I’m up very early this morning, as I somehow got my arm wedged underneath me and woke up with my shoulder throbbing. I just gotta make it a couple more years and I will get that second surgery. Like I noted on twitter, the thing about getting older is that by the time you finally get the mind working somewhat right all the other parts need to be replaced. Sigh.
At any rate, because it is quiet and Steve isn’t bitching and the dogs aren’t barking and the tv is off and the phone isn’t ringing or beeping notifying me I have an email I need to address, I get to think, and started to reflect on this election cycle and how I feel. It’s just been a long, horrible, awful election cycle. It’s the first election I can remember where I was not glued to the tv. I was too stoned and drunk and busy majoring in lacrosse, the grateful dead, the fraternity, and sorority girls in 1988 to pay much attention to politics, but in 1992, I got out off active duty in the summer, and as a new freshman planning to major in political science, I was glued to CNN for Clinton/Bush. In every election since, I have just been all in. Until now. There were days when I refused to change the tv to a news channel and didn’t even want to look at this blog. My enthusiasm was for it to end.
It’s a weird paradox- the stakes are higher this election than ever before, and the Republican plan to make us all hate it was killing my enthusiasm, and that was by design. It was just so ugly. And I started to think, where was I eight years ago? Well, right here:
CNN is projecting Obama is the next President.
President-Elect Barack Obama.
*** Update **
I am still in shock. This was a damned landslide. It seems so long ago that I was the skeptical one, mocking Obama as the Magical Unity Pony- I think people forget that I was one of the folks who was simply going to support Hillary as the alternative to the GOP disaster.
This is just stunning. This changes everything. He treated us like adults, he converted the skeptics, and now he has a chance to make his mark. I was an Obama skeptic, and mocked him as the Magical Unity Pony, and mocked him “transcending” things. People forget that, I guess.
But now, no more fake nicknames- this is President-Elect Barack Obama. And I am so very, very proud.
The fierce urgency of now. Your next President, Barack Obama:
You ain’t the only one, kid.
We did it.
Eight years ago I was writing that from a hotel in Orlando while at a conference, and it was the culmination of the greatest campaign for the man who I think has been the best President of my lifetime and will probably go down as one of the best Presidents of all time. It was such a rush. I don’t think I will ever feel that way again about a candidate again, although there is a guy named John Fetterman in PA who pushes all the right buttons.
Now this election is not over, by any means. Anything could happen today. But right now I am feeling pretty confident that Hillary is going to win by Obama sized numbers. And what I want you all to keep in mind is that there are millions of people across the country, especially a lot of women, who are going to feel today what I felt eight short years ago. The election of Hillary Clinton will be their Obama. And you know what, it’s not her fault the Republicans and their willing accomplices in the media have dragged her through shit for three decades, and it’s not her fault that the GOP intentionally attempted to destroy the political process this election. Like many of you, my joy at her potential victory tonight will be tempered with a great deal of relief and an equal amount of trepidation for the bullshit hurricane that is coming.
But what you need to remember tonight is that it isn’t about you. It’s about them. It’s about your grandmother and mother, your wife and your daughter, and about all the women in your life who just make things work. The millions of women who have spent their entire lives dreaming of what we hope will happened today. I intend to enjoy it vicariously and to celebrate the election of a mature, decent adult and avoiding the flaming meteor aimed at our body politic.
So don’t be a dick. She’s not going to be the next Obama. She’s going to be the first Hillary. And that’s pretty damned ok, and I am sick and tired of everyone having to qualify their support for her. She’s going to be a good President.
(This was extra rambling because it was written without the benefit of coffee because I am hoping I can catch another hour of sleep.)
Betty Cracker
Thank you for that, John. I was all-in for Obama in the 2008 primary. But electing the first woman president is a big fucking deal to me.
Well said. And damned if I’m not just as excited about the possibilities. I get it if some folks aren’t, but yeah, let us have our moment. “Don’t be a dick” is good advice any time, but now especially.
Donna
Yes. This. Thank you.
JGabriel
Polls open at 6 am in NYC. Heading out now to vote.
Mustang Bobby
This is the eleventh presidential election I’ve voted in, but this feels like the one that could truly make a difference. In all of them of course it mattered who won, but this is the first — and hopefully the last — where I felt the country was in mortal peril if a certain candidate won. I also felt as if my life and livelihood would be changed for the worse if he won. I don’t mean in some abstract sense; I felt as if certain rights that had been so hard-fought and won at great cost were on the line,
Yes, this has been a very difficult and divisive campaign. But nothing worth winning can be left to others and must be fought for.
satby
John, you said it perfectly. I’m feeling a lot like you are. And thank you for expressing it so well for so many of us.
Tenzil Kem
Yep. I was first one up and I am dressed to vote in a green and white checked shirt and a purplish looking blazer, because those were the suffragists’ colors back in the day. We’re bringing our daughter along to vote as well; she loves Hillary and deserves to at least watch us vote even if she’s too young to cast a ballot herself.
Schlemazel
John, I worked my first campaign in 1956, for Joe Karth MN CD4, he was a union friend of my fathers, I have worked in most but no all elections ever since. I have withdrawn from coverage of this one too. I thought it was because I was old but thats not it. The level of bullshit this year is greater than all the bullshit I have heard in 60 years of hearing campaign bullshit and the media is making it unbearable.
I have not felt this way about an election since 1968; We have to win this because the alternative is pure evil. Nixon proved that was right. I was not an Obama supporter at caucus in 08 – until I saw the crowds he drew. He was and is not left enough for me but I recognized he could ignite a crowd and change America in a way no President could in my lifetime. I was not a Clinton fan either but I am this year. I am excited to have her as my President, more than anything she is a fighter and I do not think she expects to lead a coalition, she knows and is prepared to fight and not expect anything but obstruction from the GOP. Obama did OK despite that obstruction and I expect Hillary will do even better. Buckle up, its going to be interesting.
geg6
Thank you, John. This woman is going to be thrilled and a little sad that my mom, a tough, fierce woman a lot like Hillary wasn’t here to see this day. And my dad, who loved the Big Dog and who thought strong and independent women were the best and who did his best to ensure his daughters were as tough and strong as his mother and wife. It’s very big deal to me. I’m wearing white to work today (winter white). Remember the ladies!
raven
One last time. I came home in September 1969 and, after 25 months in Asia, I couldn’t vote for another 14 months. The 68 election occurred while I was was “over there”. I know it’s not the same but I know what it is like to be disenfranchised. If you haven’t voted get your ass up and do it!
amk
I am not murkan but the kenyan (and his wife) sure turned me on.
It’s horrible that the historical first woman candidate is pitted against the worst possible misogynist. Hope the murkans don’t screw up this moment.
Aimai
John ,I love you fir saying this. Its really true. I love my husband and he is a great person politucally and in every other way but I had to say this to him last night. i had to explain to him how I was feeling bevause this is not politics as usual for me or our daughters. This is earth moving, ceiling shattering, life changing for me.
And as for the way Hillary, women, the country and the presidency will be treated after she wins? The republicans are going to smear everything with shit and destroy what they cant control. We are not going to have a moments respite. But this is their nature. Rule or ruin.
