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There are a couple of professional looking people on the big screen and they're pointing to graphs with a bunch of red and blue. All I can make out is something about "thousands and thousands of people turning out". Cut to long shots of a big crowd. The caption is crowd gathers for obama (capital O for the big man. GObama-rama LA) event....and it's gone before I can type down the rest. Excited people are trying to make themselves seen behind the news correspondant in Chicago. Cut to a childrens choir (such a good moment! i think it was even just a boys choir. laugh.) at a Republican event in Phoenix. The impression I get is that an Obama rally is like one of the Beatles first appearances in the states and the McCain event is like going to church with your grandparents. I write this from a college student center so the audience is pretty young. I'm willing to bet the overwhelming majority is going for Obama. It's hard to make out the TV and it doesn't really look all that exciting. "Dude, Obama is leading in fucking Texas right now." a friend comes over and tells me. Suddenly things get a little exciting. Consensus seems to be that Obama has it in the bag. People aren't here to watch the election coverage so much as they are to celebrate, eat free pizza, and just hang out. It's a party. This doesn't feel like a suspense so much as it does the feel good hit of the year. (Nicely said, Ben.  Total natural high when it was announced that Obama won!  NB) The film we've all been waiting for. Nobody cared for the last couple installments but now there's potential for a completely new cast and crew. The TV is all old men spouting percentages. (don't know why they bothered.)McCain is the red guy, Obama is the blue guy. Old guys in suits, colors, and percentages. A man conducting an interview asks the man in Chicago to address the viewers. He tells us that Obama played a basketball game today. Party time. The interviewer asks him about Obama's superstitions. Is that relevent? The time to discuss policies is almost completely over. We've all cast our votes and now it's time to prepare to accept the next president. So far all the major discussions seem to have been about Obama. I glance around the room and some talk about "tens of thousands of people" turns me back to the screen. Today is all about crowds and community. I've had no experience with McCain supporters today. Or even recently. Everybody is in great spirits here. How are the McCain supporters doing? (EXACTLY what I was wondering! NB) I received a spam e-mail from my crazy grandma encouraging people to pray for McCain. Is this a sign that they've lost hope? As we cut to a commercial break some dramatic music plays and i'm reminded that "CNN=POLITICS". The percentages stay at the bottom of the screen. They dissappear for a few commercials and I realize that the environment has changed a bit and maybe the screen is a bit more important than I had thought. The percentages carry a sense of competition and excitement. I can tell without looking that the main program is back by the intense music. "70 percent for Barack Obama" exclaims an old guy in a suit. Too many statistics and comparisons flying back and forth between people on the screen. At times, it gets hard to try and grasp an overall theme. Statistic to statistic. Does this stuff mean much to anyone yet? "Look how close it is." Those are the things we want to hear. Those statements make sense. The stats come a little quickly and are harder to interpret. It's moved away from presidential stuff and they're now talking about the senate races. American flags move around on the screens on the screen. A man points to a red white and blue graph. He's talking very quickly. This is an American party day. The door knockers that caught me before class told me they had skipped work. They encouraged me to skip class. This is the biggest priority. The country. Today's party. Don't work, join the fun. I look at the clock and realize I only have a short time to make it to the voting place. No, I haven't voted yet. Seems kind of funny to be doing it so late. After the coverage has already started. I'm a little late to the party. (finding some way to knock this into a few seperate paragraphs would make it a bit more impactful i think. less like a in detail spew. xoxox)