Blue Night in Pennsylvania

After hearing blue night at the Rockwood many a Tuesday night it occurred to me that this past Tuesday was a real "blue night", as my state and many others went blue to elect Obama.

Actually it was interesting being in Pennsylvania for this election, though I missed the parties in the streets of Brooklyn and the general good feeling that has been reported in New York. I was impressed by the persistence of the Obama people in Pennsylvania. They came to my door at least three times, first to check that we were registered in September, then to check that we knew where to vote last Sunday and then to check that we had voted on Tuesday evening. There was even a doorknob hanger that was on my doorknob Tuesday morning reminding me to vote along with my precinct information and where to go.


I went to vote after what I thought would be the early morning rush, but still had to wait about twenty minutes because I got caught in the senior citizen rush. When I was pressing my touchscreen the man behind me in line who needed help to vote was instructing one of the poll workers to "press Obama, I want Obama."


I was in yoga class at eight when the polls closed and thought I could hear the people in the Obama offices celebrating. At 8:30 I rushed home and turned on CNN and found out for myself. And it only got better after that. Around 9:30 when Obama reached 200 electoral votes I figured that the race was most likely his once California closed at eleven and I was right.


And I could hear the helicopters as the students at Pitt celebrated in the street. Squirrel Hill was surprisingly quiet, I suppose everyone had gone to bed.