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: I can’t, the polls don’t open for another 4 hours.
Manyakitty
Amen, amen, amen. I’m up and moving early to vote for Hillary before work. ONWARD!
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: There it is!
Chet
Went for my morning run, made coffee and fried eggs, and was sitting down to eat when I noticed the sunrise. It literally dawned on me that this day is a BFD.
For me, too: I’m on the ballot for school board. Campaigning definitely took me outside my comfort zone, but the enthusiastic support of my friend, neighbors, and some heretofore strangers has been really uplifting.
I’m looking forward to popping the cork on a bottle of Wild Turkey tonight and mixing it with the delicious tears of Trumpeters.
BruceFromOhio
I’m with her.
p.a.
Let’s also raise a glass to the incompetence of the enemies of progress. Their stupidity is a feature, not a defect. FDR, Give em Hell Harry, BHO, and HRC have all benefitted by the Just Say No confederacy of dunces.
Off to tautog fish now; 32 deg f. Have a hot chocolate for me.
CarolDuhart2
Black. Female. Here. Scared to death Trump pulls out something. I was thrilled that Obama won 8 years ago-and yes, he’s been the best President in my lifetime. And something to consider-he’s finally gotten America (or a great deal of it) to look ahead to the future, something I didn’t realize until recently. At 60. since the death of Kennedy, American politics became a form of nostalgia for those years, both conservative and liberal. Nobody seemed to be as good as the man we lost, or the Eisenhower years, or whatever. But since Obama, we’re looking up and forward with anticipation.
Hillary finishes what Obama started back in 2008 and even improves on it. Perhaps that’s what agitates them so much-not that she’s a woman, she’s that woman, who refused to stay in her lane, who refused to play the nostalgia game and retire to be a former First Lady. Who refused to apologize for being a forward looking woman, who refuses to apologize for being a damned feminist, for being a 60’s activist, for embracing Obama and his coalition.
TS
@amk:
I think its great that the country will vote for a woman against a racist bigoted misogynist – despite Mica & Ho are singing his praises this am. And of course we must look after those people who want trump to win – we must address their concerns – bqwhatever – if Hillary lost they wouldn’t give a damn about her supporters.
And in the months to come Mica will be examining why all these people hate the government.
satby
@Chet: Good luck to you! Every election matters, even school board.
OGLiberal
Thank you for this, John. I want this for me but much more for my wife. In 2008 she was a jaded Hillary supporter who didn’t like that I voted for Obama in the primary. I did so because the stakes were so high, the financial crash that put a knife through any Republican running that year hadn’t happened yet, and I thought a clean, new guy stood a better chance than somebody with, almost all unwarranted but that doesn’t matter to the media, baggage. Stakes are high again but while my heart was with magic pony Bernie, I voted for Hillary in the primary, as did my wife. This year has shown me that sexism is almost as bad as racism in this country. Dudes, particularly white dudes, still can’t except that things have changed.
After 8-years, my wife is depressed that we will no longer have Obama as president. Our life issues transcended politics but when she did give a thought to it, she could look to Obama, who never faltered, never caved, and was always a steady hand. In many ways, Hillary has learned from Obama. She’s the steady hand this year. Despite the manufactured email garbage, she’s the no drama candidate. But I actually feel like white dudes in this country are actually more threatened by a woman of any color than they are by a black guy. That’s why women will bring Clinton across the finish line….more of them will vote for her than white guys, some of whom voted for Obama, will vote for Trump.
Most of all, I want this for my daughter. My white son was born on second base. But for my Chinese daughter, having a minority and a woman as President, back-to-back, is a big deal. She doesn’t know or realize that yet because she’s 8, but she will.
BillinGlendaleCA
@TS: I’ve been avoiding Joe of the Morning and Meeka for the past few days.
Some Dude
Women fought for the right to vote a little less than 100 years ago, and now we’re about to have the first female President. I know that the misogyny will be turned up as soon as the election is over, and she’ll have to do the old “dance in high heels and backwards” just to be seen as adequate by some men. Phooey on that. Hillary will be Hillary, and unlike President Obama when he took office, she knows full and well that the battle will be joined once the election is certified. No reaching out to the other side, since she’ll only get her hand bitten. I just want the turnout to be Yuuuge, so that there is no doubt who the people chose, and give her a mandate to bludgeon the GOP with.
craigie
Oh, come on, it’s just locker room singing.
JGabriel
JGabriel (i.e., me):
And I’m back. The line was surprisingly long, especially for 6 am. I’d estimate that it was about a quarter mile long, but it moved quickly and was much shorter by the time I voted and left half-an-hour later.
JGabriel
@craigie: Well-played.
maryQ
Thank you, John. Let’s all have a beautiful day.
Hope is not a feeling. It is a choice we make.
PsiFighter37
@JGabriel: I voted as well. This is the first time at this location during a presidential election, but there were way more people than when I voted at 6 AM in 2008 and 2012. I take that as a sign that many New Yorkers cannot wait to give the finger to the Donald in the ballot box.
Hoping things go well tonight. I am heartened to see that many people who I did not think were political junkies are being more open about their opinion and even doing GOTV today…hoping it pays off, not just at the top of the ticket but also downballot as well.
JGabriel
Some Dude:
It isn’t already turned up?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I voted three weeks ago. I’d be out volunteering, but:
1) Calling strangers on the phone or knocking on their doors push all sorts of irrational fear buttons for me. It’s just not possible.
2) Four months of six day weeks have left me worn out and frazzled. I need my time off to actually be time off right now.
The Pale Scot
Somebody probably already posted this, I’ve been meaning to but kept forgetting to.
Tommy Flanagan: Pathological Liars Anonymous
PST
Although it’s not about me, I’m coming out of this different from the way I went in. Knocking on doors in a depressed rust-belt city was a huge reminder how lucky I am and how much others put up with. Among other things, I met many voters who you might think were for Trump based on demographics who were solid for Clinton. Now I’m sitting outside a public housing polling place watching the line form.
JGabriel
@PsiFighter37:
Me too. I figure the closer contest is going to be whether Hillary wins on the Democratic ballot line or the Working Families line. For the record, I voted WFP. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Clinton beats Trump on each ballot line separately, at least in NYC if not statewide.
Some Dude
@JGabriel: It hasn’t hit 11 yet.
Travels with Charley
I was thrilled about Obama. I think he will go down as a great president. But this…this feels different. The combination of first Obama & then Hillary will be TRANSFORMING. I really do feel that we are “choosing hope,” choosing to take our country in a completely new direction. It feels like a rebirth….
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Short line moving efficiently at this poll. Four people arrived at 6:15 and by opening there were 10. All booths are in use,as is the table with screens, and 2 people have clipboards.So it’s hopping!
Chris
Well, here I am in line. Fingers crossed, knock on wood. Go Hillary.
JPL
@JGabriel: It’s the new norm.
You know who else voted at 6:00 this morning, the next vice president of the United States.
PsiFighter37
@JGabriel: I think the WFP are clowns and would never give them a vote on their line. Straight Democratic for me.
