Wazuuup with you this Christmas?

I caught this video on Facebook this morning, posted by a friend. While I think it was targeted to hit our eyeballs a little earlier than now, it seemed still worth posting. Wazuuuuuuuuuuuuup!?!?!

Election Day News, Notes, Anecdotes, and Thoughts

Today I decided to do an almost live-blogging type thing. At 2:30 pm this afternoon I voted in New Haven, CT at a fire station that was fairly sleepy. Then again, likely most folks were out working. I start a new job tomorrow myself (very excited about that!). Meanwhile, I was speaking with a new co-worker this evening and she shared the following anecdote:

Apparently, while Barack Obama's grandmother passed away very late Sunday evening there is a tiny bit more to the story. A few days before she passed, she cast her absentee ballot for her grandson, whom she raised for significant parts of his childhood. I can think of few more breath-taking images to encapsulate this moment. Thinking of my own grandparents, god rest their souls, this story does give me very pleasant chills of family pride and connection and makes me again reflect on just how historic this day is. I've verified the story here, here and here.

Meanwhile, I was on Purple State Blog, one of my favorite politically-related blogs (and also an almost daily source for some sort of fun video) where they linked to the article, "I Didn't Vote for Obama Today," which is very much worth your time.

I'll post some more thoughts when I get opportunities between watching the results and having some dinner this evening. I don't know about you, but I'm excited. Here we go folks... this evening should be an interesting and hopefully a very exciting ride!

7:00 PM - Huffington Post has a nice slideshow of polling place and voting photos from today, and on the page linked above they have links to slideshows from today in the life of each candidate for Pres and VP. Meanwhile, CNN just called VT for Obama, Kentucky for McCain. Neither is a surprise.

7:05 PM - I just checked in on a cool interactive map over at Daily Kos, and on a fun side note, a friend of mine, Melissa, works for Free Range Studios, the design company that helped put this page together along with all the mechanisms that make it work. Oh, and CNN just predicted that Mark Warner (D) will win the open Senate seat in VA. Very cool! I'm a big fan of Mark Warner. Seems that VA will soon have 2 sitting Democratic Senators!

7:17 PM - CNN is now reporting the election via hologram technology! Princess Leia is live in the "Election Center" via hologram talking to Wolf Blitzer who is on the Death Star with a wookie. It's amazing. I'm... speechless. More later.

8:31 PM - Results continue to roll in. Looks like all of New England is going blue in the presidential race, and like the Senate seat in NH is going from R to D. Meanwhile, Liddy Dole is getting a gigantic run for her money in North Carolina and networks are calling PA for Obama (not a big surprise given recent poll results there have tended to all show Obama with a double-digit lead). The interactive map described above continues to get more and more and more interesting over time.

9:33 PM - From the comments: Shaheen just won NH.... BTW, This is only the second time in history that two Americans with Arabic names have faced each other in a senate race... I am proud of my home state!

Very cool, Venice! Meanwhile, NC continues to look good. Looks like Dole is flat-out done down there, unless something weird and big happens soon. What an interesting and exciting evening for socially progressive folks... in many ways more than usual I'm pretty speechless right now. Wow! MSNBC just called New Mexico for Udall in the Senate... interesting given the votes currently popping up. More to see here folks... definitely more to see.

10:55 PM - CNN calls VA for Obama... that means that he has 220 so with CA he has 275... 5 more than needed.

11:01 PM - CNN Fox and MSNBC call it for Obama. I'm so happy so elated... this is amazing.

11:06 PM - Perhaps even more amazing, the comentators on Fox News are talking about what a likable guy Obama is.

11:09 PM - MSNBC is gushing enough to make up for what I can't quite seem to form words around...

11:17 PM - I'm not going to lie, the image of Jesse Jackson crying tonight got me a little choked up. This really is a truly historic night, and while I've been looking forward to the history that might be made today, it is nice to have an image to really help drive home the massive significance.

11:23 PM - Can't keep up with live blogging it, but here a couple minutes into McCain's concession speech I am struck once again by just what a dignified, honorable, and remarkable guy he is. His kind words about Obama's grandmother, his words urging his supporters and fellow Americans to work together to help make change... just all around respectable and damn cool.

