Election Day Morning

Today has been a gorgeous, sunny, unusually warm day in Chicago for early November -- 75°F (23°C or so). On my way to work at 8:00 a.m., I thought I'd take some pictures of the long voting lines at the polling place closest to us. But I was told that the long line snaking around the corner had dissipated by about 7:30 a.m. All I saw was a woman handing out voter guides to stray voters while making sure to steer clear of the "no electioneering" boundaries near the entrance of the building.

On the bus to work and at work itself, there has been a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation. The conversations were all about the elections: how long one had to stand in line, about who got tickets to the Obama rally tonight in downtown Chicago and who was going to take their chances by going there without tickets, about what could be going through the minds of undecided voters, and even a conversation about how no one seemed to know any McCain supporters among all their friends and relatives. That's a little unusual, even in Hyde Park!

I initially turned down the campaign's offer of tickets to the Obama rally (standing for literally hours on end in a crowed doesn't appeal to me) but later when my friend Justin offered me a ticket, I decided that I really should go for the sake of history. So that's my plan tonight: to join 1,000,000 people in Grant Park!

What I'm hoping for is not just a victory for Obama, but a landslide. His aim has been to rid the country of the red state/blue state divide and I think that a close election such as that in 2000 and in 2004 will do nothing towards that effort. What I'm hoping for is a mandate. And that Indiana will turn blue... but that might be asking for the moon. Let's see!