Last Tuesday, while the nation was obsessing over the presidential election returns, and our neighbors down the street wondered if we would legalize pot, Hamilton W. Meserve was re-elected as a Lincoln County commissioner.

It was a landslide.

He was such a favorite that the retired international bank executive didn’t have to put the arm on his former Citibank pals for a six-figure contribution. He didn’t even call some of the Southport Island ”fat cats” to pony up for his campaign war chest.

In fact, I doubt he even had a campaign war chest.

He didn’t need one. No one ran against him.

It is not surprising. It is not a plumb job.

As one of three county commissioners, he does not have a lot of power. The job doesn’t pay a lot.

And, let’s face it, in all the towns, the selectmen use the commissioners as a punching bag blaming them for inflating the local tax rate to pay for stuff they think we don’t need.

Stuff like the jail and the sheriff and something called emergency management.

But, as his fast-paced campaign sprinted (?) to the finish line, Meserve had other things on his mind.

He had a visitor. An unexpected visitor.

A little background for those from away.  Most folks on Southport Island know that Ham Meserve and his bride, Helen, are the owners of Cape Island.

In 1961, the Meserves were on their honeymoon when his mother, Margaret Hamilton, told them she wanted them to join with her to buy the 20-acre Island located some 900 feet off the tip of Cape Newagen. Meserve says both of them cleaned out their bank accounts and bought it.

Of course, Margaret Hamilton was a veteran screen and stage actress famed for playing the Wicked Witch of the West in the classic flick, “The Wizard of Oz.”

The island had an old farmhouse where the beloved actress loved to putter around when she was between jobs.

When Ham Meserve retired, they moved back to the USA where he and Helen decided to settle down in a little Newagen shore front cottage their children called home.

A couple of weeks ago, when the high tide ebbed, they noticed the island looked different. A lot different.

When the Meserves sailed out to Cape Island, they found Mother Nature had left them what was left of a humpback whale. A 46-foot-long, deflated humpback whale.

“It was on its stomach. Short of flipping the thing over, we couldn’t even figure out whether it was a boy whale or girl whale,” said Meserve.

In the 1970s, the songs of a humpback whale were featured on a popular recording. Meserve’s whale was not singing. It didn’t even utter a deflated “Pfffffat.” Nothing at all.

It didn’t even stink — yet. Although that may have to do with the cooler weather we have experienced in recent weeks.

The Meserves called officials from Marine Mammals of Maine, who came out and inspected the carcass. Ham said they promised to come back in the spring and chop it up.

“They said they would put lime on it and it would turn into compost. Maybe we will put it in bags and sell it at a roadside stand,” he said.

So far, Meserve says they have not named their visitor. He quipped maybe they might call it Wally II after their new dog. The dog had no comment. In fact, he didn’t even wake up.

However, after his stunning election day victory, maybe folks will nickname Ham Meserve “Landslide.”

Just a thought.

Here is an election day factoid — the short version:

Are you finally tired of politics? Did your favorite win? Or are you in mourning?

I will let you in on a little secret. A lot of folks just don’t care at all.

Remember those annoying attack ads that were supposed to swing the election to a candidate and cover his or her opponent with mud, leading to a huge victory?

Did you like them? Did they motivate you? Did they change your mind?

Surprise. They didn’t work as well as the political pros promised.

The statistics folks tell us that 46.9 percent of the potential voters didn’t bother to vote at all.

If you don’t believe me, you can look it up.