"A new dawn of American leadership is at hand."

There are people driving around outside, honking their horns and whistling and howling.
Robinson is his crib, sleeping soundly.

Barak Obama is president.
President Obama.

I was in the car when Obama was named president. I had just shattered the rear driver's side window with a rock after locking my son in the car with my keys.

I am now watching John McCain's concession speech.
After all this I don't know how I feel about it.
I have lost so much respect for him over the course of this campaign.
I don't think I can give him an inch.

This would be a good night to be together. All our firends drunk and blowing party horns and eating salad with bacon bits.

What happens next? Why in the world do we have to wait until January? Its not like people are showing up by horse and buggy anymore. And why can't we just go by popular vote?

I guess the big ones left are Florida, Colorado and Indiana. I reckon if any two go Obama this really may be over. I wonder how many times I can call this election?

Robinson just broke one of Matt and Jessie's dishes. This is a disaster.

I am currently in a little bit of shock. Obama is going to win. It is now a matter of by how much.

We are now in Greenpoint at the home of Matt and Jessie. On the way out the door of our place Jim Lehrer basically called Ohio for Obama which would be the election. I mean as far as I'm concerned.
Matt and Jessie were in North East Philadelphia today driving past the row houses, studying their Google maps fiding people to drive to the polling place. They basically handed Pannsiltucky to Obama. Well, them and a few other volunteers. But they had a good day of it.

The dust bin of history.

Seriously people. why is George Stephanopolis still around? We have Anderson Cooper. Local News doesn't make any sense to me anymore, Its like I'm watching people listen to their weekly favorite radio programme. I didn't know that in the 2004 election, You Tube, wasn't even in its pubescent stage, wasn't even in it's reality tv age. It didn't exist yet in our daily lexicon. Does this strike anyone as majorly odd? You Tube is like your old Aunty who has been 80 yrs old for 20 or so yrs. (like the lovely English actresses Maggie Smith or fabulous Dame Judy Dench. They've been 85 since they were actually 26 yrs, and this has nothing to do with looks, it's a presence. And now they're both actually only around 60). We are all past our prime and we are watchin git on outdated tv. Xmt

For about five minutes there, a moment ago, I got worried. Worried for the first time this whole election. Boy, did that pass, and how!

Robinson hasn't seen so much TV, I think, ever. He is totally going crazy over it.
There is something to having an energetic two year old traipse around making big noise over talking heads that is a whole other level of decibel creation.
Its making me a touch batty.
But this raw kale salad is made with really high quality olive oil, some anchovy paste and lemon juice.
So good.

Ok, we are back. Pizza is ready, kale salad, vino.
Jersy, Pennsiltucky, New Jersey, Mass, New Hampture, Maryland, Connecticut, Maine, Delaware.
But dammit, Oklahoma is going to McCain.
Things are looking alright

We're back.
I have a headache.
We need to drink wine.

Going to get dinner.
Pizza.
Back soon.

Back to the task at hand. When do you think they'll do away with the electoral college? When do you think they'll have a college football playoff?

Marina gets her limbic system ready for the big night.

Ok Oh's competition. Rookies.

I wonder if there are election parties where people are taking off an article of clothing for every state Obama wins.

Oh, this is a Todd post.

Marina wants me to make sure everyone knows this is a family blog. This is not just the Toddy show. And thank G-d.

Marina is on the phone with Kevin right now.
Robinson wants "watie."
That is to say, I just got home.

Polls will close in an hour, or at least they will start doing real reporting then.
I don't really get how it works. How do they get their numbers? Exit polls? At what point do they get real numbers? and who gives it to them? And do they count a bunch, by hand, and release the partial info?

Sarah Sullivan has been in Ohio, living on fast food and trying to convince people to swing vote for Obama.
Jessie and Matt are out in Pennsiltucky today driving people to polling stations and translating for Spanish speakers.
Wade moved out to Chicago four months ago to help do Obama campaign graphic design.
I am trying to make Luke Temple a little dough.
I reckon it will all come out in the wash.

The Luke Temple track I am trying to get some folks to put on their TV commercial.

News flash from HQ: the boy is snoring loudly.

The fair skies over New York have turned a shade darker. Perhaps we are due to get that Nor'easter that has been hitting parts southern. I am at work listening to music for an Umbro commercial. I am trying to get them to choose a Luke Temple country music track, but it is not looking good. I stand by it though, I haven't heard a track better....

So anyone hear anything yet?
I really don't know the first place to turn for reliable info besides the public broadcasting channels...

