Election 08

We all know I'm very pleased with the result, so I won't go on at length about that. As for Philadelphia, I really liked it. It is only a couple of hours from NY so I'm sure I'll be back there soon.

The Ritz downtown was very nice and it really did only cost $50, though every other thing (including Internet) costs extra. It's in a great location, central to everything. I went there immediately after parking my car in a garage (as opposed to Ritz valet). After checking in on Monday night, I took the Philly subway system to an Obama site in a not-so-great neighborhood a couple of miles from the hotel. The subway was not very busy (compared to NYC) at all but it was nice and easy to use. I picked up my "credential," which was just a little card to wear around my neck with some information on it to remind me of my role. It wasn't specific to me or anything, just generic.

On Tuesday, everyone at the hotel I spoke with told me to drive to my polling site, which I did. I'm happy I did because it was kind of far from downtown and parking was easy to find once I got there. The polling place was a recreation center next to a school. When I arrived, there were already a couple hundred people in line, which swelled to well over 300 by the time the polls opened. A news helicopter was overhead and apparently we were on CNN. During the time people were in line, we served coffee and donuts (courtesy of Dunkin Donuts gift cards provided by the Obama campaign). They were much appreciated. The district I was in was clearly 99.9% black, so our reception was rather warm.

Besides myself, there were at least 11 lawyers, all NY except for one. It was way too many and several left for other jobs throughout the course of the day. The lines never returned to the site, as people just streamed in and out all day, especially in the late afternoon. We had a couple of confrontations with the most stereotypical Republicans I've ever seen (white, very conservative suits, all looking like C. Montgomery Burns or Warren Huffington, III). They were upset that we were so close to the door of the polling site (they were particularly mad that I was opening and closing the door for people). PA law bans electioneering within 10 feet from the entrance to the polls. The election judge at the site decided that was 10 feet from the door to the gym, not the door to the building, so she said we were ok. They didn't like that but it did not matter anyway. Obama took Philadelphia with 83% of the vote, more than his own Cook County in Illinois.

After the election ended, I drove back to "Center City" (downtown Philly) and checked into the Marriott. I heard from NPR on the radio that PA was won already, so I knew things were going to go well. I quickly checked in and then took a cab to the official PA election results party at a multi-level Irish bar a couple of miles away. The party was really fun, lots of people, TV news casters, drinks, etc. I watched the results and stayed for about a half an hour after the acceptance speech. I only knew one person there- a Canadian who helped us at the polls all day, but it was still fun.

After the party, I decided to walk back to the hotel since I could see downtown and didn't want to pay for a cab. Along the way I heard cars honking, etc, but when I got downtown, there was an impromptu rally going on. It was exciting- lots of people blocking streets and celebrating with music (from cars), banging pots and pans, etc. It was mostly younger people, 18-30 years old, so some of it was silly, but not out of control. The police were there, but only a couple of officers and I thought they did a great job dealing with it and not overreacting. Everyone seemed happy and pleased. After spending a bit of time there, I went back the hotel.

I was able to spend a little time in Philly on Wednesday, including eating a cheesesteak sandwich and walking around downtown. It's an interesting downtown with quite a bit to do in a small-ish area (compared to NYC). Reminded me a bit of some of the nicer areas of Chicago, maybe like Chelsea in NYC or so. It was fun and I want to go back as a tourist soon.

I am definately going to go to the inaguartion in DC in January. I'm sure numerous people I know will be there, including possibly Val, Phil, Sarah, Spencer, AJ, Brian, etc.???? I do know that Birdie, my friend from law school is planning on being there too. I think Corey wants to come, though I'm not sure he will want to brave the cold or the early hour that I will want to be up in order to get a good spot to see it, but we'll see. All the DC hotels are book (I checked) but we could maybe just stay nearby or even take the train just for the day. We'll see.

Thanks for reading my detailed outline of my day, but was the most interesting day I've had in a while, so I though I would elaborate. Have a great rest of the week!