Election 2010 Anecdotes

Overall, a thoroughly predicted yet thoroughly depressing out come.  I'm hoping Quinn holds on to retain the governorship.  With congressional redistricting coming next year having the Democrats in charge will be at least somewhat of a consolation prize.

• I was voter number 14 at my precinct when I showed up at 6:40AM yesterday.  I never in my life thought I would be voting a straight party line ballot but yesterday I came damn close.  I deviated for Cook County Assessor - I voted for Claypool - and for the Water Reclamation District - I voted a straight Green Party line there.  I mean, Green Party.  Water Reclamation.  It just makes sense.
• On that note, there is such a thing as too much democracy.  Why the hell do we vote for the Water Reclamation District?  What could possibly be political about sewage treatment?  Don't even get me started on voting for judges.
• A friend who lives a few precincts over from me voted after work.  He got there a little at 6PM, in the last hour of voting.  His precinct has roughly 3,000 registered voters.  He was only the 237th voter that deigned to show up.   If this is typical of the city then Mark Kirk will have a lot of thank you notes to write to Chicago Democratic voters that stayed home.
• Another friend of mine who lives near DePaul sent this email yesterday about his voting experience:

  Older couple (50's-ish) take the booths to either side of me, and the guy keeps walking behind me over to the woman and reminding her of things. After the third trip I asked him (not quietly either, polling place is a school gymnasium) if he would like to switch booths so that he could make sure she voted the way that he wanted. He stayed put after that."

• On Chicago Public Radio's 848 this morning the first caller said (and I'm paraphrasing), "I'm a life long, liberal Democrat. I fully support President Obama. I thoroughly support a single payer option for national health care. And I voted for Mark Kirk."
  
  Dear, caller, Fuck You!
  

With that, I'm closing political talk for a while longer. Tonight, The Calc Teacher is coming into the city. We're going to make a nice pot of beef and vegetable soup, get some crunchy bread, and drink a bottle of red.