I always take my kids to vote with me--they're 10 and 13 now and weren't even allowed in the voting "booth" with me. You have to be 12 or younger and I think they just assumed by the way they look that they were both older.
Anyway...we waited an hour and even after it was over the kids asked why they had to go. I told them it was historic. I was almost in tears explaining to them that today, people who couldn't drink from the same water fountain as a white person when they were kids, go to vote for the first African-American president. I told them to try to imagine what that would feel like. I told them that someday, maybe they'd get to vote for the first Jewish president (not the same I know--we haven't been oppressed in this country), but only if s/he was a democrat ;). Too many Jewish neocons. It's embarrassing.
Posted by CG at November 4, 2008 09:21 AMAt 7:00 this morning, the line was too long to vote. Came home and went back at 9:30. Went right in and voted with no delay. There were three of us together, and one of the three was a young college student, first time voter. Jennifer thank you. You made my day.
Good luck everyone. It is a day of changing directions, and new beginnings.
Posted by Judith at November 4, 2008 09:36 AMWhen I was voting, one of the poll workers announced "first time voter! Congratulations!". I wonder if they announced them all. As I said, I waited an hour at 10:30. A friend's polling place is pretty close by--2 miles or less, same neighborhood area--and she said she walked right in. Wonder what that means.
Posted by CG at November 4, 2008 09:39 AMHoly crap. READ THIS
Read, cry, then get off the computer and go about your bidness today knowing just how intense and fabulous this really is. Seriously. I am done now until I get home tonight.
Have a great day everyone.
Posted by Anjha at November 4, 2008 09:44 AMStood in line to get my paper ballot at 7:45ish this morning. It took me about 15~20 minutes to get through the line.
Voted for Obama\Biden, voted against the proposed ban on unmarried co-habitating people from adopting or fostering kids.
The other circles I filled in weren't terribly noteworthy.
Overall, no problems in podunk red-necksville on this here election day.
My G2 tells me there was about a 45 minute wait at the polling place in south Tempe here in AZ. I was grazing thru the channels earlier and could hardly believe the msnbc has smercormish as a consultant, I almost spewed.
Posted by wjbill at November 4, 2008 10:24 AMAnybody know how many email addresses the campaign has in their database?
Posted by Chango at November 4, 2008 10:35 AMAnjha, I cried. Thank you Mr. Reed for the beautiful message.
Posted by Judith at November 4, 2008 10:39 AMAnjha, sniveling here and I can only try to imagine what this means to African-Americans today.
Posted by CG at November 4, 2008 10:52 AMAnjha, sniveling here and I can only try to imagine what this means to African-Americans today. And now I'm going to take the dog (and the kids) to the dog park.
Posted by CG at November 4, 2008 10:53 AMBlack Panthers at the polls??? does Fox know what decade we are currently in?
Posted by T2 at November 4, 2008 12:14 PMFriends --
Barack needs your help now -- our data indicates that the results will
be very close in many states. I can't emphasize enough how urgent
this message is. Please go to http://my.barackobama.com/call and
start calling as soon as you can.
We are not going to hit our goal of 500,000 calls for today by 3pm
Central, unless we get at least 2,000 more people calling for the next
hour.
Can you call now and continue for as long as you can manage?
http://my.barackobama.com/call
Thank you.
*********
I just got this email. Wanted to pass it on. You can do it from home. Please let others know.
Posted by Anjha at November 4, 2008 12:20 PMColorado has 1 Obama volunteer today for every 11 potential Obama voters.
Think on that a bit. By noon we were looking for stuff to do.
Lines not very long in this part of the state -- I think the majority voting early took the edge off.
One mildly interesting story from my canvass. Woman was on the way out the door to vote. Confirmed they are voting Obama but then, as we were about to part, she said she still has concerns about both candidates. She seemed to want to talk, so I asked her what her concerns were. Turns out they are yet another example of lifelong Republicans who have had it with their party. Fortunately, her concerns were about tax policies, which is an area I've read a lot about. I answered her few questions and gave her a few examples, then the obligatory reference to Buffet and Volcker. She was happy that I could give detailed specifics (she knew a lot of about taxes too), and she said "thanks, I feel much better now."
You never know. She might have reverted back to McCain in the booth if I hadn't talked to her.
And that's why we do it.
Posted by Anonny at November 4, 2008 12:25 PMI just saw on the BBC website that Rupert Murdoch doesn't want Obama to win. That fact alone constitutes a pretty good reason to vote for him!
Posted by Colin at November 4, 2008 01:03 PMBack in the days before exit poll leaks on the internet there was a pretty reliable way to figure out the expected results in advance. Pick a few of the talking heads who you knew favored one candidate or the other and watch their mood. Brit Hume and Paul Begala are two people with very revealing facial expressions.
The early exit poll data is under tight control, but is due to be released very selectively to the media at 5 pm eastern. Within 15 minutes they'll know if there is any chance of a McCain upset.
Alas, this is obviously not perfect -- in 2000 Brit's face started glum and went happy, and vice versa for Paul. But something worth watching.
Posted by Anonny at November 4, 2008 01:47 PMOk, first good sign.
Bill Schneider of CNN, who is an AEI fellow, is presenting generic exit poll results now. No voting details, but stuff like "most important issue" (Economy is 62%, Iraq is second at 10%).
However, he looks grumpy. Wolf Blitzer is notably more sober than he was 10 minutes ago. Both are pro-McCain.
Heck, if Economy and Iraq are 2/3rd of the top issues there is no chance for McCain.
Posted by Anonny at November 4, 2008 02:08 PMCG, I am so happy for you. Congratulations! Be nice to your husband tonight. (wink) Oh, and tell him thank you from TLC.
Posted by Judith at November 4, 2008 02:30 PMJudith, I was nice to him last night in preparation for a dry spell, lol! Friday is our 15 yr anniversary, so his Obama vote makes it nicer.
Posted by CG at November 4, 2008 02:52 PMWilson Research Strategies’ early election night survey returns point to a bad night for the Republican ticket.
Posted by Anonny at November 4, 2008 03:08 PMStart your engines folks.....the cleansing is about to begin.
Posted by Goyo at November 4, 2008 03:11 PMCG, LMAO that was funny.
Hey, nothing like the threat of a 'dry spell' to change ones viewpoint. Happy Anniversary.
Posted by Judith at November 4, 2008 03:23 PMHmm...
KY numbers are McCain
IN numbers are Obama
So far looking okay........
Those exit polls numbers are interesting.
US numbers saying those who earn 100K or more went Obama by 50% so far......
Long night ahead?
Yeah, we had to take off our Obama pins at our polling place also, just to drop off absentee ballots. Why? Our postal carrier is a neocon and we can't trust him with our mail-in ballots. Sucks, huh?
Posted by itsmecissy at November 4, 2008 03:39 PM