I love Election Day. Thay may go without saying since I’m a political reporter, but there’s a moment every time America votes when we just don’t know what will happen. There’s an hour after polls close when anything is possible, and you wait with anticipation for the returns because maybe, just maybe, voters will surprise you. And if you think that surprise isn’t possible, I’d refer you back to 2006 and the spring primary when three local incumbent state lawmakers suffered defeats.
My affection goes out to Election Day for more than just that hour, though. It is one of if not the biggest day of the year if you work in the news, and it brings with it an inherent adrenaline rush to get interviews with the victors, the vanquished and the voters. You learn whether campaign strategies actually paid off, and personally, whether your news coverage of the campaigns and the candidates reached the electorate. Any Election Day is a catharsis after months of rallies, commercials, interviews, articles, blogs, questions, answers, non-answers, attacks, issues, solutions and the great political dialogue of our times.
And then, not soon after Election Day, it all starts again whether it’s a municipal seat or a spot in the governor’s office.
Periodically log onto Bird’s-Eye View tomorrow during Election Day tomorrow as we provide updates of what’s happening around the county, the state and the country. The Mobile Nest will be moving around all day tomorrow visiting precincts and then when polls close the Intelligencer Journal will have reporters at all the GOP and Democrat victory parties.
