It's On!

There was a very short line at my precinct's polling place today at 12:30. I was voter 384 on the scanner. I'm in.

It's time for the rest of you to put up or shut up. Vote for whoever, and if you don't care for anyone, toss a protest vote toward the Libertarian.

We had company last night and were talking of past presidential elections. Here's my memories:

1948 - I cannot recall. A one year old generally doesn't get into politics that much
1952 - I only remember that my teacher said a new man named I-zen-how-ur was the president. It took the class three or four tries to get the pronunciation right. What was the big deal anyway?
1956 - I was flabbergasted. How could anyone not vote for The President of The United States? I also thought the electoral votes were electrical votes, reasoning that if you had money you could upgrade to one of these special high energy votes.
1960 - Too young to vote, but I was extremely interested in this election. Kennedy-Nixon became a civics lesson. Until this year, that race was the most inspiring.
1964 - Goldwater - Johnson. The tone was set for the political unrest for the late 60s. No one could pick up the pieces after JFK was gone.
1968 - I'll say it to this day that Hubert Humphrey was the greatest statesman of that generation. He received my first vote for president. Nixon was able to sneak in due to a shattered Democratic party. (RFK killing, Chicago Convention, Dixiecrats' last stand.) I saw many of the candidates speak in person during that year's primaries. Shook hands with Robert Kennedy and John Glenn.
1972 - Four more years? McGovern wasn't the answer. You know how that one turned out.
1976 - Two nice men that you knew were doomed to mediocrity. I don't remember who I voted for.

Although I voted in each of the subsequent elections, none of them featured candidates that I could really get behind. It was more of an anti-Reagan, anti-Bush vote, although I did step out and vote for the elder George Bush.

I went to Bob's for an election day haircut, but the place was packed. There was no place to sit down. Ol' Bob had Fox News on the tube (Literally a tube - No LCD at Bob's. That would be just plain wrong.) and the boys in the shop weren't talkin'. They were looking at each other like gunfighters in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The crowd and the potential for a brawl if the wrong thing was said was daunting. I'll come back tomorrow.