Live Update 6:53

According to David Gergen on CNN, exit polling is largely mirroring pre-election public polling. Good news for president Obama. He is also reporting that exit polling is showing Obama with a 3 point lead. Also, he is reporting that Virginia exit polls are statistically tied. Overall, pretty good news for the President so far. Governor Romney will need those numbers to change fast to have any glimmer of hope this evening.

Stay tuned.

Live Update 6:43

Still very early, but so far things are breaking as expected. Just so everyone knows, I am using a wide range of sources from Twitter, MSNBC, and political blogs and websites from across the web. This is where we are at right now.

For Mitt Romney: 33 Electoral Votes
• Indiana
• West Virginia
• South Carolina
• Kentucky

For Barack Obama: 3 Electoral Votes
• Vermont

Too close to call:
Ohio
Virginia
North Carolina
Georgia
Florida

Live Update 6:10

According to a Tweet from CNN reporter Peter Hamby, Mitt Romney's internal polling is showing the President with an early lead in Ohio.

We Have Witnessed History

Six years ago we saw the beginning of what would be a historic campaign for President of the United States. For the first time in our nations history we elected our first minority President. We knew we were making history then, but in the last four years we have kind of forgotten about the impact the 2008 presidential election will have on our nation's history. We have forgotten that this journey we have taken with the President will be written about and taught in history classes 100 years from now. This election cycle has brought some of that magic back, but the impact this President and his supporters have had on our history was made infinitely clear last night during Pres. Obama's final campaign speech of his political career.

At the place where it all started, Iowa, the President gave his last campaign speech he will ever give as a candidate. For those of us who have followed him and supported him since day one, there was a sense of cyclical closure. Seeing the President at the place where the legitimacy of his candidacy was born was unexpectedly emotional. This is true not only for me, but for the President as well.

I encourage everyone to soak this evening in. Even if you don't support the President, this is still the closure of a truly historic political campaign and candidate. I personally truly hope I am allowed the amazing opportunity to call the former senator from my home state, Barack Obama, my president for another four years.

Video from MSNBC:

Election Day!

It's finally here. After two years of prognosticating, rhetoric, and punditry the voices of the candidates have quieted and the voice of the country is raising. Now is the time for America to speak. Now is the time for America's choice. No matter who you support, it is your duty as a citizen to lend your voice with the rest of the country. Your choice and your voice does matter. Anyone who tells you otherwise is dead wrong. Don't fall prey to the illusion that your vote is invisible.

So, go out and celebrate our democracy. Celebrate our freedom. Celebrate our voice and right to choose our leaders.

GO VOTE!

Let Us Vote!

Regardless of political opinion, ideology, allegiance, or party the right of every eligible American to vote is something that should be held sacred. Our right to vote is what binds this country together. Our entire system of self governance is built on the right to vote, not the privilege, the right. It is not something that is afforded to you because of some deed, or good work you have done. It cannot be earned. It is something that every American, at the age of 18, has the undeniable guarantee they will be able to do.

Unfortunately, those on the right, those who claim to be the never-ending protectors of the freedoms we enjoy, are attempting to stifle the most fundamental right Americans have to protect the Union. Voter suppression is not something new. It is not magically appearing this election cycle. Suppression has arguably always existed in modern politics, in some way or another, but I cannot remember or find it being so openly sought after by elected officials as has been the story this election cycle. If it weren't for Ohio's Secretary of State, Jon  Husted, or Florida's Governor, Rick Scott, we might be able to write off such blatant intimidation efforts like the Ohio and Wisconsin voter fraud billboards as simply a more vigorous attack by private citizens and groups on minority voters then years past. But these attacks are not confined to so-called “concerned citizens.” Instead, Republican state officials from across the country, ranging from Governors and Secretaries of State to county and city election officials, have been actively reducing the amount of time available for voters to vote early and making it more difficult to vote overall.

There are several reasons that are put forward to explain why this suppression is so vitally needed. These reasons usually involve the rampant “voter fraud” existing in the system or attempting to lower the cost of an election. First, the issue of in person voter fraud is nonexistent. Don't take my word for it. Just read this 45 page analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice. As far as lowering the costs associated with elections, it seems odd that the groups that are supposedly protecting our freedoms would be worried about how much it costs to administer elections, the very thing which our freedom is based on. I suppose I can understand it being a valid conversation, but I personally reject the idea that administering an election could ever cost too much.

