Wondering whether to vote “D”or “R” on Nov. 2?

Newt Gingrich recently said that the Republicans are the party of “paychecks” and the Democrats are the party of “food stamps.”

Quite a distinction.

Googling for “Cities with high poverty rates” will give you a startling and sad picture.

The 10 cities with 250,000 or more people that have the highest percent of people living under the poverty level is headed by Detroit with 33 percent, followed closely by Buffalo with 30 percent; Cincinnati at 28 percent; Cleveland, 27 percent; Miami, 27 percent; St Louis, 27 percent; El Paso, 26 percent; Milwaukee, 26 percent; Philadelphia, 25; and Newark, N.J., 24 percent.

Those are Census Bureau numbers.

The common denominator among those cities is the fact that for the past 58 years, on average, eight of 10 of these cities have had Democratic mayors. Two of them have never had a Republican mayor: Miami and El Paso; and it has been 100 years since Milwaukee and Newark have had a Republican mayor.

Maine has been under Democratic control for too long and the people are suffering under that leadership.

In contrast, the city of Waterville, led by a Republican, is doing quite well.

Information like this helps show the difference in the two parties.

Do people want food stamps or a paycheck?

George Jones, Otisfield