Month: November 2008

Packer senses Obama’s fear.

A reader writes:

I decided to bring my kids to vote, hoping they’ll keep some memory of the day.  I pulled up at Barre (VT) Municipal Auditorium to see a line of over 200 people at opening time 7:00 a.m.  We were done in 15 minutes.  I let my six-year-old help me fill in the "Obama" circle.  Something was definitely stuck in my throat after that.

A reader writes:

Got up at 6:00am to vote.  Put on my sweatshirt and my jeans that reek of Korean barbecue.  I arrived at my polling place, a church,  at 6:15.  I counted.  I was number 50 in line.  We still had 45 minutes before the polling place opened.  You had to stand.  You coudn’t sit or even lean against the building.  It rained all night.  The sidewalk was wet.  When the polls opened…there were 200 people waiting. Some in heels.  Some in ties.  Some in pajamas.  Lots of hair pulled back in ponytails.  Lots of baseball caps.  Dodgers.  Red Sox.  Indians.

The line stretched from the church to the Burger King around the corner.  Kinda fitting.  That’s America. Faith and french fries. I watched people walk out with their "I voted" stickers.  You could see the smiles…and a few tears.  An older woman got her ballot and told the poll worker…"I’ve voted my entire life, but this is what I have been waiting for."

Ramesh Ponnuru:

…a lot of the debate about the Republican future has been dominated by people who believe that Bush took the party off track by embracing big government—that had he not busted the budget and otherwise departed from the conservative path, the party would be in better shape. It seems to me that it is these folks who have failed to grapple with important elements of our political situation: 1) the circumstances that led Bush, along with many other conservatives—including Steve Forbes, the most free-market contender in 2000—to abandon the idea of a direct assault on big government; and 2) the fact that Bush’s departures from small-government conservatism have frequently been more popular than his instances of adherence to it.

This exhausted excuse is going to be trotted out relentlessly in the next four years. It will not make it more right.

There will always be a deep divide between two parties in the Anglo-American world; the party of bigger government and the party of smaller government. When the party of smaller government adds the biggest new entitlement since LBJ, doubles the debt debt and turns the presidency into a near-dictatorship,it destroys itself and its core brand and rationale. 

When will Ross and Reihan and Ramesh start asking what they believe in, rather than what coalitions can be built around policies? They are not Rovian; but they breathe the stale, acrid, cynical air he has been exhaling for eight years. You know my answer: maybe more conservatives will actually deign to read it now.

A reader writes:

I live in Huntington, West Virginia and voted this morning at my polling place, the basement of a church. I could read bible verses painted on the walls while I waited. It took about 45 minutes, and I was mostly surrounded by older, white voters. Chatting with the poll workers revealed that it had been busy all morning, and that they expected to break records for this polling place. All of my previous experiences there have been in and out, in the time it takes to sign in and read a ballot. There was a substantial line this morning. I suspect, from my experience having lived and voted here since I turned 18, that most of them were not voting for Obama.

Not that I really expected Obama to win West Virginia, nor do I expect Obama to lose the election, but the increased turnout may cut both ways.

A fascinating take from a new media voter:

This is my first election year without a TV or local radio. I have been completely dependent on the internet and print media for my electoral news.

Instead of bulleted paragraph points in a brochure or snippets of speech chosen for me by an editor or the oddness of my brain, I have read (and reread) or watched (and rewatched) entire speeches and election platforms online.

The result of all this exposure dawned on me when I glanced at my ballot. Instead of the straight Republican ticket of previous years, my ballot this year is a jumbled, bi-partisan alphabet soup of R’s, D’s, and I’s. I feel so much hope and delight about this!

(Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty.)

A reader writes:

I live in a northern suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. A slightly bleary-eyed 20-something got in line behind me and said this was his first time voting, were the lines always this long? Several of us in line had a good laugh and assured him that no, none of us ever seen anything quite like this, certainly not at 6 AM.

Long lines everywhere, even in as safe a state as New York:

Driving into the city, we observed long lines in downtown Manhattan.  A co-worker from Canarsie, Brooklyn, a predominantly black neighborhood, said there were thousands of people in line and she waited two hours in line.

Via Dan Savage:

An arugula-eating reader writes:

Reporting from Fairfax, VA, deep in Communist North Virginia. I caught an interesting snippet of conversation in Starbucks as a woman explained to a friend, "I had to vote McCain, you know I’ve got the whole military and law enforcement thing going." Her tone was more apologetic than exclamatory.