I was a bit puzzled to see that Cuomo’s zombie ‘Women’s Equality’ party still had a line on the ballot…
Phylllis
I’m mid-fifties, white female and lifelong southerner. My first presidential election was Jimmy Carter in 1980. I’ve voted Democratic my entire life. My daddy was as yellow-dog as they come so I come by it honestly. If you had asked me 12-15 years ago, I’d have told you we’d never see a Black man as president in my lifetime. Maybe a woman, but not anytime soon. I plan to proudly vote for Hillary Clinton, as I did for Barack Obama. I can’t think about it for too long at a time, because the enormity of it, and my minuscule role in it. gets me choked up. Here’s to nasty women in pantsuits for the win.
OzarkHillbilly
@JGabriel: You ain’t seen nothin yet.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Polls just opened here. Our polling place had no early line forming up about an hour ago. News is showing lines wrapping around the buildings in some places. Turnout from early voting was incredibly high in the Triangle, topping 60% in some precincts, 44% across the state. Wish we could get that in off-year.
Chris
@JGabriel:
As impossible as it is to believe right now, it WILL get worse if she wins.
amk
@PST:
Thank you so much.
Tinare
My favorite memory of this election will be helping my 93 year old mom fill out her absentee ballot (she’s legally blind and in a wheelchair) for the primary. I get to the Senate candidates and before I can read any of the names, my mom blurts out “who’s the guy from Braddock? Him, I like him!” I did not see that coming, that my mom would vote for Fetterman.
I mailed her ballot for Hillary (and Katie for Senate) last week. I’ll be casting my ballot in 30 minutes or so. Fired up. Ready to go.
Kobekid
thanks for this John and all you have done. I came to BJ through Sully’s blog back in 2007 and have read you almost every day since. I live in Japan so it’s 8:45pm Tuesday evening. I haven’t seen any TV coverage here because there isn’t any, but BJ has helped me keep an even keel with all the poo that’s been flying this election. I know many who frequent this community are aware of how influential the US is everywhere and how important our leaders are for not only the USA but the entire world. The US presidential election was at the top of the news here this evening.
Look forward to yours and the other front pagers posts when I get up to walk the dog tomorrow.
Tokyokie
I early-voted a couple of weeks ago, but I got up early to study. But I was nervous enough to check Sam Wang one last time, and he’s calling 323 EV for HRC and Hassan over Ayotte in New Hampshire. Looks like Cortez Masto will hold Harry Reid’s seat in Nevada, and that Duckworth, Feingold, McGinty, and Bayh will flip Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, respectively (to go with Hassan). And my guess all along is that the polling in North Carolina has been titled toward the GOP by a couple of percentage points, so I think Ross may knock off Burr there and that Kander still has a chance in Missouri against Blunt. Hopefully this country will have taken a couple of big steps back from the precipice by day’s end.
Chris
@Phylllis:
I wouldn’t have considered a black president impossible.
But if you’d told my college sophomore past self just 10 years ago that by 2016, we’d have nationwide gay marriage, universal (however flawed) health insurance, restored relations with Cuba, and a treaty with Iran settling the nuclear issue, I’d have said you were on drugs. We’ve gotten IMMEASURABLY better im just eight short years.
If nothing else, a vote for Hillary is a vote to protect that.
Redshift
In the first hour at my precinct in Northern Virginia, and things are hopping! Not quite ’08 levels, where there was a line down the block before the doors opened because everyone wanted to be first, but close. I’m feeling good.
Oh, and I got ranted at by a Republican voter as he walked by, v which rarely happens here. We told him “you have a nice day, too!”
evap
Thank you, John, what a great way to start the day. Tonight will be especially sweet for my 89-year-old mother, still alive and kicking, who is a life-long true blue liberal and was deeply involved in the League of Women Voters (president of the New Jersey league and then national vice-president, many decades ago). I am looking forward to calling her when they call the election for Hillary.
narya
I could have voted early–two blocks from where I work–but I wanted to cast my vote ON election day. And I don’t wear white (I am so so pale, and it makes me look like death eating soda crackers), but I found a pale beige sweater to wear today, and a scarf that includes the suffragettes’ colors in it. One of my best friends is taking photos of all the women in her history–including one who was actually a suffragette–to the polls with her today. This means way more to me than I realized it was going to mean.
When I cast my first votes, in 1976, I couldn’t quite visualize this. And now I can. And . . . and I just don’t have enough words.
Thanks, John.
p.s. my 81-year-old mom, who lives in PA, spent Sunday phone-banking for Hillary.
Latino J
Caveats about anything can happen –
I can not wait for my girls to wake up to a world with a President elect Clinton. One is pretty tuned in and the other is fairly oblivious. But it doesn’t matter. They will live in a world of “yes, I can.”
And my wife, who isn’t crazy about Hill at all, but has managed offices full of employees going on 2 decades, gets to see the culmination of a centuries long effort of which she was a part, not as an activist, but simply by being and doing what she does.
It is hokey – sure. But it is hard to not tear up about this as it was to hold back tears about President Awesome 8 years ago. But with my luck, I’ll have to make do with celebrating President Little Man Marcos in 8 years. Carajo!
Chris
@Tokyokie:
I know many here don’t like Nate Silver, but thought I’d point out that he has Hillary’s chances of victory over 70% again.
Here’s hoping.
TheMightyTrowel
I absentee voted weeks ago but I’m here for you guys in spirit. My mom is coming to visit – she lands in about 12 hrs, just in time for the first states to be called (she early voted). I’m so excited to watch hillary win the presidency with her.
sherparick
Besides electing a decent, smart woman who has been mostly about others most of her life and who as the far superior policy positions on economics, environment, etc., the alternative is a Sociopath who has promised to commit war crimes and take away the civil rights of millions of people and pursue them ruthlessly with state power. Basically, a large faction of the Republican Party wants a dictator/strong man and Trump is promising to give them just that. Everything else he says is a lie, including the “and” and “the,” but not that part. http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/11/donald-trump-most-dishonest-politician-alive
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
My wife is voting when the polls open in PA (any minute). I’m waiting to hear if we’ve been vote-suppressed.
Our daughter was staying with us briefly and had her mail forwarded first to us, and then to her new home. Unfortunately she checked off the “family” box on the mail-forwarding form, an error which she corrected a day or two later.
Too late! The USPS was hyper-efficient in informing all our banks, utilities, charities, magazines, etc that we had moved. And for many of them, never issued the retraction. We’ve gradually fixed most of those errors as we found out about them. Only this morning did it occur to me that they may have also screwed up our voter registration. So I’m kind of anxiously waiting to hear my wife’s experience.
If the records say you moved and you didn’t in fact move are you stuck with a provisional ballot? That would suck.
TS
@BillinGlendaleCA: Thought I would see how sad they are this am – and I am pleased to report – they are sad. Trying every which way to spin it for Trump with no success. I did only last about 15 minutes.
Baud
Good post. Today is the day we find out the truth about people. Let’s do it.
WarMunchkin
Another vote banked for Hillary. Pretty smooth sailing in NY. Still a little sleepy, but immensely proud to cast my ballot for the first Hillary President.
