public may be ignoring the 2002 mid-term elections. So much else appears to be the talk around American water coolers, i.e. The Sopranos, Miss America, the stock market, and Iraq. Ignoring for a moment that the data is mostly poll driven and anecdotal, does this phenomenon suggest that Americans will not vote in record numbers this year? No one knows. But I would suggest that talk about pop culture and Iraq is certainly political and does not necessarily mean the electorate is ignoring the election.