Election De-Briefing

Tuesday night just about killed me, not because of the anticipation, but because of the sheer volume of democratic voters out in the City-- celebrating, waiting, discussing, and oh-so proud of themselves for voting. The swarms of voters, campaigners, and judges hit the Royale Tuesday night for $2 and $3 beer and drink specials, and the city certainly got their drink on, with almost all Schlafly products running dry by the end of the night. There was loud applause and cheers running through the building with each development, and from where I was standing, the crowd cheered with the same enthuasiasm and loudness as they had a couple of weeks ago during the World Series. Politics suddenly seemed very rock n' roll and very sexy.

I went out yesterday afternoon, on 2.5 hours of sleep, to de-brief with some folks from work, and the word of the day at Mangia while we were coffee-ing and iced-tea-ing was very much "voting". I saw old women on the street talking about celebrating. Kids in my classroom this morning asked me if I was happy about McCaskill. The city ward turnouts, according to numbers posted at the ACC, ranged from 32%-the high 60's, which I thought was pretty damn great. As I walked through the streets yesterday, I just kept seeing all the signs that said "2006 Vote Democratic Team", and something seemed to work. Instead of being bombarded with names or campaign signs, the voting signs were a pleasant repreive, and seemingly much more efficient. One way or the other, our country is still reeling. Personally, the best part for me, was seeing how proud everyone was of voting. Instead of the whispers of voting, their were roars, text messages, and voicemails going out person to person on Tuesday. All election day, I was tuned into the ACC, which had great coverage and photos from their staff which was roaming the city. Big media has nothing on the smaller outlets when it comes to writing about politics in the city, so kudos to PubDef and the Arch City Chronicle for keeping us on the front lines and giving us the info. we wanted. This whole election felt different, and for the first time in my life, it felt like what it should be.

Here's to hoping we keep that feeling.