What was the greatest thing about this campaign?

I thought it was adding Sarah to the ticket; she is better than McC

who said that they were going to try the "Google"?
. I didnt hear that cause the amount, the sheer volume of the conenctivity, often missed the really importasnt stuff and got to be a real bore to me. The "crawler news" spoils a good picture on TV and all the banner ads on sites either "Piss me off" (Like the huge number of anti Obama ads that were on the right margin of A2K), or they were obviously geared to individuals who hadnt a clue.

"Firsts" are not always good. The "greatest things", and the real drama of this campaign (to me), only occured in the last two days leading up to the election and included the election itself. I shall remember The blatant attempts by the local parties in charge to stifle voting by the others (In our area the GOP has been attempting to stifle votes by thousands of young black kids at Lincoln Unioversity) The kids responses, ie , waiting in line patiently for over 7.5 hours , and being so cheerful and polite to everyone and how the Unioversity "Greek" community just came together to feed, provide set up tents (It was raining all day here), and to otherwise assist all the voters who chose to remain and vote. The GOP County Comissioners were attempting to challenge ALL the student voters and it backfired on them because the community got the message that something evil was happening and citizens came out in supportive numbers to turn the event almost into a "carnival like " atmosphere.

There were a number of those kinds of stories around our state and several in NJ and Del. BUT Were they reported? NO because the 24 hour 'Feed" cycle requires constant stoking, even though that stoking is more often than not provided by partisans attempting to sway the news "Objectivity". The news is never objective, its hardly ever accurate, and its mostly a contant compilation of "sampling" by one or two reporters who compile feed and they parse this same feed during the entire day. NEWS HAS BECOME TERRIBLY LAZY (now, I suppose thats mostly due to the fact that print news is slowly dying, and noone has a good handle on the internet content yet, and TV is just a collection of partisan sources)

HOWEVER, getting back to the important story of the kids at Lincoln University.,,,

I, like set, was really proud of how the kids came togethjer and voted in a cluster that fills me with new hope. And I heard this hapopening at several areas of kid clusters, F&M college here in LAncaster, the UNiversity of Delaware, Rowan U in NJ, My buds at Princeton, and ALbright College in reading Pa (a small swanky "prep" style college where kids were more reportedly interested in shopping , however, they too came out in rexcord numbers)

WOW, I was so proud of these kids and want to make sure that their involvement didnt go by unnoticed.
Thats my attempt at identifying "The greatest thing".
Weve managed to, unknowingly, pass a torch to a new generation, born after the Vietnam War, and raised in an expectation that anything is possible.

Ive even suspended my normal cynicism(for a while anyway) while the good feeling continues to seep through.

It's over, thank goodness. Now we can go back to being civil human beings.

I think you're a little too optimistic. If you're civil, you're at least mostly civil all the time, including during an important election. If you're not, you're not.

What connected those kids was the Obama campaign's understanding of how to reach them, right on their I-phone, right on their hip. A twitter here or there to a You-tube vid, a txt msg about a meet-up. (Somewhere there is a news story about how many people would show up to an Obama appearance because they got a text message from the campaign saying where and when.)
Yes. Glad they showed up.
Even more happy that the Obama campaign knew how to reach out.

Joe(McCain said he was trying to do "a Google" on weekends)Nation

You are more impressed by gizmos than am I. I still got the biggest thrill out of the human response to a "national call". Whether it was done by blackberry, or any other fruit, or whether by lanterns in a church steeple, the results were what thrilled me.

You asked for what we each felt were the greatest things about the campaign and I told you mine. PLease dont try to reduce my good feelings moment into an ad for Verizon.

Agree with you totally, farmer. I am singularly unimpressed by gizmos or run-away technology. That sort of stuff is fleeting. Who knows what will replace the internet in 50 years or the whole sad business of text messaging in less time than that? It is the courageous use of human resources that never fails to impress me. The human spirit doesn't change much; technical gimmicks do.

Another thing that got me was the "Post election adjida" that the heretofore "Annointed" rightwingers have been suffering. Originally theyd been planning a "Shariah like" slash and burn campaign onto anything that was at any variance with their core beliefs. (Remember that muhammeds orders were to command good and to "destroy" evil)

Now the latest thoughts Ive seen from the Kubler Ross "stages of greif" that many of the A2K "Ultra conservatives ", in their acceptance and resignation phases are explaining that their side wasnt CONSERVATIVE ENOUGH.

I smile at that .

I don't know about you, Farmerman, but I'm thoroughly enjoying the "Post election agita" on the part of the conservatives.

OmsigDavid's woeful laments at the death of all things free especially are splitting my sides. I suspect he is not completely serious, though I am sure you'll never get him to admit that.

Unfortunately, Blick, I suspect that I'mSickDavid is quite serious. I, too, crack up but I also feel pity for that degree of mental illness.

Hi FM, I'm just curious, what exactly where the Commissioners doing to try to challenge the students right to vote? Were they actually trying to turn them away at the polls or were they simply delaying them with information requirements to increase the size of the lines and discourage anyone from waiting?

What was their strategy?

Yeh, I've been amazed at this also.

As the republican party fractures and turns on itself, it's revealed to be a collection of VERY different factions, each laying claim to one or two key components of what used to be "the whole Golem".

The Palinists seem to be gathering around the Evangelist banner. They've found their leader. But the Business and Economics faction hasn't yet settled on their standard bearer.

To watch the transmutation of both political parties as they shed their ideological skins and reveal themselves to be nothing more than crude labels designed in anticipation of, and as a response to, the majority of votes.

This election has revealed that the political parties do not dominate the electorate, the electorate defines the parties.

I dont know if this is the case elsewhere. but i PA, the County Commissioners (the majority party) sets the board of elections. This includes determining the locations of where the elections take place (namin g the polling places). This year, in the more rural areas, the board attempted to relocate a few key polling places that had 20% or greater black voter s(included the towns of Coatesville, Lincoln University, Phoenixville, and West Chester).
It didnt actually get any attention until voting day when the Philly Inquirer caught on about several towns in several more rural counties(where GOP was the majority of the 3 or 5 County Commissioners).

OH YEH, we have this **** still going on and unfortunately it didnt work, because the voters, in most places turned it around on the election board and tuck it out and , like at Lincoln, they made it an event that all the student voters would tell their grandchildren.
BTW, there were over 2500 voters who turned out at the Lincoln U poll. Chester County and the 5 suburban counties of Philly, all turned out heavy Obama pluralities. These areas were, until this election solidly GOP. The evidence of careful ticket splitting was evident because most of the moderate incumbent GOP state legislators retained their seats in these counties. There were a few of the Conservative corps candidates. Thee were ALL turned away including the incumbents. The Tom Ridge kind of GOPers were returned unscathed because they had support from voters of both parties.
Thats why I think the Right wingers have their heads in the orifice when they say that they must become even more conservative.
NOT IF THEY WANT TO WIN ELECTIONS IN PA

the rise of the use of the internet for campaigning and information dessemination, it increases the level of paticipatory democracy, which seems to be a very good thing; over 62% of voters voted

I agree. The increased access to information in places besides radio, tv and newspapers is helping to inform the electorate so they can make better decisions.

One of the local radio stations here was counting down the "5 Craziest Things About The Election" or something like that. It was mostly a big joke, but their Number 1 pick was CNN's crazy hologram feature where correspondents and celebrities were seemingly beamed in from remote locations. Kind of creepy, in a way.

Thanks, Farmer. That was inspirational. Lincoln University--finest kind.

I'd have to say the amount of money wasted.