Federal law requires state electors to meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast votes for president and vice president. Electors are expected to vote for the winner in their state, but there is no federal law or Constitutional provision that requires them to do so, although some states have such requirements.
December 15th is the date when all of the Electoral College meets in the capitol of every state and the District of Columbia. The electors cast their ballots and the President of the United States is officially elected.
Based on the results from the November 4th election, the outcome was preordained, but it doesn't make the moment any less monumental.
Barack H. Obama is officially the President-Elect of the United States of America.
Entire Associated Press story:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — As 13 electors cast ballots Monday for the nation's first black president in the Confederacy's old Capitol, Henry Marsh emotionally recalled the smartest man he ever knew — a waiter, who couldn't get a better job because of his race.
"He waited tables for 30 years, six days a week, 12 hours a day, from 12 noon to 12 midnight, and he supported his family," Marsh, 75, a civil rights lawyer and state senator, said of his father as he fought back tears. "He suffered a lot. He went through a lot."
In all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the 538 electors performed a constitutional process to legally elect Democrat Barack Obama the 44th president.
More than 131 million voters cast ballots — the most ever in a presidential election. But Obama's election is not complete until Congress tallies the outcome of Monday's Electoral College vote at a joint session scheduled for Jan. 6.
Monday's voting was largely ceremonial, the results preordained by Obama's Nov. 4 victory over Republican Sen. John McCain. Obama won 365 electoral votes, to 173 for McCain. With every state reporting, all the electors had cast ballots in accordance with the popular votes in their states.
In many states, the formal, staid proceeding was touched with poignance, particularly among people old enough to recall a time when voting alone posed the risk of violence for black Americans.
The contrast at Virginia's Capitol, where the Confederate Congress met, was particularly striking.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine noted in his speech that the 200-year-old Capitol was where lawmakers just 50 years ago orchestrated the state's formal defiance of federal school desegregation orders. But he also noted that it is where L. Douglas Wilder took his oath as the nation's first elected black governor in 1990.
"This temple of Democracy shines very brightly today," Kaine told a standing-room-only crowd attending what had always been a sparsely attended afterthought.
In Florida, state Sen. Frederica Wilson, 66, never thought she would see a black man elected president.
"White water fountains, colored water fountains. You couldn't sit at the lunch counter, go to the bank or get a hamburger," Wilson said after signing a document certifying that Obama got all 27 of her state's electors.
"The pain will always be there, but I think there's a realization that people have evolved," she said.
In North Carolina, 61-year-old Janice Cole said Monday's event was a joyous marker for black people to put old Dixie's trouble past behind them.
"Sen. Obama reminds us that only in America could this story be possible," Cole said.
As a pro football legend, Franco Harris signs his autograph countless thousands of times. But the signature he made as one of 21 Pennsylvania electors for Obama was the one the Pittsburgh Steelers great running back won't ever forget.
"That was special," the Pro Football Hall of Famer said. "This was the most valuable thing I've ever signed my name to."
In Augusta, Maine, the moment was freighted with emotion for Jill Duson, the first black mayor of Portland and chairwoman of Maine's four electors.
"Every time I think of it, I get a little misty eyed," Duson said. "I am undone by the election of Barack Obama and what it says to me as a black American, and his victory in the whitest state."
Sedrick Rawlins, a retired 81-year-old dentist from Manchester, Conn., traveled to Selma, Ala., in 1965 to help the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., with the bloody march to Montgomery. The night Obama won the election, he said, he wept with joy. On Monday, he couldn't stop smiling.
"The election is one thing, but it's really official when they seal those ballots with wax and send them off," Rawlins said.
Colorado elector Wellington Webb, Denver's first and only black mayor, said the chance to cast an electoral vote for the first black president was the honor of a lifetime, one that would have made King proud.
"He would find the dream fulfilled," Webb said.
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Excerpts of Deseret News story out of Salt Lake City, Utah:
In Salt Lake City, members of Utah's Electoral College cast their five presidential votes for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
The five Republican electors unanimously voted for McCain in the Supreme Court chambers at the state Capitol. The electors also unanimously voted for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president.
While some states held large celebrations to mark the historic occasion of electing the nation's first black president, Utah's ceremony attracted only about two dozen observers, most of whom were news reporters or staff in the Lieutenant Governor's Office, which administers elections.
The entire ceremony took about 10 minutes and President-elect Obama was not mentioned once.
McCain was heavily favored to win Utah's five electoral votes after winning the Republican nomination. He won the popular vote in state in November with 62 percent of the vote.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.
Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
plezWorld wrote about Ann Nixon Cooper a few weeks ago (link)
Read the CNN.com articles about Barack Obama's win here and here.
plez sez: my eyes are red and tear up easily tonight. as late as a few days ago, i still couldn't believe that in my lifetime, we'd see one of the most enduring legacies of this country cast aside for a moment as America finally decided to live up to its creed.
this isn't a great day for Blacks in America... for there is only so much symbolism that an Obama Administration can evoke.
this is a great day for the world... for decades, America has been a beacon of light and reason in a world wrought with darkness. if only for one hour or for one day... America's light has shown brighter than ever before.
