Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The Gambit/WWL election night liveblog begins!
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 11:57 PM
I'm at WWL-TV with Clancy DuBos for the duration -- he's finishing a Matassa's sandwich and will be liveblogging some early numbers in the next few minutes. Newsroom is buzzing, people are power-eating pizza for the long (or maybe short?) night, and someone just walked by asking "Which has the biggest point spread -- Obama or the Saints?"
Clancy will be here any moment.
Ohio in the tank for Joe the Plumber
Posted by Will Coviello on Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 11:45 PM
Poor old Joe the Plumber can't afford taxes or tickets. So apparently the only institution in the state of Ohio that has a problem with speed is the Ohio State Buckeyes.
While we were out...
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 10:37 PM
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Among the things you learn in this city is to never have friends from out of town if you also want to get anything done. Apparently, I'm a slow learner.
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Oh well – by now it would be silly to start analyzing the Hornets 3–0 start and that incredible opening night game at the Hive. So instead I'm going to be talking about hair.
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First votes are in.
Posted by Jessica Bride on Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 7:00 PM
From the BBC:
"In the first voting of the day, Mr Obama won by 15 votes to six in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.The hamlet, which has a 60-year tradition of being first in the nation to vote, opened its polls at midnight, with a 100% turnout.It was the first time the town had voted for a Democrat since 1968."
Proud to be home.
Posted by Jessica Bride on Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 6:47 PM
No wine & spirits today. Who has any interest in anything not election related at the moment? There is just something so much more important today. There is an electricity in the air today, and it is about time.
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I am thankful that my three years in London concluded in time for me to witness this first hand. Living abroad was a fantastic experience, but Americans living in the U.K. are not having the easiest go of things at the moment. It helped a bit to be from New Orleans - which is only loosely part of the US - but Europeans are just not huge fans of Americans. This applies both to the American leaders and the ones who put them in leadership positions. This is not because Europeans are socialists, or because they wish America was still a colony, or because they all harbor a secret desire to be Americans. Europeans are disappointed in America. They are disappointed in our lack of desire to see the world, our interest in external government policies without the desire to understand the underlying issues that create the necessity for those policies and they are disappointed at the complacency that runs thickly through American veins. The English, in particular, are deeply disappointed in the Americans they stood shoulder to shoulder with during WWII and they wonder what went wrong.
The Fighting 13th
Posted by David Winkler-Schmit on Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 3:01 PM
As in the 13th Ward in the 15th Precinct, aka Broadmoor. My daughter and I made it down to our polling spot, McMain High School (another reason I’m glad school officials have decided to renovate it ) at around 7 a.m. I’ve never encountered a line before for the ol’ 13th, but there was one today. I’m not sure if the polling commissioners have experienced this many hungry voters either, because there was some confusion, and for a while, the line just stalled out with two empty voting booths teasing the crowd. But it wasn’t too bad; we caught up with some of our neighbors, said “hello” and felt the surging anticipation of being able to truly participate in our democracy. Or maybe, I was just looking forward to my first cup of coffee. Soon, the commissioners started moving people through, and, despite there being 2,000 constitutional amendments to vote on, the line began to dissipate.
Anyhow, all together, it took us about 40 minutes to make it through the line, and, yes, it felt pretty damn good squeezed in the voting booth with my four-year old, deciding on the fate of our country. And I’m sure Cynthia McKinney appreciated it too.
Is Starbucks really giving away free coffee for Election Day?
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 2:55 PM
Yep. And they're not the only ones in the election spirit:
Americans will pick a new leader for the country on Tuesday, and will be able to pick up some free coffee, ice cream and other goodies too.Starbucks Corp. is offering a free cup of brewed coffee to anyone who asks on Tuesday, while Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. is giving away star-shaped doughnuts. Ice cream maker Ben and Jerry's is offering a free scoop as part of a celebration of the election.
Seattle-based Starbucks had originally planned to give away the "tall" brewed coffees to anyone who reported that they voted, saying in an ad: "If you care enough to vote, we care enough to give you a free cup of coffee."
The company broadened its offer to all customers to ensure it was in compliance with election law, spokeswoman Tara Darrow said Monday evening.
"We hope there is a record turnout on Tuesday and look forward to celebrating with our customers over a great cup of coffee," she said in a statement.
Tell us your voting story
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 1:50 PM
Never in my adult life do I remember an election that had so many people amped, jacked, motivated and just plain excited to cast a ballot. I woke up to emails and blog entries from friends around the country....
Little Rock:
I passed my polling place this morning, and there were already 20 people lined up in front of it. According to our Secretary of State, a record 25% of Arkansans have already voted- over 400,000 people.It took my colleague an hour to vote yesterday on the last day of early voting- and I saw her on TV in line. Gotta razz her about that!
Get out there and do your civic duty, Americans!
New York City:
I've never seen a polling place that crowded, that early(and remember kids, I have a politician for a parent- I have seen a s**t ton of polling places in my day.) Even the veteran poll monitors had never seen a crowd like that.I voted in my pjs.
And good old Bayou St. John:
Just woke up, thinking of voting, looked down the street and there be people milling about (I vote at the firehouse at Carrollton and Wilson? Delgado? 1 block down from my place)... I'll probably take the advice of the pundits and wait until 10 when most people are at work.
Did you vote yet? What was your experience? Where did you vote? Was it good? Bad? What were the crowds like? Anything unusual? Even if you just want to cut and paste your voting story from your own blog, please do it here so we all can read it.
