Obama!

So Election Day, after I voted, I went to Obama's Seattle HQ to campaign. I figured as long as I wasn't doing anything at home, I might as well be encouraging people to vote. I didn't really knowing what I was getting into. It was packed. I ended up making calls for about an hour, on an automated system that did the calling for you. We were calling Washingtonians, which seemed silly to me, but the governor race was close here, so I think it was largely to help her and other local democrats. And the point was to encourage people to vote, to help them find out where to go, and to get them a ride if they needed one.
I mostly got machines, and then about an equal number of people who had already voted and were happy to hear from me and people who had already voted and were not happy to hear from me. Two whole people hadn't voted yet, but knew what they were doing. I ended the calls when I calls when I got the "I wish you people would stop calling" comment - and she had voted for Obama! But, the room was full of people calling on their cell phones, so I'm sure many, many more people were reached that day, so some people must have been affected by the calls.
Then I was recruited to wave signs. There were 2-8 of us while I was out there, about 3 hours. That was a really positive experience. Lots of honking, cheering, waving, peace signs. A couple fingers, and some negative shouting, but not much. The best was when school buses drove by and the kids would cheer.
On the walk back home I walked over a highway and ran into more sign wavers. I stayed with them a few minutes, as they had an awesome location. Lots more cars.
Then I ran home for dinner, and then to meet Molly downtown. We had a list of places to go to watch the returns, and we walked all over town trying to find a place that wasn't completely packed. All over town. We finally found a smaller place, but it's a comedian hangout and they turned off the TV and started talking on stage, so we left. The place also didn't serve food, and we were starving. We caught a cab to Molly's, and as we were getting out I heard the cab's radio say that it looked like Obama won. Joy, but frustration. We were looking forward to the suspense. We ran in a shop and bought some food and the checker said it was "a good day." We smiled and ran to Molly's apartment to bust out the computer and TV. We got to see most of McCain's concession, and then Obama's speech, while screaming and yelling. Soon we realized there was commotion on the streets, so we left to join it.
Honking, cheering, high fives, happiness. It was so awesome. We walked to Pike Place Market, and found a huge crowd of people gathered. More of the same joy. Then we walked up to Broadway, where we were sure there would be more people, and there were. Fireworks, drinking in the streets, cheering, hugging, singing, chanting, music courtesy of the drag queen on a roof, dancing, awesomeness. And the cops were standing by to block off the streets and let it all happen. It was an amazing experience.
And, so, I cheesily made a video of my day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70XpjP-2s3s