Is There Joy or Sorrow in Collinsport Today?

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Hey, gang,

I’m sure that we all stayed up late last night to see who would be elected POTUS. I wonder if the residents of Collinsport, Maine closely followed the hustings of the just concluded 2024 US Presidential campaign?

Which Collinsport residents do you think would be ardent Donald Trump supporters? I could see such down-to-earth, working class Collinsport residents as Sheriff George Patterson, Blue Whale bartender Bob Rooney, Joe Haskell, Maggie Evans,  Ezra Braithwaite, Sarah Johnson, Tom Jennings and the Eagle Hill Cemetery caretaker as being steadfast Donald Trump supporters.

On the other hand, who would have supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the election? I could envision the free-spirited and somewhat rebellious Carolyn Stoddard Hawkes as an enthusiastic Harris supporter. I suppose that Professor T. Elliott Stokes and his academic colleagues at his unnamed college/university were also loyal Kamala Harris supporters. (I wonder who most of the undergraduate students at Professor Stokes’s school voted for in the election?)

Would Elizabeth, Roger and Vicki support Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the election? I really don’t know.

I could see the unfailingly iconoclastic Buzz Hackett casting his vote for the equally iconoclastic Rachel Fruit the presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party. Of course, Barnabas, being the “cousin from England,” would be unable to vote in the presidential election. But, would the ageless Quentin Collins attempt to vote in the election? And, would Quentin attempt to vote as Quentin Collins or as “Grant Douglas”?

Finally, where would the residents actually vote? Maybe they cast their ballots at the Collinsport City Hall (which looked suspiciously like the Collinsport Inn, when we saw the city hall in 1995?). Or maybe, everyone voted at The Blue Whale. That would be great, since the voters could enjoy a gin and tonic or a Bloody Mary as they waited in line to vote. Bottoms up!!! 

[Annie]

Bob, very well put I’m wondering the same thing , maybe Barnabas voted at the old house
perhaps he had a voting station installed in the house basement? Or flew in and out to vote .
I too hope everyone had a big celebration at the blue whale, maybe that’s where the campaigns
were . Thanks for posting this.
Take care Anne 

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Anne,

You know, maybe Barnabas eventually became a naturalized American citizen and was eligible to vote after we saw him and Dr. Hoffman exit stage left during their final appearance on DS on January 27, 1971?

[Annie]

Bob, very true you’re right did Angelique vote perhaps maybe she put a spell on it all.
Or did Gerard stiles vote too?
Take care Anne 

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Anne,

Now Angelique, coming from Martinique, actually was a French citizen. Maybe Angelique Bouchard /Cassandra Blair arranged to pay for a new identity, like Marty and Wendy Byrde were going to do in the excellent Netflix
series, “Ozark”?  Didn’t Angie tell everyone at Collinwood that she and her “beloved brother,” Nicholas, were
from Philadelphia?

And, Gerard Stiles (a/k/a Ivan Miller) could have voted twice, once as “Gerry Stiles” and once as Judah Zachary.

By the way, I’ve always wondered how Dan Curtis and the DS writers came up with the names of all of the DS characters. What prompted them to come up with really unique monikers like “Ezra Braithwaite,” “Jeb Hawkes,” “Magda Racosi” and “Andreas Petofi”? 

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Some post-election comments on the 2024 US Presidential Election regarding the state of Maine.

Maine is only one of two states (with Nebraska being the other US state) where the its electoral votes can be divided between two presidential candidates. In this years, election, Vice President Kamala Harris received three (of four) electoral votes and former President Donald Trump received one electoral vote.

I attempted to find a breakdown of how each of Maine’s sixteen counties voted in the recent presidential election. Of course, the town of Collinsport, Maine is said to have been located in Hancock County. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find out exactly who the residents of Hancock County did vote for on November 5. (Maybe only Buzz Hackett knows for sure?) 🤔🧛‍♂️

Another aspect of November 5’s election that I wondered about was whether “The Collinsport Star,” Collinsport’s newspaper of record (and, in fact, Collinsport’s only newspaper) formally endorsed either of the two major presidential candidates? Or, did “The Collinsport Star” refrain from endorsing either Kamala Harris of Donald Trump for POTUS as did such renowned newspapers as “The Washington Post” and “The Los Angeles Times”?

There has also been much discussion and speculation as to why Vice President Harris was defeated by former President Trump. Attorney Sunny Hostin, one of the panelists on the long-running television show, The View,” attributed Kamala Harris’s loss to Donald Trump to “uneducated white women,” who did not possess the insight and intelligence to make an informed selection in the recent election. I wonder if Ms. Hostin would consider Maggie Evans, Sarah Johnson, newcomer Nelle Gunston and Susie, the silent Collinsport Inn coffee shop waitress as all being “uneducated white women,” incapable of making a reasoned choice in the 2024 US presidential election? And, what would such sage and thoughtful women as Elizabeth Stoddard and Dr. Julia Hoffman have thought of Ms. Hostin’s rather dismissive observation?

Finally, one thing I noticed at the Dark Shadows Festivals I attended in New York City over the years, was the absence of any partisan political campaigning by the DS actors at these events, specifically during the years when a DS Festival and a US presidential election both took place. At the 1988 DS Festival at The World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, I don’t recall either Jonathan Frid or Lara Parker expressing a preference for either Vice President George HW Bush or Governor Michael Dukakis in that election. Similarly, I don’t recall any DS actors openly supporting either President George HW Bush or Governor Bill Clinton in the 1992 US presidential election.

However, I do remember there was much discussion here on the Dark Shadows Forums (both pro and con), when a DS actor at one of the later DS Festivals, openly advocated on behalf of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois over Senator John McCain of Arizona for POTUS in 2008. I think that refraining from political discussions at Dark Shadows Festivals, much like refraining from political discussions at family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas, is the definite way to go.

[Annie]

Bob, this was very well written and to the point I really enjoyed reading your comment .
Think you should be a writer, and publish books I’d be the first one to purchase them.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Take care Anne