All right kids, here it is: the day when we finally can vote this asshole out of office. I am going to the polls with Mr. Pink after work and then we will have our traditional post-voting dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches at Friendly's. Then, of course, comes the obsessive-compulsive watching of news for the next, oh, 12 to 769 hours as we wait for a result.
Since getting out the vote has been deemed key to producing a good result for Kerry, I spent last night making more calls to voters in Ohio. I made some calls last week to voters whose names I got from the Kerry website, but last night I was using a list given to me by my local Democratic party. I am not sure where they got the names, but oy vey, what a gruesome task that was! I had asked the coordinator to give me some eastern Ohio districts because I stupidly thought, "Oh, as a western Pennsylvanian they will inherently recognize that we were practically neighbors and be very nice to me!" Not sure how I got that idea, but, uhm, it was not correct. At all. Basically I got 90% of my callers who felt comfortable just bitching me out (my most common startled response, "OK, well, cool, uhm, have fun voting tomorrow!") and about 10% saying, "Oh my God, did you call my neighbor [insert name here] already? You poor thing, he is going to take your sweet little head off if you do!" So, hey, everyone, be on the lookout for the voters of Warren, OH, to go very, very red tonight on the county-by-county maps on CNN tonight. Either that or they were just messing with me big time and the lady who called both John Kerry and me a "communist" has a really sophisticated sense of humor. (I almost responded, "You know, if he were an actual communist, I would like him a lot better!")
Anyway: last night on the talk shows I was shocked -- shocked! -- to hear Willie Brown and Pat "What Holocaust?" Buchannan agree on something. (Although, you know, Buchannan was not singing that tune on McLaughlin this past weekend, so whatthefuckever.) Also mentioned in the aforelinked Wonkette talk-show roundup post (which is excellently funny, by the way): Harry Shearer. It occured to me, while watching him with my boyfriend last night, I don't know that I have ever mentioned how much I loooove Le Show, his radio show. That is all on that.
Now, on to the fraud issue: in the Pinktalk homeland of Pittsburgh dirty tricks abound; in neighboring Ohio more of the same, plus an added bonus of voter intimidation sanctioned by the courts; and so on and so forth. So, you know, uh, fight the power and stuff.
OK, I am too nervous and excited to post any more. I will be back later with a post-voting report from the Berkshires early this evening. All you kids, holla (in the comment section) when you've cast your ballot, please! I am striving for 100% turnout of eligible voters in Pinktalkland!
I VOTED EARLY! Last Thursday, actually. I voted for Kerry, but since I am stuck in Lubbock, Texas (in law school) my vote will be in the minority. Oh well.
Great job on the calls to Ohio.
I appreciate you!
Posted by: Amy Mac | November 02, 2004 at 08:45 AM
Done and done. SO glad I got to pull the lever as opposed to the electronic voting debacle-in-the-making...
Anyone round here in a district with compu-vote? How'd it go?
Posted by: mark | November 02, 2004 at 09:06 AM
I was voter number 77 in my polling place at 8:30 am! Go West Philly Voters!
Posted by: Cyn | November 02, 2004 at 09:49 AM
hollar back! i busted ass this morning to get to my polling place. i will be doing some very fucked guage knitting tonight as i watch the returns. enjoy your cheese sandwich!
Posted by: lena | November 02, 2004 at 11:11 AM
CHECK!
i am proud (also) to represent relocated Western Pennsylvanians in voting for Kerry today in Boston. i can only hope my fellow home-states menANDwomen do the same today in PA!!!
Posted by: blogorelli | November 02, 2004 at 12:22 PM
done, but it looked gruesome in the eastern suburbs of pittsburgh. many a W cap handing out propaganda. i wish i could take today off and just wander around in my kerry shirt.
i wish it were tomorrow already!
Posted by: suzie | November 02, 2004 at 01:05 PM
I gotta wait til after work; couldn't get my act together in time this morning. boooo
Posted by: Laurel | November 02, 2004 at 01:18 PM
I'm not in PA, but I was the 600th voter at my precinct at about 1:30. I am feeling optimistic, and also think I may borrow your cheese sandwich tradition. Sounds yummy!
Posted by: Amy | November 02, 2004 at 05:43 PM
My roommate and I got up at the crack of dawn to vote for Kerry in Brooklyn before heading to work. Excitement was high at P.S. 46 :-)
Posted by: Laura | November 02, 2004 at 06:49 PM