God Bless BARACK OBAMA and the United States of America.
plez sez: i can think of no stronger testimony for WHY this country needs BARACK OBAMA as the next President of the United States.
is he going to fix everything and make it alright? i doubt it!
but i do know that under the leadership of BARACK OBAMA, this country will know that we can band together and accomplish just about anything we set out to do. he is going to be a force for CHANGE because his story and campaign has been about optimism and capturing the good old-fashioned American spirit that has been lost over the last decade.
The Sunday afternoon before the first Tuesday in November... in 2008.
Sen. Barack Obama is exhorting his supporters to get to the polls on Tuesday, "I don't win if you don't vote on Tuesday."
Sen. John McCain is exhorting his supporters to continue the "good fight," he's comeback many times before and this time will be no different (unless there's a repeat of 2000 when George W. Bush took him out in the Republican primaries).
~ ~ ~
According to just about every model that has been published, Barack Obama is nursing a substantial lead in the national polls and the key battleground states that he needs to win. FiveThirtyEight.com predicts about 332.9 electoral votes, based on their polling.
John McCain has only one option to be elected the 44th President of the United States, he must win ALL of the battleground states that were won by George W. Bush in 2004! Right now, he is trailing Obama in the following Bush 2004 states: Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada... and Florida is a dead heat! He is slightly ahead in Indiana, Missouri, and Montana.
Early voting has Obama putting pressure on McCain to get out the vote in such crucial states as Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. And remember, McCain must win ALL of the Bush 2004 states in which he is currently trailing! The only non-Bush 2004 states that are "in play" for McCain according to the pollsters are New Hampshire and Pennsylvania for a grand total of 25 electoral votes.
Polls conducted since our update last evening suggest some tightening toward John McCain, but he sits well behind both nationwide and in many key battleground states and remains a long-shot to win the election.
The good news for McCain? SurveyUSA has become the latest pollster to show the race tightening in Pennsylvania, now giving Barack Obama a 7-point lead after he'd been in the mid-double digits at various points in October. The Muhlenberg/Morning Call tracker has also continued to tighten, also settling on that 7-point number.
SurveyUSA also has Virginia tightening a bit to 4 points. And McCain gained incrementally in the Research 2000, Gallup, and Diageo/Hotline trackers, although this comes after a couple of days when Obama had been moving up. (Rasmussen held steady, whereas Obama ticked up in Zogby).
Overall, our model shows McCain closing Obama's gap in the national popular vote to about 5.4 points. His win percentage has increased to 6.3 percent, from 3.8 percent last night.
However, several cautions about reading too much into these numbers:
Firstly, I have the model programmed to be EXTREMELY aggressive this time of year. There have been relatively few 'fresh' polls conducted within the past 24-48 hours -- most of these state polls were in the field late last week. As we get more data in today and tonight, the model could very well decide that the race is not tightening at all. Moreover, polling conducted on a weekend -- particularly on a quasi- holiday weekend -- is generally unreliable.
Secondly, even with this tightening, McCain remains well short the 2/2/2 condition that we defined last week:
John McCain polling within 2 points in 2 or more non-partisan polls (sorry, Strategic Vision) in at least 2 out of the 3 following states: Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania. Indeed, McCain has not come within 2 points of Obama in any polls in any of these states.
Finally, where McCain has made progress, it has come mostly from undecided voters rather than Obama's support -- this is particularly the case in Pennsylvania. Therefore, he may be running out of persuadables to persuade.
In a surprise move, it appears that normally red Montana has been moved to the "tossup" category by CNN.com.
CNN.com writes of "tossup" Montana:
Call it the battle for Big Sky country.
George W. Bush won Montana by 20 points in his re-election victory four years ago. But it seems times have changed in the state.
CNN's new Electoral College map, updated Sunday morning, moves Montana from "leaning John McCain" to "tossup."
The move is partially based on the new CNN poll of polls in Montana, compiled Friday, which suggests that McCain has a 1-point lead over his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, 46 percent to 45 percent. Nine percent of voters are undecided.
"The fact that Montana is up for grabs has to be extremely unsettling for the McCain campaign," said CNN Senior Political Researcher Alan Silverleib.
"Montana's usually a reliably Republican state in presidential campaigns. It's been won by the Democrats only twice in the past half century. If you're a Republican and you're fighting for Montana in the last few days of the campaign, you're not in good shape."
Three electoral votes are at stake in Montana, a state Obama visited in late August. McCain, the Republican nominee, has not campaigned in Montana during the general election.
With Montana moving to "tossup," CNN estimates that if the election were held today, Obama would win states with 291 electoral votes -- more than enough to capture the White House.
plez sez: this will easily be the most exciting election of my forty-something years! the battle is between a Black guy who could just as easily be a close friend or cousin and an elder statesman white guy who is older than ronald reagan when he won the presidency!
the dynamics of watching an American dream unfold before our eyes: a Black guy born of a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, born in a country before Black people could vote in some parts of the country. we've literally watched BARACK OBAMA become a statesman before our eyes, as we watched him enthrall the crowd during the 2004 Democratic National Convention to his numerous debates with Sen. Hillary Clinton to his address on race to his massive community organization effort to mobilize millions on his behalf to his staring down the elder statesman to his becoming a world figure to his being on the cusp of becoming the Leader of the Free World!
my heart races in anticipation. you have no idea the fall that i've set myself up for if OBAMA does not win on tuesday. it will be a calamitous crash of monumental proportion... one which will probably involve years of therapy for full recovery!
the polls are pointing to an OBAMA win. the stars are aligned. history is waiting for OBAMA to inscribe the next chapter of America... a new America. An America for ALL, regardless of race, class, or station.