11:34 PM - Hi comments crew! I totally just realized that you all are here!!! It makes me so happy, and is anybody else a little overwhelmed right now??? I'm just so relieved an d happy, like something I had lost is coming back... my belief that something this good can happen ... kinda like the way things changed when I realized it was possible the Phillies just might win the World Series but on such a different scale... honestly, I'm totally losing composure. This is a very cool moment, and I'm glad that out there in cyberspace you all are taking it all in at the same time... I keep hoping that 56 number CNN is projecting for Dems in the Senate will keep going up... but I don't want to get greedy with what I hope for tonight!

12:15 AM - "To those who would tear the world down, we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security we support you, and to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright, tonight we've proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals, democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."

Rest in Peace, Madelyn Payne Dunham (a.k.a. Obama's Grandma)

Madelyn Dunham, known to most of the world simply as Barack Obama's grandmother, who raised Obama for large portions of his childhood, passed away today. Having read large portions of his first book, Dunham had a huge impact on Obama's character and was quite an impressive character herself. Sad that the passing of such a central person in the man's life would happen literally on the eve of the biggest day in his career, at least so far. Our thoughts are with the Obama family.

Politics Is Local: Questions about CT Question #1

Connecticut has recently become the latest state thrust into the gay marriage spotlight, when the CT Supreme Court ruled that laws setting out marriage for straight folks and civil unions for gay folks were an example of a "separate but equal" approach to the law. This ruling and judgment on their part, strikes me as eminently logical, clear-cut, and very admirable. I know the marriage question can be difficult for some people, even very tolerant people, but there are common sense aspects to this whole debate, and the analogy to "separate but equal" is, in my eyes, one of the clearest available.

The result of this decision? A new push to introduce ballot initiatives into law in CT via Question #1 which is not a ballot initiative itself. Question #1 is a once-in-twenty years chance for CT voters to say yes or no on the idea of the state holding a convention to review and revise the CT constitution. This question is not legislative, and was last on the ballot in 1986 when voters decided no such convention was necessary.

The predominance of opinion seems to hold that the supporters of Question #1 and a convention want to use this forum to enact ballot initiatives into law, whereby they will almost certainly then move swiftly to introduce an anti-gay marriage initiative onto the next possible ballot.

Now, Ballot initiatives are not a new thing, and here in America they have made some of the biggest splashes out in Califorina, where famous initiatives include:

• Proposition 187, which was designed to deny illegal immigrants social services, health care, and public education (passed with 58.8% of the vote in 1994, and was subsequently overturned by a federal court).
• Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act which passed in 1996 with 55.6% of the vote. The proposition allows patients with a valid doctor's recommendation, and the patient's designated Primary Caregivers, to possess and cultivate marijuana for personal medical use, and has since been expanded to protect a growing system of collective and cooperative distribution.
  

While these two examples may seem to show how ballot initiatives can swing support to causes both socially liberal and conservative, the most widespread use of ballot initiative in recent memory has been as a tool to fight against the institutionalization of gay marriage. As I mention in the introduction, CT now finds itself in the middle of the marriage battle. Hence, one of the biggest supporters of voting "Yes" on Question #1, is the Catholic church.

Advocates claim that ballot initiatives will help the people participate more directly in CT's government, and that they will help fight corruption and lack of action on issues close to CT voters' hearts. Opponents, including the Attorney General (aka the highest ranking lawyer in the state) of CT, believe ballot initiatives would give special interests and lobbyists a new tool, and would not benefit the people.

So, what to do? Is it a good or bad idea to let the people of our lovely nutmeggy state gain the wonderful new ability to petition for and then exercise a new right to basically legislate via popular vote?

I would strongly encourage people to vote "no." While I like the idea of ballot initiatives in theory, I don't necessarily see them as a huge positive in practice. I also am someone whose personal beliefs are pretty far left, so I feel like rules legislated by popular opinion (it is suggested that along with anti-gay marriage initiatives, we would likely also see mandatory sentencing or "three strikes and your out" initiatives introduced on ballots right away) are likely to be at least a significant distance further to the right than where I sit.

Bottom line here, as I see it, is that the people pushing for Question #1 to get yes votes are not being forthcoming about their motives, and I find that reason enough to give it a thumbs-down.

