Floating, drifting, coasting along. But if I stay on course, I know I'll reach my destination.

Time for a brief rant.

As a woman in politics, I hate — utterly hate — that some voters continue to view us as nothing more than decoration on a campaign.

Today, my candidate was approached by a voter whose effort to praise our campaign was limited to a smirk in my direction: “Hey, where’d you find THAT one? Every campaign needs one of ‘those’ to attract voters. I mean… she sure got me through the door of your office.”

Is it a compliment? Oh, I’m sure it was meant as one.

But I’d hope that my contributions to this campaign featured my brain, or my communication skills, or my strategic knowledge. Anything beyond my appearance.

Oh, sure, it’s nice that my physical appearance attracts voters rather than scares them away. But be honest: how often would a voter make a comment like that about a male campaigner? Hah.

This same guy had strolled into the office a few nights ago, way past office hours, tried to chat me up, and then, on his way out, winked at me and said, “What is it between me and Chinese women, y’know?”

Nothing. There was nothing between him and me. Idiot.

But the truly irritating part is that you cannot tell these people off for their disgusting comments… because it could cost you a vote.

And who would I be if lost a vote for a worthy candidate over this? My friends tell me that sometimes, there are things more important than a vote. Or they say that we don’t want the vote of idiots like those.

But I think we all know better.

It would be awfully nice if we could honour our own self-respect and give these idiots a piece of our minds. It would feel so good to retort back with the witty responses that I’ve perfected over the years. But we all know better than to place our own self-righteousness above the careers of our candidates. How selfish would that me, if I harmed the chances of a really spectacular candidate because I couldn’t exercise self-control when someone offended me? 

And so we stand there, with cold, sweet smiles plastered across our faces, and we force ourselves put up with these disgusting comments from potential voters.

Because we’re women.

Because we’re an “exotic” ethnic minority.

Because we have no choice.