~ ~ ~
plezWorld will be working on November 4th to ensure that everyone in my community who wants to vote, gets to vote.
i spoke to my mother a few days ago. she grew up in the segregated south (north carolina) in the 30's and 40's.
Black people weren't allowed to vote back then.
my mother and father didn't get a chance to vote until they moved our family to new york in the mid-1950's. i was born before the Civil Rights Act of 1965. i was born before it was illegal to deny Black people the right to vote. in my short life, i've seen BARACK OBAMA's story go from fantastic to realistic.
on friday, my mother and her sister took advantage of early voting in Virginia. they both voted for BARACK OBAMA!
It is reported that by Monday, over 21 percent of the registered voters have taken advantage of early voting and absentee voting in the state of Georgia. Many of these voters are newly registered, first time voters.
For the last couple of days, we've had unseasonal cold weather (in the low 40's in the mornings), but it has not deterred Georgia voters for waiting up to 5 hours to take advantage of early voting. The long wait times are mainly concentrated in the metro Atlanta area which has about three-fourths of the state's population.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has started reporting on the wait times at various early voting locations in the metro area. The state has already said that it will not increase the dates or times for early voting. The last day for early voting in Georgia is Halloween, Friday, October 31, 2008.
Early Voting Wait Times (by Metro Atlanta County) (as of Wednesday, October 29th)
CLAYTON COUNTY All offices open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Elections and Registration Office: 121 S. McDonough St., Jonesboro
Update: At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, nearly 200 people were in line. Poll workers said the wait is 90 minutes, but a voter at the head of the line said he had been waiting three hours. Lines started forming about 6:45 a.m.; 10 machines are in operation. Some elderly voters didn’t know that here, as elsewhere, they can bypass the line if they’re at least 75 years old or disabled.
Carl Rhodenizer Recreation Center: 3499 Rex Road, Rex
Update: At noon Wednesday, about 125 people waited in line. A poll worker said the wait was 90 minutes, but a voter said she waited three hours. At least 200 people were in line 20 minutes before doors opened, with the first arriving about 5:30 a.m. Voters in Rex get to wait indoors — in the gymnasium — and there are activities for children.
Lee Headquarters Library: 865 Battle Creek Road, Jonesboro
Update: At 4:25 p.m., 147 people waited in line. The wait was about an hour and a half.
Update: Wait time was about an hour at 1:50 p.m., with about 75 people in line. The site has six voting machines, one more than on Monday.
Morrow Municipal Complex (Community Room): 1500 Morrow Road, Morrow
Update: Wait time was about an hour and 45 minutes at about 3:45 p.m., with about 130 people in line. The site has voting machines, one more than on Monday.
Frank Bailey Senior Center: 6213 Riverdale Road, Riverdale
Update: At 4 p.m., about 269 people waited in line. The wait was about three hours and twenty minutes in the morning, four hours at midday.
COBB COUNTY Main office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Satellite offices are open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Cobb Elections Main Office: West Park Government Center, 736 Whitlock Ave., Marietta
Update:About 200 people are in line. The wait time is about 2 hours.
East Cobb Government Service Center: 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
Update: There is a two-hour wait time. At all polling locations, people who are disabled or over 75 years old can go to the front of the line between the hours of 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., poll workers said.
South Cobb Government Service Center: 4700 Austell Road, Austell
Update: Two hour wait time.
Boots Ward Recreation Center: Lost Mountain Park, 4845 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
Update: Voters waiting in line at noon stayed inside the recreation center. Parking is plentiful and lines are moving fine. The wait: just under 2 hours.
North Cobb Senior Center (at Kennworth Park): 4100 Highway 293 (Old 41), Acworth
Update: Election officials report the wait is about three hours.
The Gallery at Galleria Specialty Mall: Two Galleria Parkway S.E., Atlanta
Update: Shortest wait in the county at 1 1/2 hours Wednesday afternoon. There is also no waiting outside this polling place and plenty of parking.
DEKALB COUNTY All offices are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Memorial Drive Complex: 4380 Memorial Drive, Suite 300, Decatur (across street from the jail)
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour and a half, elections officials said.
Decatur: 330 West Ponce de Leon Ave., Room A, Decatur (Directly across the street from the Wachovia Bank, closer to the Post Office)
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour and a half.
DeKalb County Fire Headquarters: 1950 W. Exchange Place, Training Conference Room, Tucker
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour.
Liane Levetan Park at Brook Run: 4770 N. Peachtree Road, Dunwoody
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour and three quarters.
South DeKalb Senior Center: 1931 Candler Road, Decatur
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was an hour and a half.
