As I was saying …

When President Obama returned from Copenhagen in 2009 after failing to persuade the International Olympic Committee to award the 2016 Olympics to Chicago, one commentator observed that someone from Chicago ought to have figured out, by now, how to rig an election.

Let's hope no U.S. Congressional elections are rigged this November. But let's also remember what's at stake.

The next U.S. Congress will consider climate change legislation; immigration reform legislation; changes to labor law; granting more power to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory agencies; and the likelihood of a tax increase—just for starters.

There is plenty of room for debate about whether these initiatives are good or bad, but there is little room for debate about whether proponents of these measures will be working hard to get them passed and opponents will be working equally hard to block them.

The most recent midterm elections were held in 2006. Barely a third (36.8 percent) of eligible voters went to the polls that year. Two Senate races were decided by a combined 10,000 votes; both were seats held—and lost—by Republicans. Had those races gone the other way, the nature of the debate in Washington, D.C., likely would be different. For example, health care legislation would have been much more difficult to pass.

And if June's primary and special elections are any indication, this promises to be an interesting year. Clearly, voters are frustrated, but elections are decided by a combination of factors, not the least of which is candidates' personalities.

This year, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 36 seats in the U.S. Senate will be contested. As many as 50 House seats and 15 Senate seats will be highly competitive, which means control of Congress is at stake.

What makes this an especially interesting election is that one of the roofing industry's own, former NRCA President Reid Ribble, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District. His campaign is doing incredibly well, also. (Visit his website, www.ribbleforcongress.com, to learn more.)

This is no time for those in the roofing industry to sit idly by, whatever your views and whatever your party affiliation. It is exactly the time to get engaged and, at the very least, vote. In violation of longstanding Chicago politics, vote only once. Vote only for the living. But vote.

Bill Good is NRCA's executive vice president.