Wednesday, November 08, 2006
My Trip to the Electoral College
I went to an election day party last night. I have to admit that I was somewhat skeptical about the entertainment value of watching the states of the union (some of which I still can't necessarily always tell apart, thanks to their incessant rectangularity) turn red or blue for an entire evening, but it was pretty fun. It turns out national elections aren't all that different from the time I ran for German Club Treasurer in eighth grade, although I haven't seen Jan Schakowsky handing out mini Snickers bars outside of any study halls lately. And I even found out what a "macaca" is!
I also really enjoyed flipping back and forth between the different news channels and seeing their various approaches. On CNN, for instance, they for some reason thought it would be entertaining to have a room full of political bloggers commenting on the election. Right, because bloggers are as a group so telegenic. On NBC, by contrast, I'm pretty sure Brian Williams was loaded. Not that I blame him. Meanwhile, the election was over about four hours earlier on FOX News on anywhere else, since they're really not shy on calling races even before they've, you know, actually happened. CNN wouldn't even call the race in Foley's old district when the guy conceded. I think they wanted it signed and notarized.
But anyway, the election was classic television, and I'm pleased with the results, too. Although personally I always write in "Oprah" for every office. She's just that good.
I went to an election day party last night. I have to admit that I was somewhat skeptical about the entertainment value of watching the states of the union (some of which I still can't necessarily always tell apart, thanks to their incessant rectangularity) turn red or blue for an entire evening, but it was pretty fun. It turns out national elections aren't all that different from the time I ran for German Club Treasurer in eighth grade, although I haven't seen Jan Schakowsky handing out mini Snickers bars outside of any study halls lately. And I even found out what a "macaca" is!
I also really enjoyed flipping back and forth between the different news channels and seeing their various approaches. On CNN, for instance, they for some reason thought it would be entertaining to have a room full of political bloggers commenting on the election. Right, because bloggers are as a group so telegenic. On NBC, by contrast, I'm pretty sure Brian Williams was loaded. Not that I blame him. Meanwhile, the election was over about four hours earlier on FOX News on anywhere else, since they're really not shy on calling races even before they've, you know, actually happened. CNN wouldn't even call the race in Foley's old district when the guy conceded. I think they wanted it signed and notarized.
But anyway, the election was classic television, and I'm pleased with the results, too. Although personally I always write in "Oprah" for every office. She's just that good.
