I'm Getting Weepy Over Election Stories Already

You have to read this from Ben Smith on Politico:

Early voting in Evansville

Here's an early voting story from a medical student in Evansville, Ind.:

I squeaked in just before the 7pm deadline to find two very frustrated poll workers and a line of a couple dozen people, due to problems with the computerized voting system not accepting people's driver's licenses. It was taking about 7-10 minutes per person just to get the computer to accept them as valid and to print out their ballot, causing very long delays.

For me the most moving moment came when the family in front of me, comprising probably 4 generations of voters (including an 18 year old girl voting for her first time and a 90-something hunched-over grandmother), got their turn to vote. When the old woman left the voting booth she made it about halfway to the door before collapsing in a nearby chair, where she began weeping uncontrollably. When we rushed over to help we realized that she wasn't in trouble at all but she had not truly believed, until she left the booth, that she would ever live long enough to cast a vote for an African-American for president. Anyone who doesn't think that African-American turnout will absolutely SHATTER every existing record is in for a very rude surprise.

There were about 20 people in front of me but remarkably not a single person left the room without voting over the 2 hours it took to get through the line.

The Arena Weighs In

I've posted about Politico's new feature, The Arena, briefly before. I've kind of forgotten about it until now, when I went over to see what they had to say. The question today, I think, is kind of ridiculous: Is Obama headed for a blowout victory? As many of the contributors to the Arena begin their responses, I think it's naive and dubious to predict a win for Obama in this crazy election cycle, much less a blowout. And I am naturally suspicious of anything that I consider a jinx (I like to knock on wood). But it is really interesting to hear what different people have to say about the election and how each person's niche factors into their answers. I get so caught up in my own reasons for voting for one candidate or another that I forget that every other person out there has their unique perspective on the issues based on their interests and experiences. Someone who works for an economic think tank focuses on Obama's tax plan; a Democratic strategist asserts Obama's dominance in the polls; professors take a very contempletive and analytical approach to the question; politicians avoid a straight answer all together.