What a week, Part 2: Electing Obama

Tuesday, as we know was election day, and it had me up early for a meeting, followed by a lecture on the election for a local non-profit, followed by media interviews about the "Battle for Ohio" and emails, followed by a trip to a local news affiliate, where I served as the official Voice of Analysis for their web and late TV coverage. That was the most fun I've had in a long time! The folks were all super cool and totally indulgent in answering my questions about how things worked, even though they were working on one of the busiest nights of the year. It was interesting trading jokes and thoughts on the election with folks who are media legends in this town - it probably would have been all the more awesome if I had been watching some of these guys my whole life, but, I did not grow up in NEO.

Anyway, time flew by, and next thing you know it is about 11:30 and their producer cuts me free for the night. I gather my things, say goodbyes, and head home. On the way, I respond to a billion text messages I had received and been unable to get to during the election coverage. I finally get home, and as I head up the stairs to my apartment, it hits me: Barack Obama has won.

I let myself in, greet Smelly Ellie, grab a beer from the fridge, turn on the TV, click over to MSNBC, and see Barack Obama striding to the mic on his stage in Grant Park. Talk about good timing.

I watch the speech (which, I can tell you as a literal expert, was wonderful), and find my eyes welling up every few seconds, the corners of my mouth occasionally and uncontrollably twisting up and sometimes down, smiles and near-cries at once. The speech ends, and I spend another hour or two reading over the various live-blog entries of some of the online pundits that I had missed while serving as a pundit myself throughout the evening.