(First an aside – my daughter is working in Cambodia as a adventure tour coordinator. I was texting her election updates every half hour as she led people through Angkor Wat. She was grabbing lunch there when I called her with the final projection of Obama’s victory. It must have been quite a sight to see her jumping and whooping on her cell phone in the midst of these gorgeous ruins.)
My first presidential election was 1972. I campaigned for McGovern, and you all know how badly that election turned out for us Democrats.
Between then and now, there have been many more political low points than high.
After all these years. All these elections. All those marginal candidates (except for Clinton). Today I smile. Watching Obama’s speech last night gave me the greatest joy, enthusiasm, and hope that I’ve ever felt about the man I voted for.
We have a chance for greatness. Let’s hope we don’t blow it by over-reaching. As we all know, there are difficult challenges we face. But … (and here I get a little choked up) … Yes We Can!
It’s a good day in VA! i’m so happy my state pulled to Obama, never thought I would see it happen. Been voting here for some `18+ years, never thought it would count, but it did!!
And McCain has just underperformed every Republican ever in D.C., losing by 86 points. The previous best was set by W, losing by 80 points. Nixon did the best in 72, losing by only 57 points.
That’s peculiar, as given the 5k gap, there should be a recount.
And it looks like McCain has won NE-02 by less than 600 votes. Come on, guys, find some absentee ballots. You can do it.
If Stevens can hold onto his lead, there will be a new Republican in the US Senate next year, since there’s no way he won’t get expelled from the Senate soon, and there’s also no way any Democrat can beat a Republican in Alaska, it seems.
when i first saw pres. elec. obama’s logo, i thought of the chair in independence hall.
there is a sun depicted on the back of the chair. when asked about the sun on the chair, during the start of the united states, whether it was rising or setting. tough times forging a new nation and severing ties to the old, not sure of the outcome but knowing that war was coming. was that sun rising on a new nation or setting on the hopes of a new nation.
ben. franklin said rising. the sun rises on the united states of america.
Dude, the fruitbats are the ones who’ve been running the country so far this century!
The true test of our shiny new government is going to be the first major policy conflict. Are we going to work together to solve things, or are we heading off into extremism and rancor again?
But the day is young, the birds are singing, the battle has been won. Time to bayonet the wounded!
You know, Rick, you’re going to have to actually move back to PA to run for governor in 2010. If that’s too much work for you, I totally understand…but I reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally want to have the opportunity to vote against you again. Really.
It’s just very close. Virginia was also MUCH closer than I expected, and Missouri and part of Nebraska are still being settled. It’s nice that it’s an academic exercise without an election hanging in the balance, though.
I hosted an election night bash - about ten friends, no holograms, just a map on the wall with colored pencils - and it was a hell of an experience. It was a little livelier than posting here, but I enjoyed rereading this thread this morning. The shock of the night for me, to the limited extent there was one, was how quickly Pennsylvania was called. I know McCain’s campaign efforts there were more of a bluff and hope than anything else, but it only took 40 minutes, and Ohio was over pretty fast too. I told my party it was over after Ohio and things immediately got quieter for a while as they shifted from watching a contest into wondering if this could really be happening.
We turned over to Comedy Central at 10 and I said I hoped we’d get the final result from them, and it turns out Stewart and Colbert put their show in the right timeslot, since they were able to call the election for Obama at 11:02, just as their show was wrapping up. People outside were going crazy, blaring music, banging pots and pans… I think one of my guests compared it to New Years’.
McCain’s concession came 15 minutes later and was exceptionally gracious and proper. That was the John McCain so many more people liked from 2000 to 2007, and if he’d campaigned more like that guy I don’t know if he would have won, but it would have been a better election.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned this: Obama paraphrased Sam Cooke in his speech at the end of the night. “It’s been a long time coming… but change has come.” A wonderful song that I thought of often in the last few weeks. I hope Stevie Wonder or someone equally suitable plays it at the inaugural ball. The story about Ann Nixon Cooper was very moving and he told it beautifully - but almost as touching was his use of “Yes we can,” repurposed from a campaign slogan into something broader - and maybe for him, that’s what it meant all along.
Yeah… I was sitting around quietly shitting myself when it was still 8-3 McCain and it looked like Indiana and Florida were going Republican, and then I went out for a cigarette, and came back and heard the CNN “Called State!” jingle about eight times in succession… and suddenly it was like 70-30.