FULTON COUNTY
All offices are open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Fulton County Government Center: 141 Pryor St., Suite 4064, Atlanta
Update: At 4 p.m. wait times estimated at 2 hours.
North Fulton Service Center: 7741 Roswell Road, Room 209, Atlanta
Update: Three-hour waits at noon, with a line voters wrapped around the building and limited parking. Voters said the process was going smoothly and most were prepared for the cold weather.
South Fulton Service Center: 5600 Stonewall Tell Road, Room 105, Atlanta
Update: Three hour waits at 9:15 a.m., with several hundred people in line.
Adamsville Rec Center: 3201 M.L. King Jr. Drive S.W., Atlanta
Update:Voters and pollworkers reported 1.5 hour waits at about 3 p.m. People waited inside, sitting on bleachers. A second wait area was set up in another room for the elderly and handicapped so they would not have to use any stairs.
Hembree Park: 850 Hembree Road, Roswell
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was about two and a half hours with about 450 people in line.
Northeast/Spruill Oaks Library: 9560 Spruill Road, Johns Creek
Update: At 4 p.m., the wait was about two hours . Hundreds of people were in line and more were arriving.
Welcome All Park: 4255 Will Lee Road, Atlanta
Update: Wait is about two hours at noon. Hundreds of people in line, but the voters are generally cheerful, prepared for the cold and the wait — some brought stadium chairs. Parking is extremely limited and voters are parking throughout the neighborhood.
GWINNETT COUNTY The main office is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Satellite offices are open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Gwinnett County Voter Registration and Elections office: 455 Grayson Highway, Suite 200, Lawrenceville
Centerville Community Center: 3025 Bethany Church Road, Snellville
Update: About 600 people were in line when doors opened, with the parking lot overflowing and many people parking on busy Bethany Church Road and in a neighboring subdivision.
Dacula Activity Building: 2735 Old Auburn Road, Dacula
George Pierce Community Center: 55 Buford Highway, Suwanee
Update: More than 400 people were in line at about 4 p.m. The wait would be about three and a half hours, but the line was growing longer.
Update: The wait time was estimated at one and a half hours at 4 p.m., but the line was growing longer. Poll workers got two more voting machines around midmorning, bringing the total to 14.
plez sez: voter turnout is expected to be HUGE on November 4th, vote early!
i'm taking my mother-in-law and her mother to early voting on Thursday morning.
BLOG UPDATE: 10/30/2008 1:00 PM - plezWorld took the mother-in-law and grandmother to vote at Adamsville Rec Center in Atlanta this morning. they had a special waiting area for senior citizens - as my mother-in-law is over 70 and her mother is in a wheelchair. all of the poll workers were nice and courteous, there were even some snacks (cookies, crackers, and bottled water) on the tables where we waited. the entire process took about 90 minutes.
i spoke with my mother (who lives in Virginia) earlier today... and she is taking advantage of early voting in her city, as well!
Seemingly growing out of a bed of poseys, my Obama-Biden 2008 yard sign stands tall. I sent this pic to Blogger.com over a week ago when the sign was freshly planted, but for some reason, it never posted. Must be part of that vast right-wing conspiracy!
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In other news, the lines for early voting here in Georgia grow longer and longer. Some sites are reporting waits of 5 and 6 hours. One commenter on this blog noted a 4 hour wait up in Dacula. My business partner noted a 5 hour wait in Suwanee. A good friend said he waited two and a half hours to vote on Friday!
Today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a 2 to 3 hour wait to vote is the norm throughout the state. Read more...
More than 21 percent of eligible voters have cast their ballots in Georgia!
And CNN.com is reporting that long wait times for early voting is an affliction all over the United States. Very few states anticipated such a heavy turnout for this election. Read more...
Early voting trends are pointing towards a record turnout in this election. Read more...
plez sez: GET OUT AND VOTE!
and if the wait times are 2 to 3 hours for early voting, imagine how crazy it will be on November 4th... get out and vote early!
On Monday afternoon, in Canton, Ohio, Sen. Barack Obama laid out in broad strokes the reasons why Americans should elect him as the 44th President of the United States. He told the voters that that after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. But this is going to be a close race and the campaign must remain vigilant to win on November 4th.
Obama said, "We cannot let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Don't think for a minute that power concedes. We have a lot of work to do. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does depend on it this week."
"Sen. McCain says that we can't spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is to embrace the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years," Obama said.
Portions of Barack Obama's Closing Argument Speech:
After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America.
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.
In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.
In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.
In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.
We began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Back then, we didn't have much money or many endorsements. We weren't given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be.
But I also knew this. I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics – one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans.
Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are.
Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That's how we've come so far and so close – because of you. That's how we'll change this country – with your help. And that's why we can't afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake.
We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can't get credit. Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they've been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. It's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month.
At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven't worked, and it's time for change. That's why I'm running for President of the United States.
Now, Senator McCain has served this country honorably. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from George Bush – on torture, for example. He deserves credit for that. But when it comes to the economy – when it comes to the central issue of this election – the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this President every step of the way. Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. Calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. Those are the facts.
And now, after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he'd do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Senator McCain says that we can't spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years.
