Nov

Looks like it’s over. Color me stunned, and really depressed. I predicted this all along, but I ***REALLY*** wanted to be wrong. The American people really deserve what they’re about to get…

[img]http://www.websmileys.com/sm/drink/trink14.gif[/img]

  

Nov

Well, Craig is asleep now, so it’s just me. I’m not sure how late I’ll be able to stay up – the babies will have us up at 7:00 am! Still, it doesn’t seem right to go to bed without knowing. I am getting a little bored with all the blah, blah, blah from the commentators. They all say the same thing, and everyone knows the numbers. People have already voted, it’s just a matter of getting the damn counting done.

The local returns are actually kind of funny – several different counties were voting on whether or not you can sell liquor by the glass. Apparently the debates on this were quite passionate. Only in Tennessee! There were also several defeats of “wheel taxes”. People in Tennessee are pathologically opposed to taxes of any kind, other than sales taxes, which they are happy to pay out the nose. This despite the fact that there is clear data showing that people actually pay MORE by having the higher sales tax than they would by having a state income tax.

So, they’ve just announced that Florida is a loss. That really sucks. It’s 246-207 W. Now Ohio is a must-win. I guess we knew that, but somehow it’s still very discouraging to me that it’s this close. I just don’t understand how anyone, other than a selfish rich person, can support W. I really, truly, just don’t get it. I mean, the economy still sucks (because of W), the war in Iraq is a disaster, and the country is actually LESS safe now than we were when W took office. And don’t even get me started on “moral values” – the idea that Dick and W are moral is just laughable.

Sigh…

  

Nov

YAY!!! California and Washington are in, and now it’s 207-199 W. Still no surprises, I know, but somehow the numbers look a lot better.

So now we’re trying to figure out how liberal became a bad word. Even Kerry runs from the label, which is really annoying. If Dick Cheney told me that I was more liberal than Ted Kennedy, I would say “hell, yes, and I’m proud of it!”. Look up liberal in the dictionary: it means OPEN-MINDED and GENEROUS. Hello!!!

  

Nov

Woo-hoo!!! We got Pennsylvania, we got Pennsylvania! We got Pennsylvania, because we’re really smart! (If you sing this to the tune of the “Blue’s Clues” theme, it’s kind of cute %-).

Craig and I are arguing over whether this is a north/south divide or an east/west divide. Not that it matters, really. The Republicans just won the state senate here in Tennessee for the first time since reconstruction. Gee, can’t wait to see how *that* turns out…

  

Nov

184-112 W, nothing new for Kerry in over an hour. Come on people – COUNT FASTER!!! The commentators are talking about a “cultural divide”, and how the Republicans have successfully pitched themselves as the “moral” party. PLEASE!!! How is HATE a moral value?!! How is FLAT OUT LYING – ***OVER and OVER*** AGAIN – a moral thing to do?!!

Another state for W, now it’s 195-112.

I think I’m going to puke…

  

Nov

Craig’s profound comments: “Things are unfolding. What I think doesn’t matter, it just matters how the vote plays out”. There you have it!

It’s now 170 to 112 W, still close to call in key states…

  

Nov

Now it’s 156-112 W, with the wall of conservative Western states in. Still no surprises. I just hope, frankly, that it’s over tonight, and we’re not tied up for months again with lawsuits, etc. But if the Republicans unfairly prevent people from voting again, or otherwise try to rig things like they did last time, I guess there won’t be a choice…

  

Nov

Too bad – W took North and South Carolina after all. Virginia, too. So since last post it’s gone from 77 to 66 favoring Kerry to 81-77 W (with NC) to 89-77 W (with SC) to 102-77 W (with Virginia).

Craig is worried about me, saying I’m too worked up about all this. But how can you NOT be? It was bad enough when it was just about having our freedoms slowly trashed by the Patriot Act and having the economy continue to deteriorate for 4 more years. But now that there are going to be 2 Supreme Court vacancies, we’re looking at this moron being able to destoy our country for the next 20 years!!!

  

Nov

Okay, things are better. Now it’s 77 to 66 electoral votes, Kerry ahead. Most of these new reports are from New England states, so, again, no real surprises. BUT, great news from some other southern states – they’re saying it’s too close to call in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Mississippi! Even one of those would be huge for the Kerry camp. Keeping my fingers crossed!!!

They’ve called Tennessee for W – no surprise, but it is kind of depressing that we live in this kind of a state…

  

Nov

Okay, we’re VERY fired up about this election, so I’ll add my 2 cents worth, along with the millions of others. I’m going to try to update as the evening goes on. As all of you who know us are well aware, we are HUGE Kerry supporters. Truthfully, we’re more anti-W than we are pro-Kerry, but still. So I’ll probably be speing fire as the evening goes on! I keep hoping against hope that people in this country are smarter than I think they are, but really, I think W will manage to win. Craig refuses to make a prediction, saying it’s too close to call.

6:55 pm: Just got the munchkins down and turned on the news. Disheartening to see W leading 5 states to 1 already. Though the states are Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, and West Virginia, so it’s not too surprising. Annoying, but not surprising. Here’s what I don’t get – the race is too close to call in Ohio. In a city like Cleaveland, where unemployment is about 1 in 4, how does ANYBODY vote for W?!!

  

Nov

Wow – I *finally*, after 5 years of marriage, just finished the very first page in my wedding albums. I’ve been putting it off and off and off, because I really felt a need for everything to be perfect on them. But Craig kept pointing out that it was better for them to be DONE than to be perfect and only existing in my head. So, it has begun. Of course, beginning is different than ending…