Nonetheless, the reality of voter suppression in this election cycle is clear. Whether it is Ohio's Secretary of State trying to reduce the amount of days of early voting, intimidating billboards in minority neighborhoods from “A Private Family Foundation,” or Florida's Rick Scott refusing to extend early voting hours to alleviate lines of upwards of six hours in some cases, the vote is being suppressed. Curiously, we're not hearing about any of these issues in Republican strongholds. Places like Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Wyoming, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas seem to not have any problem with voter fraud or suppression. I find it disturbing and comical that these suppression efforts are being so blatantly targeted. They aren't even making an effort to hide the fact that they are attempting to suppress a very targeted group of voters. Democrats.

Voting isn't supposed to be hard. Voting officials shouldn't be centerpieces in an election. They are kind of like referees in sports. If you notice them, then they are doing a good job. If there are long lines and people are having to give up an entire workday and bring food and water just to vote, then you are not doing a good job. This is not difficult. Your partisanship is ruining our democracy. If you are actively working against bringing more people on voter rolls and allowing them to vote then you are not truly protectors of our Constitution. In fact, to deny the right to vote is truly un-American.

You know you sound ridiculous, right?

I'm not opposed to disagreeing with someone in my own party or someone who shares my general beliefs. In fact, I think one of the most important aspects of our democracy is the gradient of different opinions that exist, even within the same party. Neither am I opposed to calling out someone who you generally agree with when that agreement seems to disconnect on some issue or another. Disagreement is exactly what built this democracy. Disagreement about how our government should oversee the country and disagreements about how much power should be given to the federal government compared to the states, are what gave us our most important founding documents. Disagreement is a good thing. I just want to get that out there. I want to make sure I'm perfectly clear that I believe we, as a society, have a requirement to disagree with one another and discuss those disagreements in a way that is productive. Period, end of discussion.

Now that I have made myself clear - I did make myself clear correct? Just in case I didn't, disagreements are good. Okay, that's out of the way. Understanding that disagreements are needed, especially inside political parties, I am appalled by the absolute veracity with which the ultra-right wing is attacking New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. I could not disagree more with the Governor's policies and stances on major issues, but this event shouldn't be about politics. However, Rush Limbaugh, in all of his neoconservative glory, has been completely eviscerating Chris Christie, calling him a “Greek Column for President Obama.” He even went so far as to gay bait by saying “Is it wrong for one man to love another man?” 



Limbaugh wasn't alone in his criticism of Governor Christie. Matt K. Lewis of The Daily Caller wrote a column two days after Sandy made landfall that said, in part, “The question is whether — with just days left before Election Day — Christie should have gone out of his way to lavish praise on Obama, and to provide him with a terrific photo-op for which to look presidential.” Responding to Christie's statement that he does not “give a damn about Election Day,” Lewis writes “Is Christie really saying that the plight of his state today outweighs the seriousness of electing a President of the United States of America for four years?”

YES! The governor is saying that his state's destruction and “plight” is most definitely more important then the election for him and many of New Jersey's citizens. Why is it so difficult to understand that there are literally millions of people living in some of the most extreme and dangerous conditions our country has seen since Hurricane Katrina? The neighboring New York metropolitan area alone is home to nearly 20,000,000 people. That number doesn't even include the rest of the tri-state area, or the areas affected more inland. Most estimates put the total number of people affected by this storm at something close to 50 million. That is roughly 1/6 of our nation's population. So, I say again, YES! Governor Christie should absolutely be more interested in the conditions in his state then a national election.

Now, I haven't even gotten to the main problem that Neo-Cons have with Chris Christie. Not only are they upset with him for focusing on his state, instead of the election, they are furious with the amount of bipartisanship the Governor is displaying toward President Obama. Speaking about Christie's thankfulness for the President's concern and responsiveness, Lewis chastises Christie by writing, “But again, isn’t it possible to be serious and respectful and thankful without becoming a prop for Obama’s re-election? (The issue here is about the degree to which he is going out of his way to help Obama politically — and the context of the timing.).” Seriously?! So basically, “It's okay to say thank you. Just don't say thank you and sound like you mean it.” This is ridiculous. Is our country really at the point where we are attacking a public official, a Governor no less, for acting in a bipartisan fashion when bipartisanship is so badly needed that it's nonsensically ridiculous to assume anything else? The President and Governor Christie have put away partisanship (Yes, that is possible even with less than a week to go before an election) and worked together to do what their constituents hired them to do; make government work.

So, while the right wing, Neo–Con, Tea Party establishment turns their back on someone who has been nothing but an outspoken supporter of everything they stand for, I will applaud Governor Christie for putting the rhetoric away and working with a President from the opposing party.