Read More:

• Spontaneously Combusting Onions (Nice name!) has some thoughts
• Rick Green at the Hartford Courant has a good Op-Ed
• CT Catholic Corner says, "YES YES YES!!!!"
• Daily Kos don't like it
  
• and Lisa Hugick at Suite 101 has a pretty nicely balanced piece that offers some good background
  

Stick wit McCain you gone have some drama, Warning: This WILL Get Stuck in Your Head

It's stuck in mine. I only wish I could understand more of their lyrics. Thanks to Wonkette for bringing us this wonderful video!!! These kids should be in the cabinet, whoever gets elected... wait... no, maybe that's a bad idea, but regardless this video is kinda fun, even if you get the song stuck in your head, like I did!

Favorite lyric, "Stick wit McCain you gone have some drama"

Franken Update! Washed-Up Stars Hate Al!

The video below even stars Bridgeport, CT (and Cheers') own John Razenberger among a 4-person parade of Hollywood almost elites basing Al Franken. Somehow I can't quite imagine this making a huge splash for Norm Coleman... but... yeah.

Ouch, This Hurts Me Right in the Soul

Damn, West Virginia. Why? Why must you disappoint so deeply. Below please watch and join me in being concerned by a demonstration of how voting machines in WV function just... um... great. Great, if when you vote a "straight Democratic" ticket you end up voting John McCain for president! Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap, this is just, well, scary.

Journalistic Integrity, Political Flack/Hackery and Media Bias, an Essay in 3 Parts (with Video!!!!)

Part 1: Campbell Brown on Campaign Journalism, BS, Pregnancy, and Callin' it Like it Is
Campbell Brown visited the Daily Show yesterday and among other things discussed CNN's goals with regards to campaign coverage. She nicely summed up her goals, saying, "If one candidate is saying it's raining and the other says it's sunny we should be able to look outside and say, 'it's sunny.' Which means one guy is wrong!" It's a simple concept, but one so easily lost in the world of debate-style match-ups of talking heads from "each side" of an issue and demands that equal time go to each side, or that fairness or balanc-ed-ness is measured in the number of minutes given to each "side" while the other often has the opportunity to blabber over them as much as they can manage.



Part 2: Taking Flack Poster Child Tucker Bounds to School
I've got a growing list of campaign flacks I hate, and I think anyone who watches cable news with any regularity likely does as well. While I've been an Obama fan for awhile, I don't think John McCain has helped himself by having Nancy Pfotenhauer and Tucker Carlson Bounds out there spewing idiocy on his behalf. How bad is Mr. Bounds? Apparently at least 3 cable news outlets have more or less taken him to school. Check out the video (I couldn't embed this one) by following the link.

Part 3: Bill Burton Won't Back Down
The left has talked about Fox News' bias for quite some time now, and that bias has been documented in various ways (but honestly, what progressive who has watched Faux News for more than 5 minutes even feels like documentation is actually necessary?). Anyway, the Obama campaign has recently gone after Faux News head-on with the candidate himself even taking some digs here or there. Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman, recently released a statement about Fox picking up and distributing a story no other major news network has touched after the Drudge Report started the rumor mill churning a day before. Fox had him on to get a spanking, but Bill Burton would not take his licks quietly, no no. Instead, what they got is the combative exchange you see below. Nice.

Who's up for getting INSPIRED on a Tuesday morning?

Ok, so yesterday I had a somewhat infuriating clip of some crazy lady in Florida "interviewing" Joe Biden by basically parroting GOP talking points and then acting like they were questions. Today, the Biden clips continue, but they give you a completely different piece of the political landscape, namely one of many reasons Joe Biden is a ridiculously cool guy. Below is a story about one woman's struggle with domestic violence and how Biden's work to pass the Violence Against Women act had a direct impact on her life. Inspiring stuff! Enjoy.

Questions about polling

I've had many conversations over the last month about polls. I've also had a running dialog with myself over the last few days as the election draws closer and closer. My inner conversation has been one whose tone I can describe best by using the term, "caution." My conversations with friends have veered more towards discussion of the remarkable trends you can see in the last month + of polling data compiled in the trends graph from Pollster.com below.