It's not change when John McCain wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average Fortune 500 CEO. It's not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies or $300 billion to the same Wall Street banks that got us into this mess. It's not change when he comes up with a tax plan that doesn't give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle-class Americans. That's not change.
Look – we've tried it John McCain's way. We've tried it George Bush's way. Deep down, Senator McCain knows that, which is why his campaign said that “if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose.” That's why he's spending these last weeks calling me every name in the book. Because that's how you play the game in Washington. If you can't beat your opponent's ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things.
Ohio, we are here to say “Not this time. Not this year. Not when so much is at stake.” Senator McCain might be worried about losing an election, but I'm worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings. I can take one more week of John McCain's attacks, but this country can't take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. It's time for something new.
The question in this election is not “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” We know the answer to that. The real question is, “Will this country be better off four years from now?”
I know these are difficult times for America. But I also know that we have faced difficult times before. The American story has never been about things coming easy – it's been about rising to the moment when the moment was hard. It's about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys. It's about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose. That's how we've overcome war and depression. That's how we've won great struggles for civil rights and women's rights and worker's rights. And that's how we'll emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous than we were before – as one nation; as one people.
Remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on Earth. We're still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. Some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. So there's no reason we can't make this century another American century. We just need a new direction. We need a new politics.
Now, I don't believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. I know you don't either. But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology. It should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. It should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who's willing to work. That's how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle-class families. That's how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products and services. That's how we've always grown the American economy – from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.
Understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right. We don't need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government – a more competent government – a government that upholds the values we hold in common as Americans.
We don't have to choose between allowing our financial system to collapse and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street banks. As President, I will ensure that the financial rescue plan helps stop foreclosures and protects your money instead of enriching CEOs. And I will put in place the common-sense regulations I've been calling for throughout this campaign so that Wall Street can never cause a crisis like this again. That's the change we need.
The choice in this election isn't between tax cuts and no tax cuts. It's about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it. I will give a tax break to 95% of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paychecks every week. I'll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 and give homeowners and working parents more of a break. And I'll help pay for this by asking the folks who are making more than $250,000 a year to go back to the tax rate they were paying in the 1990s. No matter what Senator McCain may claim, here are the facts – if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing. Because the last thing we should do in this economy is raise taxes on the middle-class.
When it comes to jobs, the choice in this election is not between putting up a wall around America or allowing every job to disappear overseas. The truth is, we won't be able to bring back every job that we've lost, but that doesn't mean we should follow John McCain's plan to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that send American jobs overseas. I will end those breaks as President, and I will give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the United States of America. I'll eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country. We'll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools, and by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country. And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs building the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow, not in Japan or South Korea but here in the United States of America; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain. That's how America can lead again.
When it comes to health care, we don't have to choose between a government-run health care system and the unaffordable one we have now. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don't have health insurance, you'll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. We'll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy. And as someone who watched his own mother spend the final months of her life arguing with insurance companies because they claimed her cancer was a pre-existing condition and didn't want to pay for treatment, I will stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care most.
When it comes to giving every child a world-class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, the choice is not between more money and more reform – because our schools need both. As President, I will invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of new teachers, pay them more, and give them more support. But I will also demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers and our schools. And I will make a deal with every American who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to college: if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition. You invest in America, America will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward.
And when it comes to keeping this country safe, we don't have to choose between retreating from the world and fighting a war without end in Iraq. It's time to stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. As President, I will end this war by asking the Iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
I won't stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now. The cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq, means that Washington will have to tighten its belt and put off spending on things we can afford to do without. On this, there is no other choice. As President, I will go through the federal budget, line-by-line, ending programs that we don't need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.
But as I've said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn't just about new programs and policies. It's about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.
Part of the reason this economic crisis occurred is because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility. On Wall Street, easy money and an ethic of “what's good for me is good enough” blinded greedy executives to the danger in the decisions they were making. On Main Street, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn't afford. Some folks knew they couldn't afford those houses and bought them anyway. In Washington, politicians spent money they didn't have and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda. They scored political points instead of solving our problems, and even after the greatest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, all we were asked to do by our President was to go out and shop.
That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That's what's been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that's what we need to restore right now.
Yes, government must lead the way on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and our businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But all of us must do our part as parents to turn off the television and read to our children and take responsibility for providing the love and guidance they need. Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but at this defining moment, all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; Democrat and Republican, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, disabled or not.
In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe.
Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else – we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.
It won't be easy, Ohio. It won't be quick. But you and I know that it is time to come together and change this country. Some of you may be cynical and fed up with politics. A lot of you may be disappointed and even angry with your leaders. You have every right to be. But despite all of this, I ask of you what has been asked of Americans throughout our history.
I ask you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours.
I know this change is possible. Because I have seen it over the last twenty-one months. Because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America.
I've seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time. I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb. I've seen it in the faces of the men and women I've met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams.
I still remember the email that a woman named Robyn sent me after I met her in Ft. Lauderdale. Sometime after our event, her son nearly went into cardiac arrest, and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could only be treated with a procedure that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Her insurance company refused to pay, and their family just didn't have that kind of money.
