I started my election day off by getting up at 4:45 to go hold up a sign that says "VOTE" (also waving and cheering when cars honked) at SE Grand and Morrison for four hours with about ten others. (If you watch FOX 12's morning show, maybe you saw us.)

It's amazing how many people still wait til the last minute to vote. A number of people showed us their ballots as they were driving by.

My ballot measure blog is still getting tons of hits even at 10AM on election day. Are people still deciding? Sheesh!

Andrew

I started out by having an AMF at 12:33am at the Paradise Lounge in the Park Lanes Bowling Center. I thanked God that DUHbya reign is over next year and slammed it back. Best damn AMF I've ever had.
Vote all the assholes out today people. And it doesn't matter if they are DEM or Repub!

Not to get the ball rolling on conspiracies or foul play at the ballot booth today, but is it simply a coincidence that two of three states already reporting problems at the booths are Florida and Ohio?

Its not coincidence, those two states have counties, where the election officials never prepare properly.

Before the last election, the State of Florida gave Dade county a lot of money to train poll workers, it never used the money.

I started the day off like W -- a Bloody Mary followed by two screaming ninny fits at the help.

Could be worse, could have been crystal meth -- the GOP drug of choice these days.

Vote by mail is the solution:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/7/13535/4734

Lots of issues coming in. Too many to detail right now. Let's hope they, at the least, provide a solid incentive to reform.

I haven't found any discussion of ballot measures on this board. Where is your ballot measures blog, Andrew? I turned in my ballot Sunday night, but I'm interested in hearing what people have to say about the various measures.

By the way, I'm almost finished with the Popular Mechanics 9/11 book. It was well worth the money. The afterword section has a really nice analysis of the different logical fallacies commonly employed by conspiracy theorists.

Here is Andrew's site: I just finished using it myself...

http://www.ormeasures.org/

"It's amazing how many people still wait til the last minute to vote. A number of people showed us their ballots as they were driving by.

My ballot measure blog is still getting tons of hits even at 10AM on election day. Are people still deciding? Sheesh!"

Include me in that group! I like to wait in case there's an last minute issue or scandal, and I just wasn't sure about the credit score/car insurance measure.

Plus, I get to go to the library!

http://www.ormeasures.org .

I can't say there's been much meaingful discussion there, but I didn't design the site to allow for it. Next time I'll probably setup a forum or something.

Andrew

On a miserable day like today I am thankful for mail in ballots.

Andrew you just kill me. Out in the rain before 5am with your signs asking folks to vote. Your energy and enthusiasm are refreshing.

Actually, Chris, if you met the passionate young folks (mostly under 30 or even under 25) who have been working in the group I volunteer with (Oregon Bus Project), you would be overwhelmed. These people have been working 80+ hour weeks for the last month or more doing voter registration and outreach. This year the group registered more than 16,000 new Oregon voters who are under 30. I've been only a tiny part of it, a part-time volunteer.

Andrew

That is certainly good news Andrew.

Our 13 yr old daughter has shown interest in politics. As a 6th grader she volunteered for the Kerry campaign at their NE PDX offices. She along with her aunt, did help out and my daughter received community service hours which are required at her middle school.

Election days are great. The months of messages, debates, controversies, attacks and counterattacks, signs in the yard and doorhangers on the knob, the final frenzy that builds up until.... today.

Now there's nothing anyone can do but wait until the magic hour. 8pm.

My favorite, and some un-favorite election moments:
1968- Packwood narrowly beat Wayne Morse. I was one crushed 6th-grader.

1976- I could finally vote! Carter beat Ford by a whisker. I voted for Ford. Sucked to be me. I still have the yellow teletype printout from the AP machine *three bells!* when Ford won the Repubican nomination.

1980- I was standing in line waiting to vote when we all heard over the radio that President Carter had conceded. I voted for him anyway, being the loyal union leftist.

1984 One of the campaigns I worked on was for Rep. Annette Farmer, who was beaten by...Pat Gillis! I still remember sitting at Rose's restaurant with Farmer as she explained that Gillis was the cute little kid next door, always talking politics and asking her advice. She really felt betrayed by the little neighbor kid who ran against her, and won! Of course, Gillis faked his resume and had to resign his House seat. But great times to be a campaign worker! Great times. . .

1988 George Bush #1 beats Dukakis. The only election I didn't vote. This election was great because of SNL's Jon Lovitz spot-on imitation of Dukakis: "I can't believe I'm losing to this guy"

1992- Clinton wins, and SNL made the election season great again. This was also a memorable year because of Measure 9, the gay rights battle. I went a little to far discussing this with a family member who screamed at me with red splotches appearing on her face and spittle on her lips. "NOOOOOO....SPECCCIALLLL.....RIGGHHTTTSSSS!!!!" I thought she was going to collapse in anger! Boy, did my wife let me have it when we got home. "Do NOT provoke relatives just for fun ever again!"

1996- What a boring election, thanks to Bob Dole.

2000- Just electrifying. The Mrs. and I were at the Republican campaign event in Clackamas. All the networks said Gore won Florida. That's that, we thought. Then all the networks withdrew their prediction of a Gore win in Florida, followed shortly by their call of a Bush win in Florida, followed by a withdrawal of THAT prediction. Everyone looked at each other- they've NEVER done that.. what's going on?? What a mess. We all tried to watch all the TV networks at once, speechless.

2004 The best election night ever. I ran for a local office... and won!

2006- Worked our tails off canvassing for our favorite candidates. Right now I feel like a kid the night before Christmas.. the anticipation of election results has given me such a rush for years.

See you at the campaign parties!

That's pretty cool that you can recall almost 40 years of elections! I sure can't even though I've never missed a vote.

And I hope this breaking news doesn't keep folks home for updates and away from the polls:


Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Britney Spears trusts president, but not husband.

Britney Spears, who told Tucker Carlson in 2003 that we should "trust our president in every decision," announced today she's divorcing her husband, Kevin Federline.

NOVEMBER SURPRISE - I KNEW IT!!!!! Damn that Britney Spears!

What do you suppose the chances are O'Reilly will cover this instead of the mid-term elections on tonight's show?

Andrew

NO!
What the F are we going to do without K-FED?
First the WWE now Britney is dumping his sorry ass???
WOW! This guy is great!