The reason my inner thoughts have veered towards caution is that I'm superstitious and I'm worried. In 2004, I was convinced there was no way America could possibly think more Bush was a good idea, and yet somehow on November 5th I found myself wandering around Washington DC wondering to myself, "wtf???"

Now, 4 years later, it seems clear that Obama is in a much stronger position than Kerry ever was able to establish for himself, but still I am one who will keep his fingers crossed into the evening of November 4th. I'm excited, hopeful and looking at the trends you can see above I am encouraged, but I cannot and do not assume this is in the bag by any means. I'm excited to get into the booth and cast my ballot, and I hope all the other Obama supporters out there are just as pumped up, so that we show up in the record numbers that appear to be turning out already in early voting states.

Are you joking? Who's up for getting ANGRY on a Monday morning?

Given my leanings, you might think this post is going to be about John McCain's temper, but it is not. Instead, it's about my own. One thing I have grown increasingly tired about over the past few years is the hackery that is passed off in so many places as reporting. There sometimes seems to be a horse race between cable news and local news to see who can dig the deepest into the pit quickest, but sometimes that feels unfair. Is it worth pointing out that cable news personalities may be actually paid to be hacks whereas local news personalities may just be rookies or amateurs who don't realize how poorly they're executing on reporting?

I dunno, and maybe I don't even care. Do you? Either way, check out this lady from Florida "interviewing" Joe Biden. I think Biden keeps his cool and does a remarkable job in the face of some truly ridiculous questions taken from or even elaborated beyond McCain campaign talking points. If you want some further background on this lovely reporter, check out her interview with McCain.

Glad to have found all of this on HuffPo. Ugh, I really don't know what else to say here.

Conservatives for Obama

There is a good video out that was released last week showing interviews with conservatives who plan to vote for Barack Obama. The video is below, and truly speaks for itself, but Huffington Post also had a great piece put together by the video's creator, and I wanted to post a bit of that text along with the video.

There are a number of people in my life -- some family, some friends, some colleagues -- with whom I have never agreed upon anything political. Ever. These are my political opposites. My bizarre-o twins. And they have been my adversaries in countless debates; the kind nobody ever wins, but nobody ever seems to tire of, either.

Sadly, politics have become sort of a new sports league in modern culture. We don't really listen to each other's points of view so much as we pick a side and root for it. And just as with our favorite sports teams, our faith in our parties can become blind...

I fully expected the results to be compelling and convincing. And they are. What I didn't expect was the emotional wallop these unscripted interviews deliver. A combination of deep disillusionment with the last eight years, disappointment in John McCain's candidacy, and an undeniable draw to Obama brought these people to a political decision that was deeply personal and courageous. It became clear to me that these were more than interviews. These were confessions.

This is what democracy is supposed to be. These people actually listened, considered and were open to the possibility of change. They didn't support a candidate. They actually chose one. And while I'm happy this year they are voting for "my team," they also inspired me to be more open in my own political life.

Obama on Visiting his Grandma

I know this whole piece of campaign history is now in the books, but I caught this video last week and really wanted to post it. I believe it appeared on Huffington Post just before Obama left the trail to visit with his grandmother, who recently broke her hip and is in very poor, and possibly deteriorating health. What I didn't know, personally, is that he made the decision to visit Grandma, in part, motivated by the fact that he chose differently when his mother was sick before she passed away. He talks about that decision below.



As someone who lost a parent with very little notice I feel like his decision is something I can 100% relate to, and a choice I very deeply respect.

The Best Way Back!

Hey, I have to say that I gave no notice to my friends who post some wonderful content up here and hence I'm glad some stuff made it up while I was away at Kim's sister Heather's wedding this weekend. Meanwhile we all returned home yesterday and mixed football with napping and general laziness. Good times were had by all. The wedding was great, but as weddings can, the experience was very all-consuming. Hence, there was no blogination for a few days now.

To pull back the curtain a bit on my blogging techniques, when I get super-busy I still find moments here and there to look for stuff to blog about. If I can't get to posting, I'll write myself an email with links to whatever content I had in mind to toss up. Today I'll post a bunch of stuff that hopefully isn't too horribly dated at this point, but I'll also mix in some amazing new news of the day. How's that?