Phylllis
@Chris: I didn’t say impossible, just my thinking then that it was unlikely in my lifetime. And yes, we’ve come so far in a short amount of time. That arc damn well bends toward justice.
Immanentize
Well said, John. I am
Looking forward to that moment in the not too distant future, when many of the folks who vote for Trump today deny they ever did so.
oldster
I just voted, and I’m with her!
“the man who I think has been the best President of my lifetime and will probably go down as one of the best Presidents of all time.”
I’m a fair bit older than you are, John, but this is entirely true for my lifetime as well. He’s truly one of the greats.
Since he cannot run for President again, could we create a new office of Constitutional Monarch? I’d be happy to have him play a role like Queen Elizabeth plays for the rest of his life.
Also, Queen Michelle.
And in the law, it says that the Speaker of the House must always greet her by saying “Yassss, Queen!”
Okay, that’s fantasy. It’s going to be a sweet enough reality when Paul Ryan has to address Hillary as “Madame President.”
Yellowdog
About 50 on line for 7 am opening despite fact that MD had massive early voting turnout. Diverse suburban precinct. I’m standing between a Filipino man and a Black couple with their baby. THIS is America.
zzyzx
@Chris: What freaks me out as someone who was a Deadhead in the 80s and constantly harassed by the police despite being sober is how quickly pot is becoming legalized.
Tokyokie
@Chris: Like many others here, I have tuned out Nate Silver this go-round. Yesterday, when he briefly had Trump’s chances at better than 50%, my thought was the guy was trying to have it both ways so he could say told you so regardless of result. For Trump to win, he’ll need to carry Nevada, Florida, North Carolina, AND New Hampshire, and I’m guessing he doesn’t win any of them.
zzyzx
@Tokyokie: Nate did not have Trump over 50% yesterday. That hasn’t happened in weeks. Clinton’s worst was 62%.
Hal
I’m in New York State. Got up at 511am and voted for Hillary Clinton. Straight dem all the way.
I’m seeing several posts on facebook this morning from friends who have voted. One friend said there was a line for the first time and something big was coming. I’m sure she voted for Trump. She lives in Connecticut, so if something big is coming, it’s not what she thinks.
This is going to be unskewed all over again.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Tokyokie: I’ve run into a disheartening number of people who counter any attempt to give them a reason to be FOR HRC with the slanders about payoffs to shut up Bill’s victims. But almost* every one has earnestly assured me that they want to boot McCrory and Burr to the curb as badly as I do. The rest of the states may have to save us from Cheeto McShitgibbon, but we’re trying to give Madam President a Senate to work with.
*The one who didn’t is too freaked out over the Sex Offenders Registry ads. Fuck Burr sideways with a rusty chainsaw for that one.
Redshift
Favorite stories so far:
An immigrant who said it was his first time voting, and then came by again because he was so excited he forgot where he parked.
A woman on her way out who came up to me to say “I just made history!”
Punchy
Offshore odds crashing for Clinton. Cant explain it; was there some bad news overnight?
debbie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I’ve been watching a South Park DVD the past couple of days. Far more enjoyable than the clattering talking heads.
Baud
@Punchy: Tom Brady letter?
BillinGlendaleCA
@TS: I expect tomorrow, Joe of the Morning will say he called the HRC victory months ago…Idiot.
If you haven’t been keeping up with KO’s “The Closer”, yesterday’s rant is one of his best.
Applejinx
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: That’s the next goal.
Look to the BernHillers to take THAT hill. We have a lot of infrastructure to build so that people can get the information they need, get the day off, get everything they must have in order to vote in off-year elections. It’s a hidden tax of the RW noise machine: you don’t even get the information. I got probably a thousand emails from the Democrats asking, begging for and demanding money and not one of them told me the campaign was working in Keene next to the Monadnock Co-op. One guy from MoveOn canvassed me and I had to ask HIM and he didn’t even know at first but was quickly able to find out, and I’m going there to work all day today. How many Tuesdays could I have done that if anyone in Hillary’s operation thought to ask, or to once tell me the work was being done half an hour away? Not once did they suggest it. Bernie had interactive maps.
We will come back twice as strong in the midterms.
This is no time for fuckin’ around. First the Presidency and Senate, then we’re coming for the House, and the terrorist wingnuts will just have to deal with living in a peaceful country that doesn’t suck, with opportunity and a decent life even for them. Tragic, I know. Oh the humanity.
And to do that, we are doing the midterms the Bernie way, and the Republicans won’t even know what hit them. We nearly took Hillary, and she’s way way WAY better and smarter and more organized and capable than any Republican. The midterms is where we work out our frustrations (apparently ill-founded frustrations! ;) ) at not getting our Radagast The Bird Tamer for President, by cramming the government full of progressives who’ll support the boldest initiatives Hillary could possibly hope to accomplish.
PST
With all the unpleasantness this year, it’s easy to forget how quiet and orderly actual voting normally is. The line here is as diverse as it could be, with a sprinkling of children. A few Muslim women just got in line. Quiet chatter among neighbors. All feels right for a change.
tjmn
I wish my Grandma was here to see this election. She would have been 105 yesterday; she made it to 103. She voted in every election since FDR. She described herself as a “wild-eyed socialist.” I would give anything to see her reaction to the election of the first female president.
I convinced my 22-year-old son to vote. He said his vote doesn’t matter. I think he registered to vote just to shut me up. Anyway, his one vote may not seem very important, but add it to everyone else’s vote and it becomes huge.
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
Voted at 6:15 here in Brooklyn. Only one out of the three optical scanners was working, but the poll workers managed to keep things moving along. At least 200 had voted at my polling place by 6:30.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Fuck Burr and McCrory for everything, really. If we can turn out some of Art’s boys here in NC I’ll be happy, regardless of what happens with HRC. God willing, we’ll do both.
Reformed Panty Sniffer
John:
Agreed. I voted in Morris County NJ and felt the same. I voted for my wife and daughter. This is important for them.
greennotGreen
I realized some time ago that the big barrier for women wasn’t that the glass ceiling limited their ability to achieve their highest goals. It was because they were denied that achievement that little girls never dreamed the dream in the first place. Tomorrow, I hope across our great nation little girls of all colors, faiths, and sexual orientations will find that their dreams have no limits.
JPL
@Baud: Last night, Trump boasted that Brady said he voted for him, and that Belichick wrote a nice letter. Brady told a radio station earlier in the day, that he did not vote early.
Yup, that sounds like Belichick. lol
AxelFoley
@Some Dude:
Again with a variation of “Obama was naïve” shit from some of you. SMH
Baud
@JPL: Unless Belichick speaks up, it’s the same as if he had sent that letter.
Suburban Mom
I voted for her a little after 6. The ratio of male to female voters was oddly around 75/25 but based on the timing it may have been the train to Wall Street crowd. My NJ town leans Republican and primarily “I wanna keep my stuff” Republican. Proud to say that the non-morning people in my house will cast two more votes for civility and sanity later today.
Joel
@BillinGlendaleCA: One day at a time.
Calming Influence
Wasn’t a big Hillary fan early on. I disliked that the Dem. establishment essentially nominated her before the first primaries, I felt she was a bit too centrist/corporate, and I worried that her negative image (not her fault) would be a tough hurdle.
