I spent Tuesday afternoon making a few last minute phone calls to battleground states, hoping to encourage at least one more voter to go to the polls. But everyone I talked with had already voted (naturally, I also got to talk to a lot of answering machines, which I hope don’t have the vote).
Then I settled in for a long afternoon and evening’s watching of TV and Twitter. I was unhappy with the first few results (not that there was anything surprising in those states), but John King’s magic map soothed me — and then the 8pm ET declarations set my mind completely at rest.
We watched the networks make the Big Call at 8pm PT, then finished watching Indecision 2008 (frankly, I didn’t think Stewart and Colbert were anywhere near their best form — there’s a reason they tape the shows!); then we headed off for the Obama victory party at the Computer Museum (thanks, Mootmom, for the tickets).
So we missed McCain’s concession and most of Obama’s speech — but it was worth it; the atmosphere at the Museum was uplifting.
My joy was tempered, though, by the likely (and now almost certain) passage of Prop 8. This won’t be the end of the journey — and the election of Obama makes it more likely that if the case winds up in the US Supreme Court, the discrimination will end. If I had my way, the government would get out of the marriage business altogether and would only recognize civil partnerships (without regard to gender) — the word “marriage” would be left in the hands of religious bodies to define as they liked. But I realize that’s unlikely, and I’d be perfectly happy with the status as it was in California before Tuesday.
This afternoon, I discovered that change had come to government in a very literal sense, with the opening of change.gov, the Obama/Biden transition site. I’ve subscribed to the blog already — I wonder how long before I get a text from 62262 telling me about it?