In her email, Robyn wrote, “I ask only this of you – on the days where you feel so tired you can't think of uttering another word to the people, think of us. When those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder.”
Ohio, that's what hope is – that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting around the bend; that insists there are better days ahead. If we're willing to work for it. If we're willing to shed our fears and our doubts. If we're willing to reach deep down inside ourselves when we're tired and come back fighting harder.
Hope! That's what kept some of our parents and grandparents going when times were tough. What led them to say, “Maybe I can't go to college, but if I save a little bit each week my child can; maybe I can't have my own business but if I work really hard my child can open one of her own.” It's what led immigrants from distant lands to come to these shores against great odds and carve a new life for their families in America; what led those who couldn't vote to march and organize and stand for freedom; that led them to cry out, “It may look dark tonight, but if I hold on to hope, tomorrow will be brighter.”
That's what this election is about. That is the choice we face right now.
Don't believe for a second this election is over. Don't think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.
In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up.
In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.
In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo.
In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history.
That's what's at stake. That's what we're fighting for. And if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then I promise you this – we will not just win Ohio, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America.
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Read the CNN.com article about the last week of Barack Obama's campaign for president here and here.
plez sez: BARACK OBAMA made his case for president while continuing to link john mccain to george bush.
we are one week away from changing AMERICA and plezWorld!
There's 9 or 10 days until Election Day... the days are getting longer, the nights shorter, nerves are frayed, and the inevitable tension between Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) are becoming more and more evident on the campaign trail. Key aides and advisors for both campaigns have begun to confide in the media covering the candidates as to the growing rift between them.
In an MSNBC interview with Chris Matthews (on MSNBC's "Hardball"), Chuck Todd revealed that he felt a tension between McCain and Palin when they sat down for an interview with NBC News' Brian Williams. Todd stated, "I couldn't see chemistry between John McCain and Sarah Palin. I felt as if we grabbed two people and said 'here, sit next to each other, we are going to conduct an interview.' They are not comfortable with each other..."
A CNN.com article reports that several McCain advisers are frustrated with "Palin going rogue." A Palin aide is reported as saying, "[Palin] is simply trying to 'bust free' [from] what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged [introduction to the public]."
McCain sources say that Palin has repeated gone off message, and are beginning to wonder if the incidents are deliberate.
She has labeled the robocalls that the McCain has deployed as "irritating," even though she recorded a number of them.
She told reporters that she disagreed with the Mccain campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan a few weeks, stating that she and her husband would gladly campaign there.
One McCain advisor has that she appears to be looking out for herself... looking ahead to running for President in 2012 rather than Vice President in 2008!
A McCain advisor stated, "She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone. ...also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."
A Palin aide has acknowledged that she is trying to take more control of her message, pointing to last week's impromptu news conference on a Colorado Springs tarmac. Tracey Schmitt, Palin's press secretary, was urgently called over after Palin wandered over to the press and started talking. Schmitt tried in vain to end the unscheduled session.
Politico.com released an article that underlines the growing tension between the two candidates. Palin's aides put the blame squarely on Steve Schmidt, McCain's chief strategist, and Nicole Wallace, a former Bush aide who took a lead role in Palin's campaign. Palin's people blame mainly Wallace for having Palin avoid the media for days and then securing the that high-stakes disaster with CBS News' Katie Couric. It appears that Wallace did not have Palin's best interest at heart seeing that he left CBS to join the McCain campaign!
But a number of McCain aides defend the Wallace decision saying that Palin was "simply unready - 'green,' sloppy, and incomprehensibly willing to criticize McCain."
And after the ABC News fiasco with Charlie Gibson, the follow-up fiasco with CBS News' Katie Couric, and then the weekly lampoon and caricature of Palin by Tina Fey on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," it appears that Palin has decided that the only one who is gonna watch out for Sarah is Sarah!
The Politico.com article cites when Palin went "rogue":
When a McCain aide, speaking anonymously Friday to The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, suggested that Palin's charge that [Sen. Barack] Obama was "palling around with terrorists" had "escaped HQ's vetting," it was Scheunemann who fired off an angry response that the speech was "fully vetted" and that to attack Palin for it was "bullshit."
Palin's "instincts," on display in recent days, have had her opening up to the media, including a round of interviews on talk radio, cable and broadcast outlets, as well as chats with her traveling press and local reporters.
Reporters really began to notice the change last Sunday, when Palin strolled over to a local television crew in Colorado Springs.
"Get Tracey," a staffer called out, according to The New York Times, summoning spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt, who reportedly "tried several times to cut it off with a terse 'Thank you!' in between questions, to no avail." The moment may have caused ulcers in some precincts of the McCain campaign, but it was an account Palin's admirers in Washington cheered.
Palin had also sought to give meatier policy speeches, in particular on energy policy and on policy for children with disabilities; she finally gave the latter speech Friday, but had wanted to deliver it much earlier.
She's also begun to make her own ad hoc calls about the campaign's direction and the ticket's policy. McCain, for instance, has remained silent on Democrats' calls for a stimulus package of new spending, a move many conservatives oppose but that could be broadly popular. But in an interview with the conservative radio host Glenn Beck earlier this week, Palin went "off the reservation" to make the campaign policy, one aide said.
