Politics
There are 1,056 posts filed in Politics (this is page 89 of 106).
I just saw Janet Cowell’s “new” TV ad, posted to YouTube on Oct 17th. In it you can see Hallie at 17-19 seconds. She’s the girl on the far right as Janet reads on the front steps. Incidentally, I think we’re still missing that library book, which we had brought to the shoot.
The previous ad only had us in it for a half-second or so, at best. So that’s progress.
This is part two of my election day posts.
After my belly-of-the-beast morning at the Fairview Fire Department, I went home for lunch and a moment to rest. Of course I blogged the whole time I was at home, but what do you expect from MT.Net? I did manage to eat two pieces of pizza and take a quick nap before heading out to Westminster Church for the second half of my poll greeting.
I would be greeting for both Josh Stein and Grier Martin. I had campaign material for Josh but I had to pick up campaign materials for Grier’s campaign. On my way to Grier’s house I drove through the parking lot of the church. A lone poll greeter, behind an Obama sign, was outside surrounded by dozens of campaign signs but no voters. Seeing no Grier Martin greeter to relieve (and obtain campaign material from), I dropped by Grier’s house and returned with the pamphlets.
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One of the highlights of hanging out at the Dem’s party on election night was Roy Cooper. He gave a great speech after winning another term as attorney general and gave up the stage for the other candidates.
Thirty minutes later the crowd has thinned. I turned around and there’s Roy Cooper right behind me, with no entourage or anything, warmly shaking hands with folks in the crowd. I was impressed that the state’s top cop would take time to personally thank his supporters on election night. He was the only candidate I saw who made the effort to cross the rope line.
How cool is it that the one politician who got more North Carolina votes Tuesday than any other candidate (including McCain and Obama) is down to earth?
The Associated Press just announced that North Carolina joins the other states won by President-Elect Barack Obama. There are not enough provisional ballots left for John McCain to overcome his 14,000 vote deficit.
Unbelievable. I never thought it would happen but it did.
The News and Observer has been flying out of downtown newsstands like paper airplanes thanks to the coverage of Tuesday’s Obama win. Out of the elevator this morning stepped an African-American woman clutching six copies. I myself had to grab an extra copy yesterday morning to replace the one Hallie cut up to take to class. That same dispenser was completely empty when I walked by it again at noon. Good thing the N&O printed up 20,000 extra copies.
Yesterday I saw an African-American man walking down Hargett and clutching a freshly-bought paper. On my way home I passed another man who might have walked into traffic he was reading his paper so intensely.
Good to know more people are now engaged. America’s problems didn’t disappear overnight, though. There’s a lot of hard work still to be done.
I was crossing Fayetteville Street in front of a cameraman for NBC 17. I had seen him out and was trying to avoid him when I heard “hey, can I ask you a few questions?”
Bah. Got caught.
He then asked me four or five questions about the presidential election. I answered that the election shows the world that America is ready again to play well with others. I also said Obama’s got a tough challenge with the economy in tatters but he’s a smart man and will build a good team.
Talk about pressure, though: its a huge challenge to answer five questions coherently on camera with zero time to prepare. At least politicians giving news conferences have some control over the agenda, but I had no clue what I would be asked. I worked hard at keeping my bobblehead tendencies in check so hopefully I might look good even if I don’t sound good.
No telling when the segment will run but I’ll record tonight’s newscast just in case.
Update 6 Nov: They didn’t use my interview. Something about my forehead being too shiny or something. Good thing I have my blog stardom to sustain me.
On the way in to work I heard a car horn and turned to see a jubliant African-American woman spontaneously shouting “Obama! Obama!” through her open windows. I couldn’t help but laugh.
What an amazing night.
No matter which candidates you supported in yesterday’s elections, I think you’ll agree that the Wake County Board of Elections did an outstanding job managing the election. Early voting was super-easy and wildly successful, voting machines worked well, ballots were easy to understand and counted fairly, and poll workers knew their jobs and performed those jobs efficiently. Rarely did I see anyone waiting more than 5 to 10 minutes at the polling places I visited. Even the Board of Election’s post-election results webpages, farmed out to SOE Software, easily handled the load.
Managing a presidential election is a mammoth project but from what I can see Wake County pulled it off flawlessly. Kudos to all the poll workers who put in long hours to make voting so effortless!
Wow. I had the most amazing dream last night.
Its been a long day, but it had a happy ending (except for my friend Al Swanstrom, who sadly lost in a squeaker). I’m beat and the blogging will have to wait but tomorrow will sure feel like a new day in more ways than one.