She’s won me over. She is, and I mean this in the best possible way, a “tough old bird”. There are few people of either gender, of any age, who could go through what she’s been through over the last 18 months and not be cowering in a corner. Tonight in Philly, she looked like Ali used to look when the bell rang to start round one. I’m with her, and I’m better for it.
TS
@BillinGlendaleCA: Just before the 1st letter from Comey – Joe had decided Clinton would win & ranted about never being for Trump (the twitter attacking him was so not nice) – he regretted that a day later when Comey put his foot on the scale & lifted Trump’s chances. Joe has been shilling for Trump ever since.
Betty Cracker
At CNN, the most American headline ever: Can You Bring Your Gun to Vote? FFS.
@Applejinx: From your keyboard to the FSM’s impeccably al dente orecchiette!
BC in Illinois
St Louis County. At 6am, parking lot (60 spaces) was full. Had to park behind ball field. 200+ people in line, now moving ok. We will bank enough StL County votes to balance the state.
In car last night, g’daughter (5) asked g’daughter (6) “who is your family voting for?” “I dunno. ” “I hope you’re not for Trump. My family is against Trump. We’re voting for the girl.” “A girl for President?” “Yeah. I don’t know her name … ”
The voters of 2028 and 2032.
Gin & Tonic
@JPL: A million Belichicks with a million typewriters for a million years wouldn’t come up with that letter.
BlueDWarrior
@BC in Illinois: To be fair, they sound no less weird than the voters of 1980 or 2016. The more things change, the more they stay the same and all.
BlueDWarrior
@Gin & Tonic: Belichick definitely falls into the ‘brevity is the wit of the soul’ category; like I wouldn’t be so surprised he’s pro-Trump, but I seriously doubt that if he wrote a letter of endorsement, it’d be that flowery and effusive in its praise of the man.
Chris
The deed is done.
I am a voter, and so can you!
Fair Economist
@OGLiberal:
Hillary is at least as much a role model that way. She’s been at this 40 years and her ability to stay calm and focused through the most unbelievable bullshit storm I’ve ever seen completely blows me away. In the Benghazi hearing, in the debates – no matter how high the stakes, no matter how insane the opposition, she never falters. I’ve already started using her as a motivator whenever things seem tough – I just think “compare this with what she’s gone through and look at her!”
John is wrong about one thing. She won’t be a good president. She’ll be a great president, just as Obama has been. We’ll be really lucky to get two presidents of this caliber one right after the other, and, someday, when she leaves, we’ll be incredibly grateful she’s been president too.
Iowa Old Lady
I didn’t think I would see a woman president in my lifetime. I feel kind of numb, like Trump has taken the joy out of everything. I’m counting on today to sweep him aside and let me thrill with other hopeful people.
greennotGreen
This is the second time recently that my comment disappeared while I was writing it when I clicked on another tab.
Anyway, thinking about the expanding dreamscape of little girls made me realize why some men who see gender equality as a zero sum game in which the gains of others are losses for them. After all, even though toy marketing is repulsively gendered, I’ll bet little girls are much more comfortable borrowing any color Legos from their brothers to use in their Lego Friends sets than their brothers are borrowing pink or lavender bricks to finish their forts. And girls have worn pants to school since the 70s. But a boy wearing a skirt? So we have a lot of work to do to make sure boys’ dreams are unlimited as well.
BroD
Is so about me. It’s about me and my family and my community, my country and my planet. Which is why I’m doing all this GOTV shit.
kirbster
I voted two weeks ago, but I might contrive a reason to drive past the community center polling place today just to see how things are going. As far as I’m concerned, Hillary is the only candidate actually running for President. Trump is running to be the Emperor/Warlord of a dystopian hellhole that I don’t recognize. Jill Stein is running for Crackpot-in-Chief. And Gary Johnson is just on the ballot for some reason that I can’t fathom.
Applejinx
@Betty Cracker:
Q: Can You Bring Your Gun to Vote?
A: NO because guns can’t fucking vote! :D
BillinGlendaleCA
I got my 35mm slide scanner out of storage and got new holders for it(lost the old ones) and rescanned my pic of Half Dome. At native maximum resolution on the scanner it produces a 63 megapixel file(don’t worry, I’ve resized it).
Tokyokie
@zzyzx: That’s good to know. I didn’t get it from checking his site (for the most part, I haven’t been), but saw (and possibly misread) it in something somebody else had posted. Sorry for the inadvertent misrepresentation.
Paul in KY
@Chris: Bring it the fuck on! Go Clinton/Kaine!!
bemused
I seems to be great weather across the country for election day. No nasty weather barriers to vote!
We live in a rural MN township, pop about 250 and vote in a small church on paper ballots. Our polling place hours are from 10 to 8pm. I plan to vote soon after 10 am and then pick up my 93 mil in the next township to vote, pop about 140. Their polling hours are from 7am to 8pm. I had thought it was odd that our township polling hour start so late in the morning but checked out the ads for other townships in the area and there are a few others that don’t start until 10 am but most have the 7am to 8pm schedule.
I think all or the rural townships are paper ballot voting. In fact, I’ve never voted on anything but paper ballots! Almost everyone who votes and who are the election workers know or recognize each other so there’s no drama or waiting time to vote.
This year we are voting for a MN Supreme Court judge. The Republican candidate is such a loon that even the MNGOP refused to endorse her and they aren’t happy that she claimed they did endorse her on one of her flyers.
We are also voting on a constitutional amendment to have a non-partisan panel determine if legislators get a pay raise instead of the legislature itself.
My mil has macular deg and doesn’t see well. I print off a sample ballot ahead of time for her to look over under her magnification tools and give her info on some of the candidates. At her township polling place, we find a sunny window so she can see the ballot better but today is supposed to be cloudy so I’m taking a flashlight. She could easily go vote with one of the neighbors or her son but she’d rather have me take her but we are both Dems and some of the neighbors are not. She would definitely not be comfortable having a Republican, even her other son help her with the ballot!
Then on Wed morning I start checking out on SOS site how the area townships voted but it usually takes longer for rural township voting totals to be recorded online. I like to see how many in the townships vote Republican or Independent. Some townships skew very much conservative. This year I’m even more curious to see how many actually voted for the wretched Trump.
Eric NNY
I think we can confidently call NY for Hillary now. No need to wait for the polls to close.
Paul in KY
@JPL: Classic Belichick phrasing there…He always goes overboard with the superlatives…
Paul in KY
@Gin & Tonic: LOLing!!! Wish I’d said that!
amk
@Betty Cracker: jeez. assholes all.
WereBear
I’m not normally like this, but this time I don’t just want us to WIN. I also want them to LOSE.
My office has been turned into a polling place (county building) so I am working at home today. If the weather is nice we can mosey over there: never enough parking for a normal election, and this one is extraordinary!
aimai
@AxelFoley: Right. Obama was not under any illusions, but he had to give bipartisanship a try. But the peanut gallery will always offer their criticisms–don’t think for a minute that they will not monday morning quaterback and bitch and moan about every “misstep” Hillary makes that they believe, in their wisdom, they would not have made. Hillary is now going to be the “woman in the arena” and no one but the former presidents, and Michelle, know what that is going to be like.