"I say, you know, when is enough enough of taxpayer dollars being thrown into this bill out there?" she asked. "This next one of the Democrats being proposed should be very, very concerning to all Americans because to me it sends a message that $700 billion bailout, maybe that was just the tip of the iceberg. No, you know, we were told when we've got to be believing if we have enough elected officials who are going to be standing strong on fiscal conservative principles and free enterprise and we have to believe that there are enough of those elected officials to say, 'No, OK, that's enough.'"
~ ~ ~
But few imagine that Palin will be able to repair her image — and bad poll numbers — in the eleven days before the campaign ends. And the final straw for Palin and her allies was the news that the campaign had reported spending $150,000 on her clothes, turning her, again, into the butt of late-night humor.
"She never even set foot in these stores," the senior Republican said, noting Palin hadn't realized the cost when the clothes were brought to her in her Minnesota hotel room.
"It's completely out-of-control operatives," said the close ally outside the campaign. "She has no responsibility for that. It's incredibly frustrating for us and for her."
Between Palin's internal detractors and her allies, there's a middle ground: Some aides say that she's a flawed candidate whose handling exaggerated her weak spots.
"She was completely mishandled in the beginning. No one took the time to look at what her personal strengths and weaknesses are and developed a plan that made sense based on who she is as a candidate," the aide said. "Any concerns she or those close to her have about that are totally valid."
But the aide said that Palin's inexperience led her to her own mistakes:
"How she was handled allowed her weaknesses to hang out in full display."
plez sez: go on with yo' bad self, sarah palin! something tells plezWorld that we haven't seen the last of "artic blast" palin!
mccain exercised poor judgement in being swayed by whatever forces swayed him into picking palin. he will go to his grave blaming her clueless ass for his loss! but it is his fault... his legacy will be being a bitter two-time loser (first to George W. Bush in 2000 and then to Barack Obama in 2008 - that skinny Black guy with the funny name and a Teflon coating) and she'll be back on the republican's radar in 2 years!
she'll probably re-invent herself for a 2012 run at the white house. considering the considerable vacuum in the party that bush (and mccain) have created, the party faithful will be looking for a conservative ideologue to "right the ship" and steer the party on a path to victory over Obama and the democrats during the 2012 election cycle. actually, she may have to hit the campaign trail to stay relevant during the 2010 midterm elections.
i'm assuming that Obama is going to win the white house. if he is unable to appear in charge of the economic recovery over the next 12 months OR if he has trouble taking care of all of the trouble in the middle east (iraq, afghanistan, and iran) over the next 24 months, then there will be a clear path for the conservatives to regain power in washington, dc.
Politico.com reports that a Spanish-language blog (La Opinion) in Los Angeles has Barack Obama's first ad directed to the Latino community... en español!
Barack Obama Courts the Latino Vote in California
La Opinion blog entry
Obama busca conectar con los latinos, en español
Este comercial de Barack Obama, donde este habla completamente en español va a salir al aire en los próximos días. Es la primera vez que Obama graba un comercial en español y según parece, el objetivo es dar una imagen más cercana a los latinos que todavía puedan tener un déficit de entusiasmo por su candidatura y estimularlos a votar. Tanto Obama como su contrincante republicano John McCain han usado comerciales en español, pero siempre con un locutor, no con ellos mismos hablando el idioma, aunque sea como en este caso, una repetición fonética.
En todo caso, la pronunciación no está nada mal. Peor era la de Bush, y eso que el sí machuca el idioma un poco.
Read the Politico.com article about Obama's first ad in Spanish here (in English).
plez sez: i took three years of high school Spanish, i was even the President of my school's Spanish Honor Society! but those classes and lessons (taught by Ms. Brown... or Señora Moreno, as we would call her) are a distant memory in plezWorld.
i have no idea what Obama says in the ad and i can pick out a few words here and there in the La Opinion article... but he's got my vote!
The following is a reproduction of an e-mail that I received on my fraternity's private e-mail distribution listserver a few days ago. The author joined our fraternity in the mid-1950's on the campus of Virginia State College in the small city of Petersburg, Virginia. The following post (with permission from Dr. Michael V. W. Gordon, Professor Emeritus, Indiana University) recounts his journey to take advantage of early voting in Raleigh, North Carolina... and his struggle to get the right to vote in 1960.
Aretha Franklin "A Change Is Gonna Come"
This song was written and recorded by Sam Cooke during the height of the Civil Rights Movement after he was moved at hearing Bob Dylan's ode to the movement, "Blowin' in the Wind." It is reported that after speaking with sit-in demonstrators in Durham, North Carolina following a concert in May 1963, Cooke returned to his tour bus and wrote the first draft of what would become "A Change Is Gonna Come."
