Election Day 2008

Last week with work was a real bear, and I’m traveling for work this week, so expect posting to be lite. Hopefully there won’t be that much news, especially election news, to post about. I did want to make note of a few things that have been going on.

What an incredibly sad note that Obama’s Grandmother died yesterday. Having lost my grandmothers, I know how much that can hurt, but the timing could not have been worse.

I voted by absentee about two weeks ago. I started this in 2004 when the Florida touch screen machines were being used. I thought my paper ballot might have a better chance of being accurately counted. We requested an absentee ballot for Lay’s mother, which came and went without a hitch. Lay’s father didn’t get naturalized until just after the 2004 election, so this was his first time voting, and it was clear this was very important to him.

We went Saturday to early vote, and the line was over two blocks long in downtown St. Pete. I found out that you could go by the election office Monday and pickup an absentee ballot, complete it at home, and then drop it back at the elections office Tuesday, so Lay took him to do that yesterday. The wait was only about 40 minutes. Like Lay, his dad is not a patient guy, but had no problem waiting the 40 minutes.

When I took him Saturday, his 11 year old grandson went along, and asked who he was voting for. When he said McCain, Vincient launched into a rather lengthy discourse talking about taxes and the war trying to convince his granddad to vote for Obama. I was quite surprised.

I had seperate discussions with two friends yesterday about the election outcome. The specter of Court involvement in the election came up in both conversation. My main wish is for Obama to win with large enough margin so as to make court challenges a moot point. But Democrats have a knack for finding the most creative ways to lose elections, and the Republicans have turned election theft into an art. The cynical part of me sees this before the Supreme Court again. The practical part of me prays the court would not be so stupid as to decide another election. I could seriously see armed insurrection if that happened. I can’t imagine how the public might respond to having another election stolen from them, but I put nothing past the Republicans.

Speaking of dirty Republican politics, here in North Carolina, Washington, D.C. resident and North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Doyle is in a hot contest with a Democrat. Seems she got so desperate, she put out an ad trying to tie her opponent to some “godless fundraisers.” At the end of the ad, she had a photo of her challenger, with a female voice similar to her opponent’s scream “There is no God.” It was maybe the most ridiculous ad I think I’ve ever seen. As bad as some of the McCain ads have been, this ad by Liddy Dole took the election down to a whole new level. I hope she’s kicked out.

Polls which opened early this morning reported lines of people waiting at the doors for them to open. North Carolina had more early voteras than the total vote in 04, so it’s going to be a big turnout. Let’s hope that all goes well.

Well, I’m back on the road, so hang on…it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.