West Florida Election Day Report

The polls here were jammed this morning. One small semi-rural church poll had a fairly long line at 6 am, but there and elsewhere by noon the lines had evaporated; citizenly duties seemed to be getting exercised without obvious problems. In this area, notoriously aberrant in 2006, the machines are gone, ballots are paper. No chad, no iVotronic bollocks.

I spent a few hours knocking on doors for Obama. Quite a contrast with 2004. Then, I was given a few streets more or less at random in a neighborhood, and went from door to door. Not much interest in Kerry. Today, I was given carefully notated maps along with data including demographics and told to visit specific addresses in five or six neighborhoods. Saw quite a few Obama signs -- and was happy to find a local political organization much like this moving smoothly and deliberately and precisely.

Where McCain in his final hours has provided nothing more salutary than a Christopher Lloyd clone shrieking his eagerness "to fight," Obama's organization has worked like, well, a serious plumber to build, connect, check and recheck. It seems to me this contrast between bankrupt, ecstatic goofiness and quiet assurance speaks volumes about the candidates, about the polity, about the choice.

Update

Obama in Sarasota Today

It was disorienting to be around a political event that was not stupid or brutish. Rather it was flawless, low key, intelligent. Besides, he shook the kid's hand.

vote for Google

Insidious totalitarian temptations dept.:

Seeing something like this, I can't help think, let Google do it. All of it. The government, Wall Street, perhaps even the UN. Someone there actually seems to know how to think, plan, conceive, do something. More than one can say for the current "lights," including the media's light on those lights. How much more lunatically rash is this than Paulson's inspiration, or putting the USian Thing a McCainstroke away from Palin?

Anyway, the blogmeme thing is noice.

Palin has Ohio in the Palm of her Hand

Voter education in Florida

Florida held local/state elections yesterday. Poll workers collapsed from boredom as turnout was "lite." Every voter who was ok to vote had to practice the new system, which replaced the simple old touchscreen systems of yore. Before you were allowed to proceed to a voting booth, you had to take up an object called a pen, and fill in an oval, completely, under the watchful eyes of a poll worker. I don't recall ever having had to practice before exercising citizenly duties on the oldfangled Diebolds (now Premier) and other electronic devices.

(Image is not actual repro of supersecret FL technological breakthrough)