Election Day 2008

A Mini Photo Journal for November 4, 2008

I remember seeing the funny name “Barack Obama” on a bumper sticker in my neighborhood in January 2004 when he was running for Senate. That was the first time I’d heard of him. Forward three years he announced his run for the presidency in February 2007. I made a small donation on the day of the announcement and purchased the shirt that Mary is wearing in this photo (this is the first time this original campaign shirt has been worn!). Due to our support status with the campaign, we were granted tickets to the big celebration rally and speech in Grant Park in Chicago.

I don’t do mornings, nevertheless, Mary and I walked to the polls at 6AM. I went to work (my first day as a contractor doing work as Zabada, Inc., the country and my work is changing ). I rushed home from work and was on the Metra at 5:15PM.

We made the 2 mile walk to Hutchison Field in Grant Park. The energy was super high all over downtown Chicago. It felt like … I don’t know … just good. As we got nearer, it was great to see the buildings lit up with red and blue lights and the various floors lit up to spell USA, etc.

We got into the event by 7:30 or 8 and it was really fun to watch the results come in on CNN on the big screens and cheer when another state dropped for Barack. The place went crazy when the news called it for Obama at 10PM. I was glad to be there.

It was weird to watch McCain’s speech at 10:20. For the most part, he gave a great concession speech (although it was disappointing to hear all of the booing from his supporters) … I really think that if McCain would have been himself, as he was in this speech, for his entire campaign and if he would have picked a reasonable running mate, then the election would have been at least competitive.

Anyway, we were maybe 50 yards back from the podium … being tall, I could see Barack in person as he gave the speech. I really liked how he reached out to other countries of the world in his victory speech.

We made the slow walk with the celebrating crowds back to the trains. Michigan Avenue was just packed with people. We took the Blue Line back home. John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of Wilco were standing right next to me on the train (don’t forget about my related tune Jeff Tweedy Turd ). I knew who they were but didn’t bug them … it seems like they can pretty much get around town without being recognized. I also bumped into them outside the Aragon Ballroom last month before the Beck show.

We got to our stop and the buses were no longer running, so we walked another 2 miles home.

It was a long day and I was tired … but I was happy to have witnessed history … and I was happy to live in a great city like Chicago.

That’s it … check out the rest of my photos election day 2008 and enjoy this video with one half of Wilco and Obama …