Punchy
@Tokyokie: Bayh’s not going to win IN, unfortunately.
WereBear
@AxelFoley: I agree.
However, with the way they have treated Hillary for so many decades, she doesn’t have the Angry Black Man burden, nor the Shrill Vindictive Woman burden.
I’m hoping she’s been itching for payback all this time.
Willard
I’m happy to report that there are long lines at the polls in my liberal mostly white Cleveland, Ohio, suburb. By far this is the longest I’ve ever had to wait in line to cast my ballot.
Yoda Dog
Jeebus, I have been waiting for this day for so long. I’m especially excited for my 18 month old daughter. I keep picturing her asking about all this in 10-15 years… “Yes, he was that crazy and, yes, I did my part to stop him.”
Big shout out to all you regular commenters and front pagers here. You guys/gals really helped me stay sane through the last week as I couldn’t help but contemplate our impending doom while the orange monster rose in polls because DERP emailsDERP….
Mike J
I know all vote by mail is the right way to go. No intimidation at the polls, no need to get off work, no need for babysitters, no six hour lines because Republicans are trying to prevent you from voting.
At the same time, I miss the excitement of *election day*.
Some Guy
Just voted, with my son over my shoulder. Felt great. GO HRC, go Murphy, go McGurn.
Off to the local NAACP for the day, Drive to the Polls. Doing my part to keep Florida blue.
In other great news, Syrian forces are beating the terrorists in Alleppo.
idUSKBN133125
hueyplong
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Hope you are right about Burr and McCrory getting kicked to the curb, and I’ve had my emphatic say at the voting booth on that topic. But although I’ve maintained a steady optimism about defeating Trump, gonna have to admit to a bit of bedwetting about NC. If those two lose, Mr. Jameson is going to come close to finishing me off late tonight.
Calming Influence
The vote is important, but it isn’t enough. Regarding legislation for workers rights, FDR famously told labor leaders “I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.” We can’t wait for the 2018 midterms to have our voices heard again. Write letters to your local paper. Call your representatives at least once a month. Hell, run for office yourself! Don’t sit back and think you’ve done all you can by just voting.
We’re with her; now we need to “have her back”.
Weaselone
@Baud:
How so? Obvious fraud is obvious.
Eric S.
I’ve been in line for 20 minutes now. I got to my polling place in Lakeview in Chicago at about my normal time. I’ve never seen the line this long, not even in 2008.
kd bart
In some respects this is like the D Day of elections. We’re all hitting the beach.
Baud
@Weaselone:
Trump flat out lied about what he said. If Belichick doesn’t renounce it, he can be seen to have affirmed it as his own statement.
Calming Influence
@Mike J: I love vote by mail, but I miss the “I voted!” sticker I could wear proudly all day.
gogol's wife
@Yoda Dog:
Yes, BJ has been indispensable for me.
Eric S.
I’ve been in line for 25 minutes now. I got to my polling place in Lakeview in Chicago at about my normal time. I’ve never seen the line this long, not even in 2008.
Robert Sneddon
@Applejinx: Is Jane Sanders ever going to release their tax returns? Any tax returns? Ever?
Matt McIrvin
@Punchy: Some scary polls dropped overnight: SurveyMonkey (which has always been all over the place) dropped a big load that, among other things, showed Michigan and Pennsylvania tied, and that combined with some old polls dropping out of his time window seems to have caused Sam Wang’s aggregator to drop a bit.
Also electoral-vote.com, and there they say it was a couple of big outliers for Trump in Nevada and Florida (which they don’t particularly believe) pulling down their mean-based averaging.
I suspect part of it is noise and part of it is Republican outfits trying to mess with the poll-watchers at the last minute. I noticed one of those perennial IBD/TIPP polls showing Trump +2 nationally dropped really, really late.
In any case, it’s not really about polls any more.
bemused
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
I hope you’re right. We have a son, dil, granddaughter and another on the way in NC. They sent us a pic of 3 year old granddaughter wearing Future Voter sticker last week.
With family in NC, I try to catch what is going on there but I missed the Sex Reg ads. Now I have to find those. Burr is a creep. Burr’s target Hillary comment and then trying to apologize for that really made me sick.
Debra Schnelle
I just voted! Northern Virginia. Poll worker said turnout was high. I took my daughter who is now irritated because I started crying afterward. She said, “why for gods sake?!” Sometimes…you just can’t share a lifetime of experience in a soundbite or tweet
Mike J
holly wood @girlziplocked 56 minutes ago
“This line is ridiculous. I’m never voting again.” – Pennsylvania man in a ‘make America great’ hat, polls open for 15 minutes.
amk
@AxelFoley: fuck the know-it-alls. they couldn’t run, let alone get elected, as dog catchers.
donnah
John, your post moved me to tears. Thank you.
We voted early and were surprised that there were at least a hundred voters ahead of us and another hundred or more behind. It was heartening to see. I wept with joy when Obama was elected and I will be doing the ugly laugh/cry when Hillary wins. Go Dems!
Punchy
@Matt McIrvin: PA tied? Yeah, thats some weapons-grade crappy polling.
Ella in New Mexico
My amygdala won’t let me enjoy the fact that in all likelihood, by the time I give shift report and head home to a pizza and beer Election Eve festival tonight, we’ll be well on our way to having elected the first female President in American history.
And defeating the first fascist candidate in American history who came this close to accomplishing a right-wing coup of our democracy.
The ugly face of the people in my country who have come to his rallies and flooded my Facebook feed cannot be unseen. The fact of so many people I otherwise saw as sane, reasonable folks who can see this man as not only fit to run this country, but who are so completely engulfed by some kind of self-pitying, angry sense of wanting revenge-against whoever Trump and Fox News and Hannity and Giuliani and Laura Ingram tell them is to blame for their “misery”–these people scare the shit out of me.
Because I know winning tonight will not make them go away. Will not send them a message that they lost their perspective and need to get a grip on their phobias. And they’re gonna feel more pissed, more victimized than they were before.
I wish things were not this way. I wish we could all be good-naturedly cheering when Hilary wins tonight. But I reallly think the fight has only begun to keep America safe from the clutches of thes crazed people.
Gin & Tonic
Well, my wife and I went and did the deed. Busy, but everything moved quickly and efficiently, and we were in and out in a matter of minutes. But then again I live in Whitesville.
Gin & Tonic
@Robert Sneddon: Never.
bemused
I didn’t listen to Cspan callers last night but my spouse did and he couldn’t believe how nutty a lot of them were. One woman caller was worked up about Hillary wearing a red outfit last night…what message was Hillary sending. My husband couldn’t figure out what the hell point she was trying to make.
GMVictory
Voted when the precinct opened in Kansas, no waiting. Democrat straight down. Had to vote to keep the State Supreme Court Justices since Brownback and his Insane Clown Posse are trying to get them recalled. If it wasn’t for them we’d have to rename the state to Kansasbamasippi by now.
gene108
@bemused:
I read this as pick-up my $93 million dollars and vote in the next town over, too. I was jealous, because I never get paid to vote early and often. ?