I selected this version of the song to accompany Dr. Gordon's story because I love the old gospel feel of Aretha Franklin's soulful singing and the music (the organ wailing in the background holding up Aretha's heartfelt turn at the piano) in contrast to the equally lush and mythical orchestration (with strings and horns) of Sam Cooke's version. AND this is the version of the song that plezWorld grew up listening to on my parents' stereo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The First Day Of Early Voting In Raleigh, NC Dr. MICHAEL V W GORDON Posted: October 22, 2008
We arrived early last Thursday, October 16th and already about 300 people were in line at the polling place. My brother-in-law, who just recently had hip replacement surgery, my sister, and me - who will be having ankle replacement surgery - went to the assisted voting area for the handicapped. Can you imagine?
We were assisted by very able poll workers, like this one.
Guess who I voted for? Should I vote the straight ticket? All right, lefty.
WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY, BABY!
The reason I say, "We have come a long way, baby" is that sitting there waiting for my ballot to be brought to me, I reflected on the first time I voted back in 1960 in Petersburg, Virginia. After studying ROTC at Virginia State College (now University) and graduating in 1957, I served for two years as an officer in the Army, mainly in the 101st Airborne Division.
When I returned to Petersburg in 1959, I had an unusual administrative experience for a small town African American guy. I was appointed as part-time Assistant Principal at the newly built, Westview Elementary School.
The president of the PTA there that year was the Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker. Rev. Walker, along with some other young ministers in Petersburg started a civil rights organization to make Petersburg better. It was called the Petersburg Improvement Association. The Petersburg Improvement Association led many sit-ins and other protest activities against racial segregation laws there. Many were arrested. Many lost their jobs.
This movement gained the attention of the young, Reverend MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., who visited our city many times and assisted us. He was so impressed with Wyatt Tee Walker, that eventually he took him back to Atlanta as his Chief of Staff.
But as we were studying to register African Americans to vote, Martin Luther King would come with his staff to teach us techniques for getting that job done. MLK would drive in late at night and leave during the night because it was dangerous for him to be seen in that area. We had heard that an assistant principal in an area not far from us had been taken out of his home and lynched.
You see, this was before the Civil Rights Act of 1965 that removed the artificial and deliberate obstacles the segregationists devised to keep blacks from exercising voting power.We had the poll tax, which required paying a fee for the privilege of voting and we had the "literacy" test.
That was administered in Petersburg by asking the prospective voter something about government that they expected an educated voter to know. Also, you need to know that all whites did not support this apartheid system of government. We had someone in the voter registration office, who was white, who told us the question in advance which we would be asked.
That question was changed periodically to keep blacks from knowing too much in advance. We had study sessions at night at the church and some of us were trained to "pass" and some were trained to "fail". The reason for this was that if we all passed it would look suspicious.
Since I was the part-time Assistant Principal of the elementary school and an officer in the United States Army Reserve, they believed that I was among those who would not cause so much suspicion if I "passed".
So we set about the task of memorizing the answer to the question which we had been presented in "secret". I'll never forget that day when I was to report to the Petersburg Court House for my "examination".
After waiting a good while, I was ushered into an office and confronted by a surly, burly white man, "What do you want, boy?"
"I want to register to vote," I replied.
"I will ask you a question. Can you recite from memory the Third Article of The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Fa-jin-ja (his pronunciation of Virginia)?
So, I recited what I had carefully memorized over the previous two weeks:
ARTICLE III The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia
Division of Powers
Section 1. Departments to be distinct.The legislative, executive, and judicial departments shall be separate and distinct, so that none exercise the powers properly belonging to the others, nor any person exercise the power of more than one of them at the same time; provided, however, administrative agencies may be created by the General Assembly with such authority and duties as the General Assembly may prescribe.
Provisions may be made for judicial review of any finding, order, or judgment of such administrative agencies.
And that is the way it was then.
I got my registration card in 1960.
I voted for John F. Kennedy for President of the United States of America!
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plez sez: i thank Dr. Gordon for trusting plezWorld with his story.
both of my parents were born and raised in segregated north carolina: denied an adequate education, fair wages, health care, and an opportunity to vote. my parents did not get to vote until they moved our family to new york in the mid-1950's. i have an aunt (my mother's 95-year old sister) who will be taking advantage of early voting in ahoskie, north carolia... like dr. gordon, my aunt will be voting from the handicapped area for BARACK OBAMA!
another commonality with dr. gordon is my second oldest brother, he also graduated from virginia state college in petersburg in 1979 - a full 20 years after dr. gordon returned there to teach. i spoke with my brother earlier this week, he lives in southern california. like dr. gordon, my aunt, and me, my brother will be voting for BARACK OBAMA!
~ husband ~ father ~ son ~ brother ~ mentor ~ subdivision dweller ~ northern by birth ~ southern by choice ~ raised a black baptist, now guided by the spiritual ~ raised a kennedy democrat, now politically dead center (moderate) ~ raised in a Cadillac Coupe Deville, now hooked on an SUV ~ college educated and still a student of life ~ wild college frat boy and now a settled alumnus ~ intellectual yet fun-loving geek ~ technical and leading edge ~ corporate cog ~ consultant ~ college football saturday devotee ~ and a ramblin' gamblin' helluva engineer (GO JACKETS!) ~
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Federal law requires state electors to meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast votes for president and vice president. Electors are expected to vote for the winner in their state, but there is no federal law or Constitutional provision that requires them to do so, although some states have such requirements.
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