Meanwhile, how about the whole picture of where things stand today, huh? 8 days out from the election it looks like Obama is holding onto double-digit leads in national polls. Down in Philadelphia the Phillies are up 3 games to 1 on the Rays in the World Series, with a chance to finish it off tonight in Philly! (that would be absolutely HUGE for the city of Brotherly love... don't believe it? Check out the "Clock of Fan Desperation" that counts down how long it's been since the last national championship won in Philadelphia.) Also, how about the whole thing with Jennifer Hudson? That's just horrifically sad. I can't imagine what it must feel like. Oh, and um... yeah, how about that stock market, huh?

Ok... seriously now, I'm so happy to be back blogging away. I had a great weekend and I hope you did too! Congratulations to Heather and Doug and my friend Shaun and his lovely new bride Jen who also got married on Saturday!

Wednesday Video Blitz (part 2)!!!

Ok... the Wednesday video blitz continues! This time with slightly more brief commentary.

Video #3 From a rally yesterday in PA, McCain can't quite stick the landing on this attack line. Not too much to say beyond that, except if you want to hop back to a previous post on slips. Thoughts?



Video #3 Citizen's Arrest! Citizen's Arrest! I, for one, love the concept of a citizen's arrest, don't you? In the video below you can see two funny things, first being a San Francisco woman attempting to execute a citizen's arrest for treason of Karl Rove. Right on lady! You rock! Meanwhile, later in the video there's a great zinger first, one John Kerry apparently had and Rove repeats, and then a beautiful dig on Rove. Check it!



Hope you enjoyed the video fun! Maybe we'll add part 3 later.

Wednesday Video Blitz (part 1)!!!

Hey, come on people... it's Wednesday, hump day, that day that sits between the two that start with 'T'... ya know, it's all... wait, I have no point. Yes, wait, yes!!! I do! It's Wednesday, let's celebrate with a barrage of recent interesting videos for your enjoyment!!! What do you think!?!?!? This post will feature the first two, and I'll post another two in the early afternoon, with some other random junk in between.

Video #1 will really start us off with a bang... but sadly, it's a bang called 'really appalling and disturbing." John McCain was recently asked if he was 'proud' of an mailer the RNC is sending around with airplanes and text about terrorists on the outside, and a huge picture of Barack Obama inside. The mailer states, among other things, that Barack Obama "thinks terrorists just need a good talking to." Apparently, this sort of distorted and gut-wrenchingly disgusting crap is the kind of stuff John McCain is proud of. Ugh.



Video #2 is an interesting one that is making the rounds and something McCain really should be proud of. This is the second recent clip I've posted from the American News Project, and both have been remarkably well done glimpses into illuminating issues around and connected to the presidential race (today they've got a striking piece up about the disenfranchisement of felons). In the video below you can see a variety of different folks, eventually joined by a man who is a representative from Muslims for McCain confronting a couple who are selling bumper stickers at a McCain rally. The video starts with the sticker salesman lecturing about Islam, and the stickers contain imagery linking Obama to Islam and Communism.

The folks who confront the sticker-selling couple are pretty level headed and cool about their comments for the most part. Towards the end a guy who identified himself as a conservative Christian actually asks, "are you deliberately trying to lose us this election"?



I think the two videos provide an interesting juxtaposition of ideas swirling around how Islam and Obama's name, identity, etc. are treated in this election. To be honest, I think the issues we see swirling around the election right now represent a huge leap forward in terms of progress, by which I mean to say I think that it's progress that America is working through some of this. We've still got a lot of work to do in many quarters to realize how to live out the tolerance and liberty our nation was founded on, but I am hopeful that remarkable things are happening this fall and will continue in the months and years to come.

So Close? or So Far Away?

I was reading through the post yesterday from Venice and I agree with his concern about the strength of poll numbers, the chances that things will look very different in two weeks than they do today, etc. It's an interesting morning to blog about this, what with Obama leaving the campaign trail to be with "Toot," his grandmother. Andrew Sullivan describes their relationship accurately, I think, by saying that if she passes away Obama will in essence be losing, "his last parent." His mother passed a few years back, and his grandfather and father are both gone.

