Author: Ruby Sinreich

Either the exit polls were WAY off, or someone is cheating real bad.

I still believe, but things are looking tough. It doesn’t help that Erskine Bowles predictably lost the US Senate seat in NC… again.

In case you missed my long post last night about What I Think All This Means, here’s an abbreviated version. I’m post-dating it so it will stay on top until the polls close in North Carolina.

I occasionally think that it will be a Kerry landslide, but mostly I think it will be a nail-biting Kerry victory. There will be legal battles no matter what the outcome. The losers will not recognize the legitimacy of the winner. In the entirely possible and extremely horrifying event of a Bush victory, I think we will witness the solidification of the next huge grassroots social justice movement of our time. At the last Bush inauguration there were almost as many protesters as celebrators on the parade route. This time most of the furs, fake cowboy boots, and ten-gallon hats will not brave the streets which will be full of patriots objecting to another four years of hate in the Whitehouse. This time, no-one will be able to ignore us.

If Kerry wins, we will have an uphill struggle against complacency. Many people who have been involved this year through MoveOn, ACT, Howard Dean’s campaign, and the Democratic Party will think their job is done. They may go back to being “normal” members of society, as if democracy functions on it’s own without caretaking. They may ignore the fact that Republicans will still be in control of Congress, and working at every level to deny our rights, and give themselves more freedom.

Red the whole thing if you want to know why I think this.

Just now on CNN the showed the Prez speaking to reporters. He sounded like we has making a concessions speech! “At the end of the day Laura and I will feel that we did the best job we could at telling people why I am the best leader for this country… we’ll just have to see what happenns tonight.” What a loser!

The other big clue is that the CNN reporter (reporters have access to exit data but won’t talk until polls close), described Kerry HQ as upbeat, and Bush HQ as “matter-of-fact.” It’s over.

one in seven voters today didn’t vote in 2000.

I used to hate polls, until I saw how they could be used for good (as opposed to evil) by simply understanding your audience better. But unfortunately they tend to become crack to politicians and political organizations (PP included). Obviously things have gone too far when the polls affect themselves, as they did during the 2004 presidential primary. Instead of measuring how the candidates were doing, the polls were affecting how the canidadates were doing. Not good, not scientific.

Anyway, I have to admit that I have now become a poll junkie. The worst kind are probably exit polls which survey people as they leave the voting booth. I learned (while watching Jon Stewart, natch) last night that all the major news outlets get exit polls early, but they don’t release the numbers until the election booths close in the respective states. I think this is a good thing. BUT. I. Want. Numbers!

Fortunately,
dailyKOS.com
and
Wonkette.com

are satisfying my craving. And the numbers look good! Don’t go dancing in the streets quite yet. But I’ll be glad to see that in this case, I was wrong and my boyfriend was right. ;}

What a moving testament to democracy! At ballot.textamerica.com people are moblogging (blogging from a mobile phone) their ballots in the voting booth. It really highlights the diversity of voting methods – some have punch cards, some computer monitors, some plain paper, some have those big, archaic things with the lever, etc. This is one of those things where the Internet allows otherwise isolated indiviuals to connect and collaborate and make something bigger than themselves.

I love Halley Suitt’s 12 Reasons Women Should Vote For Kerry/Edwards. It means a lot coming from her as she’s personally very moderate, and not even typically a “political blogger.”

Bonus: A roundup of what women bloggers have to say about the politics of ownership economics from BOPnews.com.

This is hapenning all over the place. “Republican poll workers in Lake Andes [North Dakota] were intimidating Native American voters on Monday, a federal judge ruled early today.

Republicans may not write down license plate numbers or follow Native Americans from polling places during today’s election, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol ruled in a temporary restraining order.”

This one is good for a laugh. Some Republicans in Florida masqueraded as gay and pro-choice activists in front of a Black congregation on the way to go vote. They had signs like “Support Gay Adoption, Kerry/Edwards.”

Joshua Bearman twas there:

Not only do they have no moral concerns about undermining democracy, they apparently have no brains either.

Further proof that this revolution does not belong to the Democrats:

Kerry doesn’t even know about one of the most important political messages to be broadcast on television this year. So let’s don’t give him any credit for its impact.