Opinion: A Kernel of Truth For the Popcorn Vote

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Okay, so it wasn’t perfect. In this country, these days, not-perfect gets you a book deal and a talk show.

Or a movie. The premise of ‘’Swing Vote’’ -- a presidential election coming down to one man’s vote in the vital state of New Mexico -- is no more absurd than a lot of films, like, say, ‘’Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.’’ Flimsy or no, it bears a weightier civic message. Too bad there were only three people in the theatre when I saw it.

Near the film’s end, Kevin Costner’s character, Bud Johnson, distills all the funny and acidulous and slapstick bits into a question that should be the very first one asked at the very first presidential debate -- if the moderator has the nerve to ask it: If this is the richest country in the world, how come so many of us can’t afford to live here?