elections....

So today is the day! Pretty much for the last four years I have been waiting for this day. Though I was hoping someone else would be on the ballot today, I am happy with the candidate I voted for. As much as I love politics, I'm glad this election is over. It has been going on for far too long, I remember watching the first Democratic/Republican candidate debates with friends at wac and discussing all the candidates and that was in like March 2007. Even though I've been abroad for the last 14 months and the majority of the campaigning, I've been watching as much possible online, reading everything online and keeping track of everything. I've enjoyed hearing the international reactions, opinions and press and many interesting conversations with friends, coworkers and random people out and about.

I've been anxiously awaiting about 11pm Irish time for most of the day, getting quite antsy around 11am Irish time this morning, when I saw polls opening was the headline on the news... and now just waiting until the first states are closed and then the fun begins. I saw a great collection of maps and estimates on gawker... I know of all places! But a girl has to try to find a way to occupy her day besides checking cnn/ny times/bbc/irish times websites all day long for the non-existant election news, besides that the lines are long, and how excited everyone is voting. It is an hour-by-hour map of the votes and closing times. So things might look scary for a few hours, but after about 11pm east coast things should look good. The NYTimes also has some good coverage as well.

Luckily RTE isn't being stupid! And from midnight to 3am (7-10pm East coast) they have their RTE coverage of it, then on to CBS from 3-7am (10-2am) and then on TV3 after midnight they have CNN coverage on. So I will be camped out in the sitting room, with my laptop and flipping back and forth on the TV awaiting the news.

Lets just hope I'm not a zombie tomorrow at work, though my boss knows how into this I am and I had a ton of discussions with society people who came in today about it, as I'm sure I will have even more tomorrow!

Oh, last night's election debate was interesting. While the overwhelming majority of the crowd was pro-Obama (pretty much 95%) the pro-McCain speaker had some good points, and unfortunatley the open floor was all Obama and a few people tried to go devils advocate and speak for McCain so it wasn't so one sided, but oh well. It was interesting to think about how some of McCain's policies would be better for Ireland such as the ones for trade.

So as I've mentioned before I voted for Obama, while there are some things I don't like and some questions I have about him, overall to ME he is the better candidate. I like his policies on abortion, education, the economy, Iraq, and healthcare. I like that he was able to entice so many people who usually have no care about politics, able to excite half the nation on his ideas of change. He is one AMAZING speaker and seems quite down to earth and I'm hoping if elected he does remember where he came from, as that is one thing I admire about him. That he has worked for everything he has achieved. I also really like Michelle. But as I've said before, some of my good friends are Republicans and while politically we might disagree, the discussions have helped to educate me on Obama and also on McCain's policies. And that is another reason to love our country, the fact that you can vote for whomever you choose. It is your right as an American to vote, so many people have fought, struggled and died for the right. And how I see it, as long as you are making an informed, educated decision, I don't care who you vote for. I just think back to 160 years ago in 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott met in Seneca Falls and then in 1920 when the 19th Amendment was passed. And I am glad I have the right to vote.

Anyway, off to bake some brownies to keep my mind off the election for a few.