WE Blog

The satirical news Web site the Onion spoofed the historic national election results by making its lead story last Wednesday about the “thrilling conclusion to one of the longest and most anticipated elections in U.S. history” – a city council race in Wichita. Wichita City Council races weren’t on the ballot this year, of course, but the fake story did include a lot of accurate Wichita details, such as correctly identifying local landmarks and the name of Wichita’s mayor. And the platform of the fictitious winning candidate (in photo) sounded pretty good: a proposed downtown parking facility and a streamlined recycling pickup schedule. The news story summarized: “At last, the whole dramatic saga – the whisper campaigns about new property taxes on the Rolling Hills Country Club, the attack ads in The Wichita Eagle, the stirring speeches on issues as fundamental as the proposed remedies to traffic congestion on Kellogg Drive – have come to a final, thrilling and, for many, joyful conclusion.”