Super Tuesday but what are people watching?

I admit it I'm a junkie. So I was up late to watch returns. I wasn't crazy enough to wait around to see what happened in my home state of California. It was the top prize for both the Republicans and Democrats. I know a lot of people are intereested, and watching. But really what's of interest to most Americans? Is it this election? Or are they worried about the Economy? The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Healthcare? I'd like to think that the answer is all of the above.

I was poking around the internet this morning and found this tidbit. Todayshow.com had its best month ever in January with more than 100 million page views. The site also had 20 million video streams for the month; two of the top videos were about Britney Spears. That's right we are at war, we have a possible recession, people are having their homes foreclosed on, and yet America is fascinated with Brittney!

I will come back to America's fascination with Spears in a moment. But first a journey back in time to the late 1990's. I was living in Tampa. A good friend Dave Cook stopped by my desk one day and let me in on a little secret. NSYNC was going to appear on the Jack Harris show, and chances are my kids would love to see them. I nodded knowingly. When I got home and told my kids, they were elated. Of course all I knew about NSYNC was that they were an emerging boy band.

Jack Harris is a long time personality in Tampa. He hosted a talk show on the station that I worked at. I tortured my kids by having them pose with Jack Harris for a picture before his program. I glanced over and saw this young woman sitting all by herself. I knew that she was going to be the opening act that night. I turned to her and asked if she would mind if I took a picture of her with my children. She was elated. She seemed so young, shy, sweet and innocent. We chatted briefly and I wished her well. Her smile was bright, she was delighted someone had taken notice of her. She went back to her seat and sat their in oblivion as everyone raced around fawning over the boys of NSYNC. After their performance the kids got their picture taken with NSYNC.

My kids showed off the shots of them with NSync and shoved the pictures with the young woman and Jack Harris in a box in one of our cabinets. Months later my son was fumbling around in the box full of photos. He was searching for the picture of the young singer, because now she wasn't an unknown, she was Brittney Spears. Classmates didn't believe he really had the photo.

I think about that photo that I took by chance, and that brief exchange with a young artist dreaming of fame. I know America is fascinated and watching as her life spins out of control. They are interested in Brittney the star. I watch like everyone else. But I keep thinking about that sweet teenager sitting in the shadows out of sight. I guess her life is a case study of the old adage of be careful what you wish for.