West Florida Election Day Report

The polls here were jammed this morning. One small semi-rural church poll had a fairly long line at 6 am, but there and elsewhere by noon the lines had evaporated; citizenly duties seemed to be getting exercised without obvious problems. In this area, notoriously aberrant in 2006, the machines are gone, ballots are paper. No chad, no iVotronic bollocks.

I spent a few hours knocking on doors for Obama. Quite a contrast with 2004. Then, I was given a few streets more or less at random in a neighborhood, and went from door to door. Not much interest in Kerry. Today, I was given carefully notated maps along with data including demographics and told to visit specific addresses in five or six neighborhoods. Saw quite a few Obama signs -- and was happy to find a local political organization much like this moving smoothly and deliberately and precisely.

Where McCain in his final hours has provided nothing more salutary than a Christopher Lloyd clone shrieking his eagerness "to fight," Obama's organization has worked like, well, a serious plumber to build, connect, check and recheck. It seems to me this contrast between bankrupt, ecstatic goofiness and quiet assurance speaks volumes about the candidates, about the polity, about the choice.

Update