Tue 4 Nov 2008
Open Election Thread
Posted by David Dudley Field '25 under Chris Murphy '96, Mark Udall '72, Politics at 7:18 pm
Feel compelled to howl your political opinions out into the intervoid? This is the thread for you! The Eph-related campaigns to keep an eye on include Chris Murphy ’96 for Congress in Connecticut and Mark Udall ’72 for Senate in Colorado. Are there any others?
Also, who are the Ephs most likely to be named to powerful positions in an Obama administration? Perhaps Obama will remember his high school classmate Bennett Yort ’83.
When Bennett A. Yort graduated from Hawaii’s Punahou School in 1979, he says, he had little inkling the quiet, skinny classmate friends called Barry could one day make history.
“Barry was just one of the boys,” Mr. Yort, a financial planner at Merrill Lynch of Augusta, said about Barack Obama.. “A very regular guy.”
Earlier this week, sitting in his living room and thumbing through his 1979 yearbook, Mr. Yort recalled 30 years ago when the two were schoolmates.
Mr. Yort, 47, said he couldn’t describe his and Mr. Obama’s friendship as close, but they did share classes and were “cordial.”
I am not sure that “cordial” will get Yort a spot in the Executive Office Building.
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15 Responses to “Open Election Thread”
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Soph Mom says:
I didn’t see this post and also commented on Ronit’s electoral prediction thread.
But, I will say the same here…what a wonderful, historical, momentous occasion to witness. A victory in so very many ways!
:-) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 5th, 2008 at 12:33 amPTC says:
Looking good in Omaha!
November 5th, 2008 at 12:54 amKen Thomas '93 says:
Looking even better in Lincoln.
November 5th, 2008 at 2:11 amSoph Mom says:
Ken,
I thought you had Kentucky for us! What happened?
;-)
November 5th, 2008 at 2:14 amKen Thomas '93 says:
Oh thanks ;P!
The fact that KY was called first was only eclipsed by Mitch McConnell’s ~6% win over Bruce Lunsford.
Regardless, if I had to have anyone whose general policies I disagree with elected, it would be Mitch McConnell. I have a folder of correspondence with Mitch’s office going back twenty-some years.
It begins with a note of congratulations dated in 1986, and addressed to “Kenneth Thomas,” (no street address), (wrong city), KENTUCKY, (no zip). Evidently when a senator from Kentucky writes a constituent– or at least, when Mitch does– it gets delivered, as such congratulations on life events, and newspaper clippings, continued into grad school.
The notes were personally signed, and my understanding is that my experience was not unusual. Both McConnell and Jim Bunning have the highly admirable trait of actually caring for their constituents and bothering to chart their concerns and the events of their lives.
The returns in Kentucky and Tennessee– and I’m not going to comment on “irregularities”– were ultimately very disappointing. As a student at ETSU commented earlier tonight, so many of the working class (and unemployed) people who voted for McCain in our counties– have families who live on less than $15K/yr– have no interest in the policies of the current “Republican party.” ‘Swinging’ them was about far more than who would win: it was about their future and our future, whether the cycles of poverty can be broken and they can become part of American (again).
And it was a very good night to walk through Centennial Park, and to look up to columns of our Parthenon, recalling what happened here eight years ago, those hopes and needs and aspirations…
November 5th, 2008 at 3:40 amPTC says:
Ken- Right now, if everything holds as is, it looks like you and I nailed the EC vote prediciton and won that contest.
Except Omaha. I demand a recount in Omaha!
November 5th, 2008 at 7:20 amJeffZ says:
Congrats to Barack Obama. I am still in giddy disbelief. It’s been a looong journey for me as I’ve been envisioning this day since, honestly, 2004. Soph Mom — you called Florida early when few of us had faith. Rory, Ronit, Soph Mom, PTC, way to fight the good fight here (and I’m sure, elsewhere) against those who embraced the politics of divisiveness, fear, and hatred of the “other” against the very different type of politics pushed by Barack, who while (like any person) is imperfect, ran an incredibly classy campaign to the very end, one that I hope and pray will be a model for both parties going forward.
The rest of the election is a mixed bag, although mostly positive, especially if Franken can pull out his Senate race. Prop 8 is a huge letdown and it is disturbing and ironic to me that huge African-American opposition likely doomed that ballot measure on the same day as such an immense triumph for civil rights. Hopefully it will only be a few more years until the younger generation that overwhelmingly favors gay marriage (at least in more liberal states) will triumph over bigotry. Seeing Kay Hagan, winner of the nastiest campaign ad of the cycle (no easy feat this year), lose handily was wonderful. As was seeing Marilyn Musgrave. My only other let down with seeing Michele Bachmann pull it out, but at least we gave her a good scare and maybe shamed her into sanity, although I doubt it.
Overall though, of course, the Obama win is by far the most important. For all it represents. For a likely government full of smart, capable public servants rather than a politicized and often corrupt executive branch. For the at least three, and likely more, Supreme Court justices he will appoint (I am guessing Stevens and Ginsburg are gone within two years top, Souter and Breyer by the end of his first term). For having a President the world respects and admires rather than ridicules. For the return of eloquence and intellect at the forefront of political life. For a man who will act on reason rather than gut instinct. What an immense victory for America, and the world.
November 5th, 2008 at 7:39 amnuts says:
Congrats to everyone who supported the effort, and everyone who chooses to support it going forward.
November 5th, 2008 at 2:37 pmDick Swart says:
If you are into Afro fusion, catch this from Kenya:
http://hubpages.com/hub/best-obama-song-obama-be-thy-name
November 5th, 2008 at 3:05 pmsophmom says:
Hey Nuts:
Thanks for all you contributed…all the links and current info that you posted. You mostly let the facts do the talking…and it was very effective.
Dick:
Love that.
Though I knew this would be a global win, the magnitude of it is just starting to sink in. I believe we’ll see an explosion of creative expression…all of which will play into establishing the goodwill we so desperately need.
My husband has been experiencing the last few weeks from another country, and the conversations he has related to me have offered insights of a whole different nature.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:37 pmeph '07 says:
Care to share, Sophmom? I’d be interested.
I’m feeling smug remembering a conversation with a Dane who said last spring that there was no way Americans would ever elect a black guy with Obama’s name, although maybe Clinton could win. Low expectations exceeded!
November 5th, 2008 at 4:11 pmlgeorge says:
And now if we just don’t expect too much and give up on him. It is going to be hard. We need to stand with him and give him our help and support. him.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:49 pmPTC says:
Nebraska’s last electoral vote
Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 01:00:11 PM PST
It’s too close to call. Currently, McCain has a 569-vote lead. The AP, in an email to election feed subscribers (which we are, with our Electoral Scoreboard), says that election officials report 9,000 uncounted provisional and absentee ballots.
Looks like Omaha is going to meet my demands for a recount! We may see 365 after all!
November 5th, 2008 at 5:18 pmPTC says:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10481441
Obama has won Omaha. That puts him at 365, and MO is not looking good. I think Ken and I may need to go into the sub category of % to determine the winner. I was off 3 points.. what about you, Ken?
November 7th, 2008 at 7:40 pmPTC says:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BDeDv9ulhM&feature=related
Mika defends! lol. This one may be worthy of its own thread, if anyone so desires.
November 9th, 2008 at 8:55 am