Matt McIrvin
@Punchy: The same SurveyMonkey collection had some unbelievably Democratic-leaning outliers in some other states; that combined with their track record makes me think they’re not so much tendentious as just erratic.
Immanentize
@BlueDWarrior: my wife and I were discussing the Belicheck ‘letter’ this morning:
Imm.: No way he wrote those compliments
Ms. Imm.: He is a dark lord.
Imm.: True. So, if he wrote this, he sent the exact same letter to Hillary.
RedDirtGirl
@CarolDuhart2:
Well said. I am tearing up reading this thread!
Matt McIrvin
@bemused: There’s been a move among Trump voters to wear red to the polls, the idea being that there’s going to be some kind of massive vote-rigging operation and they can expose it by revealing how many of them there are with the red clothes. The caller probably thought it was some kind of secret signal on Hillary’s part to confuse the effort.
OGLiberal
@kirbster: @kirbster: Speaking of Gary Johnson, I saw his running mate, Bill Weld, on TV two days ago and if I didn’t know Bill Weld I would have thought he was a Clinton surrogate. So, yeah, not sure what Johnson’s game is – he and Weld seem like decent folks. Jill Stein is a Trump/Nader level narcissist so know why she’s in the game.
leeleeFL
@Betty Cracker: Hillary will be amazing, not just because she really is the most-prepared Presidential candidate ever, but because we elected Barack first and she accepted that and learned from it. A true leader!
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@efgoldman: I cast a vote for Nixon in 68 but I don’t think grade-school essays were included in the vote count. Probably an argument to be made there for not lowering the voting age to 10. Would be interesting to see how some of these guys would pander for that vote though…
First official vote was Carter-Ford (alas, I voted Ford) in 1976. So that makes… er… 10 presidential votes so far. I think I missed one off year election but otherwise have tried to get every primary and every vote.
Soprano2
Thanks for this, John. It’s a truly historic day. The women of America, along with some good men, are going to save us from the horror of super-villain Donald Trump becoming president. It’s going to be so hard to work today, and I can’t vote until after work.
Hillary is going to be an awesome president – it’s always been the truth that if you really want to get stuff done, put a woman in charge!!
The awfulness of the Republican response will start tomorrow, but just for today and tonight I’m going to celebrate her victory; anything else is, for me, literally unthinkable.
bemused
@gene108:
Lol.
Tokyokie
@Punchy: Wang has Bayh up slightly and gives him a 73% chance of winning. My rough calculus is that between polls undercounting Democratic voters (especially Hispanics, and Indiana has a growing Hispanic population) and superior GOTV efforts by the Democrats, Republican candidates need to be +1.0 or better in the final polls to win. And Bayh is doing better than that. I know that Bayh is a crappy Democrat and apparently has run an awful campaign (wasn’t he like +15 a couple of months ago?), but I’d still prefer to see him win than the Republicans retain the seat.
Calming Influence
We’ve had some out of state friends express scepticism about “vote by mail”. We’re in Washington state, and we get our ballots in the mail 2 or 3 weeks before election day. You can mail it back in (and if you don’t put on enough stamps for the weight the post office will still deliver it). But if you think Bob the Crazy Post Office Guy is going to toss your vote into the dumpster, you can just put it into one of the hundreds of ballot drop-boxes around the state (many at active-duty fire stations, so you can also take the opportunity to pop in and thank the brave and gentle first responders for what they do).
Elizabelle
@bemused: The wing nut mind. It is not pretty.
I feel for people whose relatives behave that way.
bemused
@Matt McIrvin:
Yeah, I told my spouse it was probably something like that. He said the woman was quite irritated about Hillary wearing red.
Calming Influence
@Soprano2: Let’s throw in a big “Gracias!” while we’re at it.
skyweaver
Thanks, John. Your sentiments are appreciated. I can’t wait until she wraps this thing up so I can have a good cry of release and gratitude on behalf of the many strong women in my family for generations. It truly is thrilling
Kay
See that? That’s a coalition.
OGLiberal
@Matt McIrvin: RCP doesn’t have the SurveyMonkey polls yet or may never have them because they are online only. They do have some polls from some Republican pollster named Trafalgar Group that has Trump ahead in PA, MI, FL, and NC. This is the first time they’ve polled any of these states in the general, and Silver gives them a grade of C, which is really bad. In each state, they have Trump getting close to 30 percent of the black vote so, um, no. Surprised RCP even included them. I know RCP leans right but this is kind of ridiculous. In 2012 the black vote for Romney was 5 percent or less. Racist dude running this year has won over 25 percent more blacks? Nope.
As for IBD poll, you’re looking at four way. In two way they have Clinton up by 1, have for the last several days. Their four way has Johnson at 8 and Stein at 2. Not going to happen….at least half of those Johnson supporters will go Clinton while half the Stein supporters will stay home. And they were not the most accurate final pollster in 2012….they were the most accurate over the 30-days before the election. Their final poll undercounted Obama’s margin by 2 pts. Three other pollsters were closer to the final.
manyakitty
@BruceFromOhio: Let’s hope Ohio goes Blue!
bemused
I have been deliberately trying not to know or find out which Republican neighbors, family or friends are actually voting for Trump. I know it would change how I would feel about them. I looked at FB page of a casual friend and now I feel nauseous. She’s a Baptist and not a deep thinker but holy shit. She buys into all the Trump crap. What really got to me was a post she put up about some prayer thing for Trump-Pence that is going around. As my husband said when I showed him, he said, if Trump is your choice for upholding moral values and then shook his head.
Another Scott
Nice post JC, and everyone. It’s good to hear the inspiring news.
I voted a few weeks ago, so will miss seeing the neighbors today. I’m hoping the turnout is yooge here in NoVA.
Morning Edition seemed to be trying to say that they recognize the historic aspects of this election, and how insane it is that Trump has come this close, but I had to turn it off when they started going on about how Hillary’s e-mails… [click].
Maybe we’ll finally start hearing about judge Garland, and the fact that we still don’t have a federal budget, and inadequate Zika and Ebola funding, and the need for dramatically ramped-up infrastructure spending, and too many people struggling to pay for heath care and health insurance, and … You know, stuff that matters?
Let’s run up the score so we can make good things happen!
Cheers,
Scott.
princess (now general) Leia
We are a polling place for the first time. I live in a Hispanic community in white, white OC California. We are preparing for the largest turnout ever with food and community support to make it a celebration of our opportunity to vote. The poll workers are setting up the booths now, awaiting the voters to come in an hour. Kind of chokes me up a bit- but also is a way to compensate some for the past few months.
kd bart
@Matt McIrvin: Looking at the internal numbers for the IBD poll, the only way you arrive at their top line numbers is if you breakdown the racial compositions of the electorate as somewhere between 78-80% White.
