The next day, a new day

And what a day it was! November 5, 2008. Here in Buffalo the sky was a deep blue, brilliant sunshine, the remaining leaves glowing on the trees, temperatures in the upper 60s (F), and a new President.

At our party last night, we were monitoring the results on-line and on old-fashioned TV. When Pennsylvania was called for Obama, which was not a surprise since I felt all along that the whole PA push by McCain was propaganda, it was a relief. Watching as numbers were rolling in from VA, GA, FL and Indiana...Kept refreshing the Indiana numbers to see things going back and forth, but all the while noting that Lake County hadn't reported anything yet (the county where Gary is, and right next door to Illinois). Since that IN was tight, it was only a good thing.

Then when networks started calling Ohio for Obama, I knew that was it. I had spent enough time on fivethirtyeight.com to know what the other states looked like for Obama, and run the numbers through my own spreadsheet enough to know that with Ohio + Kerry states (which Obama was predicted to win), it was over for McCain. As long as the exit polls were accurate...
And then came NM, and Iowa, some saying CO also (not surprising, given the polls, but still great news). AZ still too close to call, which was an indication of the night, and NC and FL still unknown and close.

Approaching 11PM EST and it was clear that we were just waiting for the west coast polls to close.

11PM hits, then NBC (we had that network on) called it for Obama. I heard it, then repeated it, and sat for a minute...it was over. Eight long, horrible, wasted years over. Eight years of ripping the government apart and selling the parts to cronies is over. It is so much harder to build than to tear down, but we've got to do it now.

The night went on, getting better. VA and FL come in for Obama, and then IN. GA to McCain, but the numbers from GA seem screwy. Pulling for Franken in MN, for prop 8 to go down in CA, and for at least a run-off in GA senate.

Closer to home, nothing terribly exciting as incumbents won state senate and assembly seats. State senate did go Democratic, which is really good news for pulling NYS into the modern era regarding same sex marriage/unions.

Higgins (D) won easily in our house seat (was anyone running against him? Oh yeah, the tanning bed guy). Slaughter (D) won, but Lee (R) won in the seat vacated by Tom Reynolds of Mark Foley fame. That seat was a long shot since it is a 60-40 Republican district. I hope the voters in that district enjoy having a rep who wields next to no power as a freshman R in a heavy D House.
....
So now we have elected change, elected to change, elected to go in a new direction. Enough people finally said that they would not vote for fear anymore. That we would not just cower in the corner while the "leaders" changed the colors on the Risk of the Day chart. That we would not be afraid to say that greed isn't what makes things happen, that maybe government does have a role to play. That we still have time to tape the Constitution back together. That the world we live in is a world of people, not a world of "others". That just because we can make up names like enemy combatant doesn't mean they're real. That we can't spread democracy without being democratic.
That fear is not a governing principle nor a foreign policy. That being poor is not a crime, that being rich is not a free pass. That we can try to do better and, yes, we can do better. As opposed to "How can 59,054,087 people be so dumb", we hear the world cheering.

Yes, it was a good day today.

GOTV- making calls

I just finished doing a stint phonebanking for Obama. Since I am in NY State, my calls were going out of state. While I was at the calling location, the Polish Cadets Hall, there were probably 30-40 people there making calls. Very business-like. Nobody was taking anything for granted, everyone calling, reminding people to vote (for Obama, of course), providing polling location information, and asking if people needed rides. Most of my calls were to Milwaukee, but the previous shift of callers were calling Floridians. Apparently, people were commenting that the Floridians seemed to be a bit more, shall we say, vocal when not supporting Obama, than those we called in Wisconsin.
Three things jump out at me from my calling experience.
1. Men are generally less friendly on the phone, especially if they are not for Obama.
2. A LOT of people just use the generic answering machine message (the pre-recorded voice).
3. It’s better to have a map in front of you when you are calling because it helps you visualize better where these people are; you get a better sense that they are people and not just a phone number.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that if you haven’t done any calling, it is not too late. Do a little bit more and enjoy the results tomorrow night. But don’t enjoy until it is done.
GOTV!