Here are a few of my thoughts on Obama leaving the rallys and hooplah for a couple days, and on the polls and what they mean:

1. Polls: I think there are a couple sites, Five Thirty Eight and Pollster.com in particular that do a good overlap of poll tracking and accompanying analysis. While I understand what Venice is pointing out about the fact that Obama's unprecedented support in some states doesn't necessarily translate to wins there, what I think is worth noting is that maps on both sites listed above calculate whether states are in one column or another (or somewhere between) based on composite poll numbers... hence, not comparison to past performance in a given venue. Below are some of Nate Silver from Five Thirty Eight's thoughts on Saturday's poll numbers and the talk of the race tightening:
   

Between "Joe the Plumber", "spread the wealth", "I'm not George Bush", etc., however, McCain at least now seems to have a few somewhat more constructive talking points (in that sense, the fact that the Ayers attacks went over like a lead balloon at the debate might have done him a favor). So some of those crestfallen conservatives might have moved back into the likely voter universe...

McCain's other problem is that the polls in battleground states have not really tightened at all. Obama gets good numbers today, for instance, in North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Florida. Obama presently has something like a 3:1 advantage in advertising, and most of that advertising is concentrated in battleground states. As such, this may serve as a hedge against any improvements that McCain is able to make elsewhere in the country.

2. Leaving the Trail: I think that Obama's departure for Hawaii at this particular moment is a reasonable thing, something most Americans will understand, and potentially something that the campaign will benefit from. Why? Well, it would seem to me that it would be hard to hit hard at a guy who's currently going home to see his sick grandma for perhaps the last time, but based on the past couple months nothing would surprise me. Perhaps his grandma 0nce had tea with some terrorists and we'll hear about it from some Sarah Palin rally today. Meanwhile, the rallys will go on with Michelle Obama, Clinton, Biden, Richardson, and the whole Democratic support team swooshing in to help out in Barack's absence. I think this whole event will work out to a net neutral for the campaign, even in light of how late on the moment is.
   

How close- or far- is this thing?

There's a bit of chatter this week about how the presidential race is tightening. It's a fair question, but what I've really been wondering is whether Obama was ever as far ahead as he seemed. Last week I remember reading about how some people at the networks were already thinking about an early election night, one in which it would be almost immediately apparent that Obama had won. It's easy to see why. Obama is way ahead nationally and leads in pretty much every swing state. He's even threatening McCain in traditionally Red territory like North Carolina and Indiana. Seems like this thing is over and done with.

The problem with this view is that electoral votes are, generally, an all or nothing affair. Obama might do unbelievably well in North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia and Colorado, but that doesn't he'll actually beat McCain in any of these places. If he doesn't, that will bring the race back to traditonal swing states like Ohio and Florida, where things look more like a normal election. For instance, McCain has respectable, if not necessarily winning, support in Ohio. In other words, Obama's unprecedented strength in Red states could be great as fodder for political discussions and yet still be totally ineffective in terms of actually winning the election. Anyway, what do you all think? Just paranoia?

Franken's Got Map-Skills

In my continuing effort to promote the cool idea that Al Franken may soon unseat Norm Coleman for one of Minnesota's senate seats, I bring you a video of Franken drawing the continental US free hand. I found it via Digg, and a more extensive post on geography and Franken's drawing sills is available on the blog Parenting Squad. The Parenting Squad post sources Greg Laden for the story behind the drawing skills:

This [skill] stems from a bar bet Franken made some years ago in which he claimed to be able to name all fifty states. When he got to the end, the count was only 49, and there was no way to remember which state he had accidentally skipped. So he decided to learn how to draw a map of all 48 states so he could keep track.

A few friends from my study abroad trip to Rome used to razz a friend of ours who went to Waldorf Schools growing up about the fact that his alternate education should have endowed him with innate map-skills useful in any situation. Marky did, indeed, have quite a bit of cleverness... but I don't think his map skills were quite Franken-esque.

Mom, Dad, do you have a minute? We need to talk.

My friend Evelyn sent this clever little spot my way last week and it took me a couple days to post it up, but check out a nice little bit of advertising from my friends over at MoveOn.org. Makes me think of the famous, "I learned it from watching you!" anti-drug advertisement from back in the day.