July 14, 2008 05:32 AM UTC

A 3 hour tour

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• by: DavidThi808

Anyone remember Gilligan’s Island? Even a group as clueless as that was focused on getting off the island. You’re stuck on a deserted island – primary focus is getting off the damn island. Why is that so hard to figure out?

Ok, the 3 amigos were asked the standard Daily Camera question "If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you want with you?" And the answers range from poor to excellent.

Joan Fitz-Gerald: A good, thick book, sun block (SPF 45+) and a raft.

Grade F : Either she is going to lie on the raft anchored near shore until she starves to death as she has no tools to help her hunt food. Or she will push off from shore on the raft to float aimlessly until she starves to death. A raft doesn’t spell rescue – the ocean is gigantic and islands are few and far apart. Terrible answer.

Jared Polis: My computer with a universal wireless card so I could blog about my experiences; a solar panel for my computer; and a boat to get back home with.

Grade A– : Ok, Jared will return home safe and sound with a boat. So he got the key issue right. But a universal wireless card? Last I heard, there are no cellular towers on deserted islands, nor in the middle of the ocean. A sat-phone, yes. But a universal wireless card – that’s as useful as a microwave oven on a deserted island. (And Jared’s technically literate, he knows this.)

Will Shafroth: A survival kit — with fire-making materials, water filter, space blanket, knife, journal and a deluxe inflatable mattress. A fishing rod with lots of hooks and lures. A complete set of James Michener’s books.

Grade C : Will is going to be able to live indefinitely on the island. And that’s a good thing as he’s never going to get off the island. Nothing. No thought to getting home.

So what does this question tell us about the thought processes of the three candidates? Well if they approach legislation like they approached this question we get:

Jared Polis will look outside the box to find a way to eliminate the problem, and then add on some useless items.

Will Shafroth will stay within the perceived constraints of a problem – but will then craft a good response to mitigate the worst of the problem.

Joan Fitz-Gerald will also come up with a solution to eliminate the problem – but her solution will fail – badly.

With Jared you get home. With Will you live. With Joan – sorry…