I just listened to my messages. I just heard the boy burp in his crib.
I have work to do. Unexpected work.
I have to go to work.

Kevin called, trying to see if his name would appear on the live blog live.
Man, I wish that had happened. What a coup!

It has been a very pleasant election morning. Two L'Oreal jobs are on hold waiting for client approval. Umbro is on hold pending new music choices and the transfer happening tomorrow. I am not sure what happened with Manny's Sergio Rossi ads, but they aren't happening right now either. All this absence of work has allowed me to take the boy to the playground on an unseasonably warm November day.
At the playground there were the usual coterie of Brooklyn transplant parents. Thai Nard, Argentine Mariana, Alabama April, the Frenchies from Zebulon and JJ,s kids. There was some excitement and apprehension, as our corner of the country probably has as many fervent foreign Obama supporters as supporters who can actually vote. The idea that Obama could lose is such a potentially devastating turn of events that the fear is nearly palpable.
I have been saying for a few months now that I don't see any way that McCain could possibly win. I am one hundred percent sure it will not happen. At least that is what I will say, and keep saying. I just don't see it.
Robinson and I listened to the Brian Lehrer through the radio. Trying to give equal time to the McCain supporters, he took only their phone-ins for a while. Not quite the litany of the absurd as I would have expected, mostly people saying that they were "staying strong" and "sticking to their guns" in the face of oppressive peer pressure to vote Obama. I can see that. Were someone to wear a McCain t-shirt with authentic intent around my group of friends, they would be pariah instantly. Of course, there is always the one goofy guy, the one with the thick Long Island accent, who calls in and swears that no Obama supporter he has ever talked to has one rational reason for voting for him other than because he is a black man, and that the whole thing is a farce. It got my hackles up, I'll admit.
We picked Marina up at yoga, deposited her at the school and she voted. Returning to the car, she was visibly buoyed. That sparkley eye thing in full effect. She has never seen so many young Puerto Rican and Black people at the polling station before. Usually it is all old people with the occasional white hipster trickling in to cast a ballot. But today it was packed with people from the neighborhood of all kinds.
As of 11:45, she was the 91st person in our precinct to vote. That confirms a couple of suspicions: one, I was the first person to cast a ballot in my precinct and two, not many people in our neighborhood vote. This is probably due to the massive Satmar Hasidic community, but may also be a mirror to the state of certain things.
Marina just read to me the David Brooks op-ed piece in today's Times. A very insightful bit of punditry & perspective.

"Compassion can be roughly defined in terms of a state of mind that is non-violent, non-harming and non-aggressive. It is a mental attitude based on the wish for others to be free of their suffering and is associated with a sense of commitment, responsibility and respect towards others." - The 14th Dalai Lama

The last few days there have been all these recaps of recent variations on the candidates stump speeches on the radio and T.V. I have been struck by how often McCain uses the word 'fight' at his rallies. Over and over again, in nearly every sentence, he stresses he is a fighter and will fight. Granted, the editorial process is something I am well familiar with, but there is a lot of discreet material to pull from it seems. I am not a big Dalai Lama fan. I don't buy into the hokum of total detachment. At least not in this life. Maybe I am just not there yet. But the repeated violent language McCain intones feels wrong. Especially in light off the above thought pulled from today's quote in the Buddhist picture book on my toilet.

Cute Election Day Two Year Old Moment Number One:
My son pronounces Obama "ahpoopa".

Yesterday I bought a T.V.
After a campaign in which we watched all the debates and town hall meetings via live streaming video on the internet, I had to break down to get my News Hour fix tonight.
It is ten inches of digital media powerhouse. The NTSC/ATSC antenna I added almost dwarfs the screen but together they are a formidable live-blogging tool.
Of course, last night, this noble machine meant for noble causes lost its virginity to Gossip Girl.

There are surprisingly few campaign signs or campaign workers around here. In fact, that Nader sign, appropriately xeroxed and stuck up with campaign stickers, is the only campaign sign within 8 blocks of my polling station.
I had a little problem with my voting experience. The voting station had not been unlocked or something and I couldn't move the big red metal lever to begin the process, causing the elderly black man volunteering at the school to exclaim "handle it like you'd handle a woman!"
Then they figured out it was locked. Then I voted.
Now I know the cause of my problems with handling women: they just aren't unlocked yet.
This is already a great election day.

*click on photos to enlarge

I just rolled out of bed. A little later than I had hoped. Some Polish guys were jackhammering in our neighbor's apartment last night until one in the morning. Really.
So I am throwing on my shoes and heading out before my son wakes up.

¡Viva Votar!