To His Excellency, the Trewe and Goode President Adam Gay of the Cornell Democrats, and Her Majesty, the Right and Most Honourable Chairwoman Megan Sweeney of the College Republicans:

We are now less than two weeks away from the midterm elections, and your mutual friend in the form of this columnist has a little challenge for the both of you.

First, however, a little background for everybody.

Last time the nation was this excited, President George W. Bush would end up calling off the moving vans after successfully triumphing over rival Senator John Kerry in the race for America’s top job in 2004, earning himself another four years in the White House and leading his party to victory in both houses of Congress at the same time.

Two years before that, in the first round of midterms Bush would face as Commander-in-Chief, that same party broke with history when it not only avoided losing congressional seats, but, to be sure, went on to gain seats in what is traditionally a tough election for the party of the sitting president. Because of this, Republicans were able to solidify their majority in the House and take back a Senate that had fallen under Democratic control in May of 2001 when Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords officially declared his independence from the GOP.

The right side of the aisle, in short, has a pretty good track record in the winning department.

For the first time in a long time, however, Democrats feel like the stars might, maybe, just maybe, have aligned in their favor — and they have the poll numbers to prove it.

If the members of America’s oldest political party are able to pick up fifteen seats in the House and six seats in the Senate, the legislative branch will be theirs to shepherd, splitting control of the government for the first time in the history of the Bush presidency. Anyone who, as of late, has read a newspaper or scanned a newspaper or picked up a newspaper or walked by a newspaper knows that there are plenty of corruption scandals in the Republican Party to help them get there.

The question on everybody’s mind is whether Democrats will be able to capitalize on the nation’s desire for change or if Republicans will be able to come from behind to continue their long-running winning streak. The only sure thing is that, because of the increasingly polarized tone of both parties, there is bound to be heartbreak on one side and jubilation on the other in the weeks following November 7th.

Meanwhile, the majority of Americans will be looking on with trepidation, knowing that, whatever the outcome on Election Day, one half of the soldiers in the mythic culture war — you remember, that thing thought up by backroom hacks to divide the country for partisan gain — will engage in an abundance of gloating and back-patting that will only further embitter their opponents and drive political relations even deeper into the ground.

That is why the one state that yours truly will be watching most closely is not included on any list of hot spots, either for the House or for the Senate. This state sends but a single representative to Capitol Hill, and his victory, like that of the senator also running for re-election in the state this cycle, is widely considered a foregone conclusion.

I speak, of course, of that state outdone in its Lilliputian dimensions only by Rhode Island — Delaware.

Next month, First Staters are almost certain to give the nod of approval to both incumbent Republican Representative Michael Castle and incumbent Democratic Senator Tom Carper.

But it’s not the election itself that’s important to this Texan; it’s what happens after it.

Back as far as the United States’ run as the United English Colonies, voters in Delaware would, following an election, head down south for the town of Georgetown, today the county seat of Sussex County. There, they would gather in the town’s central circle — known, fittingly, as The Circle — and await word of the results.

It is a tradition that has lived on to this day in the form of a holiday known as Return Day. The day’s festivities, however, have grown far beyond merely hearing who won and where they won. After the election returns are read aloud, both the winning candidates and the losing candidates take to The Circle in horse drawn carriages with hands joined in what the Delaware Beachcomber calls both “a parade” and “a party.” From there, the newly-elected politicians and their former adversaries go together to watch and participate as the leading members of their parties bury the hatchet — literally. In sand. From the beach of the oldest town in the state.

People of each and every political persuasion are invited to join together to eat, drink and be merry in celebration of the political process and in friendly acknowledgement of the fact that, at the end of the day, we all have to work together to keep this country great.

That, President Gay and Chairwoman Sweeney, is where you two come in.

I hereby issue this dare to the both of you: this election year, combine your wits and your war chests to give your fellow Cornellians a Return Day to call our own.

Unlike the party leaders in Sussex County, the hatchet you bury need only be imagined, as it is not so much the hatchet but the act of burying it — symbolically or otherwise — that is important.

I once wrote in this column that we must never allow ourselves as Americans to sacrifice the dissent and disagreement so vital to maintaining the good health of our republic simply for the sake of unity. But equally important is remembering and celebrating the idea that there is a unity which binds us even in opposition — that of a shared devotion to bringing out the best in our politics, our nation and ourselves.

Let’s get this party started. Adam and Megan, I leave it to you.

Yours,

Mark

Mark Coombs is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be contacted at mpc39@cornell.edu. If You Can Keep It appears Thursdays.