Calming Influence
Belichick: factual or not, how much weight is given to the political opinions of someone who has thought of little besides sports since they were 10? Should I ask Baryshnikov about the Seahawks chances this year?
artem1s
@Willard:
I early voted at the downtown BOE in CLE the first weekend. I couldn’t believe how many people were there. And the workers were doing such an amazing job of getting them thru the process. I loved it but admit I miss going to the polls on election day.
waysel
@Matt McIrvin: Whores wear red to advertise. Everyone knows this. And the Devil is red. And communism. The Span lady knows. Satan walks the earth and wants to drag my America to hellfire and damnation.
waysel
@Tokyokie: Indiana police stole a shit ton of voter registration in a “fraud bust” investigation. I assume the Repub regs. have been cleared and the Der regs. will need to be investigated ’til after the election. These things take time.
waysel
Does anyone here ever call in to CNN or C-span? Or do they just screen to calls to include only RWNJs?
Comrade Scrutinizer
@efgoldman: You really are an Old Fart! My first Presidential Election was in 76, so that’s only 11 for me. Voted Dem in every one, although Dukakis was a struggle. That damned tank…
Betty Cracker
@leeleeFL: Exactly.
@waysel: No, but I caught a snippet of a panel discussion on CNN just moments ago that made me want to fly to the studio with a reverse-engineered shop-vac and spray sour milk and Limburger cheese chunks on the whole crew. Some neck-bearded ninny was talking about how the “historic nature” of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy has been so marred by the ugly race that it won’t be that big a deal if she wins. Speak for yourself, motherfucker!
currants
@Betty Cracker: YES! Over the last week (since early voting with my daughter and granddaughters in tow) I keep finding my cheeks wet for some reason. And that is surprising to me.
Elizabelle
Great post, John.
Many newspaper paywalls are down on their election coverage. You can read the addled Grey Lady, the nytimes.com. Or Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post. Beware Chris Cillizza.
And the Raleigh News and Observer.
Today, you can pay some of these papers what they’re worth. (Looking at you, NY Times.)
Meanwhile, we get Balloon Juice for free.
Elizabelle
Paying what they’re worth is snark. You can surf away for free, today and for some papers, tomorrow.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@hueyplong: @bemused: It will probably be close at the end, but the most recent rough early voting numbers are here. All we have are how the voters are registered, of course, but those numbers are 41.7%D, 31.9%R, 26.1%U, 0.3%L. I don’t know enough about NC voting to draw any conclusions like Steve Schale does in Florida, but that’s about 48% each of total registered Dems and Reps, 39% unaffiliated. Assuming the unaffiliated break 50-50, that’s a 200K advantage . Not enough, dammit, and the unaffiliated broke heavily for Romney last time.
And the NCGOP put out a press release yesterday crowing about black turnout being down.
Those Sex Offender Registry ads are enraging. I don’t know if people outside the state know this, but Ross ran the local ACLU for years. It was her job to point out potential constitutional issues and bring privacy concerns to the people crafting the bill.
Another Scott
They’re board of elections is expecting record turnout in Virginia today.
It’s just so disappointing that the voters lack enthusiasm and both candidates are so unpopular. Just imagine what the lines would be like if people actually wanted to vote today! People might have to take extra time waiting in line, if only one of the candidates was worth voting for…
(groucho-roll-eyes.gif)
Cheers,
Scott.
(“… or your own lying eyes?”)
waysel
@Betty Cracker: Nice visual.
frosty fred
@satby: In the 36 years I’ve been in my current location, I’ve watched candidates start out running for local school board and move from there to county and then state office. School board is very important.
JosieJ (not Josie)
Just voted for Hillary in Long Island, NY. Lots of people there, even mid morning on a work day in a bedroom community of NYC, but the poll workers kept everything moving well.
NY overall is as blue as can be, but considering the struggles my forebears went through to secure the vote for my sex and my race, I make a point of never missing elections, no matter how inconsequential. And this one is nothing if not consequential!
bemused
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
McCory and Burr make me want to gag. The NCGOP bragging about suppressing black voters infuriates me. Our dil is black and always votes early. They live in a Raleigh suburb so I don’t think the polling place for dil and son has been a target area for voter suppression. I’m just so happy that our granddaughter and the next one coming will grow up with knowing we had historic and amazing black president and now (I’m counting on it) our first woman president.
Hoodie
Longest lines I can remember at our polling place in Raleigh. Trump voters seemed to be the usual suspects, a definite minority in the neighborhood. I suspect the GOP operative handing out ballot guides did not vote for Trump, I know him and he’s not particularly nutty or angry. It’s hard to know from anecdotes in our neighborhood, however. The polls seem to be following previous trends, i.e., the race is really determined early on and the poll fluctuations are mostly noise. Hopefully FL or NC will fall quickly and that will be the last we see of Mr. Trump.
Lizzy L
Good post, John.
I’ve been thinking about my mother, who would have been 100 this year. She was born when it was not legal for women to vote. Her father could vote, her brother, had she had one, could vote, but neither she, her sister, nor her mother could vote.
And today, everywhere around the country, grandmothers and mothers and sisters and daughters and sons are voting for a woman, a mother, to run the country, and I think she’s going to win.
My mother loved Bill Clinton. She would totally have supported Hillary Clinton. Mom, wherever you are — I’m with her.
Jay C
OK: done my civic duty as a citizen this morning: got on line at 8:47am, out the door by 9:02. I did help the process along a bit by finding out my Election District (the folks who actually have my name in their book) online yesterday, so I was able to just walk up and sign.
Quite a difference from 2012, when I had to wait 1h54m, and the line snaked down the block, into the middle-school gym where the registrations and machines were, down the hall, out into the schoolyard, looped around, came back into the school, and finally back to the gym to vote. Must be some sort of “enthusiasm gap”? (Or else I just got smart and missed rush-hour this year)
Location: UES of Manhattan: maybe 3-400 people at the time.
ChrisGrrr
@satby: Agreed.
Cole, you help me stay level with a terrific post.
notoriousJRT
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I avoid them every day. A gaggle of courtiers and kool kids blathering on about a world they do not live in.
notoriousJRT
It is odd, but Hilary’s womanhood means little to me ( a woman). If she wins, perhaps I will feel differently on inauguration day. But, as I sit here, I reflect on all the men in her opposition who have sought power during her career and where so many of them are today – the dustbin of punditry and retirement. She is a persevering survivor and today, I hope, a winner. Lesser men opposing her have cycled on to and off of the stage. They sit on the sidelines as a chorus trying to destroy her, recycling disproven accusations. How bitter it will be for them if she prevails. How much bile will they have to swallow? I hope a fuck ton.
Ria
Coming out of lurking to say thank you, John. Thank you for really getting it.
My 10-year old daughter ticked my ballot for HRC. She has campaigned hard for the past month, canvassing and even phone banking with me. Today we are spending the day driving voters to the polls. Tonight we both will be proud to say Madam President.
different-church-lady
@JGabriel:
Peak misogyny is a myth.
different-church-lady
@Baud: REPORTER: Coach, did you in fact send that letter to Trump?
DARTH HOODIE: We’re just trying to get ready for Seattle.
Debbie(aussie)
@Kobekid: I have to say ‘me too’ for everything you have said, except that I am in Aus & our news is full of it. :)
JGabriel
@PsiFighter37:
Ah, well. I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree then.
JGabriel
@different-church-lady:
I’m afraid you’re probably right, but I keep hoping it will decline … eventually …