Anecdotal voting tales

[whometense]

Not that they mean anything, but...

I voted at 8:30 am - small line. Pretty much all women voting. There was a steady stream of cars coming and going. I live in a textbook liberal town that's expected to go heavily for Coakley, so a low turnout would be bad news.

Only evidence of support for he-who-shall-not-be-named was a big sign on the back of a construction truck in Cambridge. Oddly enough, I spotted it as I was listening to a radio segment on the blue collar anger that's fueling the surge for the jackass with the truck.

On edit:
I forgot to mention that my 20-something son reports that there is a LOT of political activity among his friends, and that none of them are voting for naked-centerfold-truck-guy.

[karynnj]

1. Nice to hear

It doesn't sound good that there are few men at 8:30 as that should still be part of the before work crowd. It is good to here that your son sees lots of political activity of the NON-Brown kind.

Take care and if things go wrong, take comfort in the fact that you still have a wonderful senior Senator and the Democrats will still have 59 votes, which was more than even Kerry spoke of potentially having in 2008. I hope that doesn't happen to MA, the Senate and the nation. I am amazed that Kerry has been out for her (and the Boston area Haitians ) so many times in spite of having major surgery just 15 days ago. It really shows his committment, but I hope it doesn't hurt his recovery.

[whometense]

4. Thanks - I enjoyed reading this Jonathan Chait

column in TNR today**: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/panic

title: PANIC!!!
Why Democrats need to take a deep, deep breath. Maybe two.

Nice to hear after the hyperventilating pundits.

Rachel Maddow did a nice job on her show last night reminding people of who he-who-shall-not-be-named really is.


**WARNING: Chait's column includes the infamous centerfold pic of you-know-who, the "peoples choice"?????

[wisteria]

21. Good article. He makes some very important points and observations.

I love the Democrat Party, but I hate how we behave at times when faced with unpopular prospects. And, he is right, we need to pass a health care bill-to abandon all the hard work put into this and how far we have come would make us laughable. We need to hang tough and ride it on through.

[ObamaKerryDem]

13. Well said. His dedication and drive in this race just further reaffirms why I admire JK so much! :)

Glad to hear so many indicators (from people who are actually IN MA, not these spinning pundits) of, as you put it, the NON-Brown kind. :D But by it doesn't sound good about the men, do you mean that for Brown or for Coakley? I would take that (in general terms, of course) not to be good for Brown?

[karynnj]

34. I meant for Coakley

Her area is extremely liberal and Democratic, if I remember the description right. If there are no men there, it could mean that they are sitting it out - thus we are losing half the votes. It also could have been the time of day. But both men and women here would likely be our voters.

[Blaukraut]

2. It's been sleeting all morning here. Just called Sam to remind her

to vote. She's still registered to vote in our town, so we had a nice long talk while she was getting ready. She said she's seen plenty of Brown commercials and 'can't stand the guy'. I filled her in on some of the issues she didn't already know and she's appalled at the idea of him in Teddy's seat. (Yes, Sam still considers it Teddy's seat.)

Tony's going to vote after work, so our household is all set.

I keep reading about huge voter turnout, so I hope that this is in favor of Coakley, and that the crappy weather won't keep older folks at home who might otherwise have gone out to vote for her.

[whometense]

5. My son has been moving around a lot,

and I found out this morning he's still registered in Somerville. So he's trekking over there today to do his civic duty.

[wisteria]

22. Wow, these stories of dedication are wonderful to hear. n/t

[Inuca]

3. At this point

no bad news is good news :-(. I got really scared watching a couple of hours of MSNBC last night, all teh talking heads were talking about a Brown victory as a given. Only Howard Feinman had the decency to add something like " will we all look pathetic is things will be different and Coakley pulls a New Hampshire".

Really scared, and on top of that not feeling that good either....

[ObamaKerryDem]

15. MSNBC (with the exception of Ed, Keith and Rachel) has been disgusting..

...during this race. Their spin and pro-Brown bias (because talk of his 'momentum' and the cherry picking of certain polls promotes and creates that spin, as Dem winning in MA=no story for the MSM) has been so sickeningly obvious. Ever since that Suffolk poll came out, they've been acting like Fox-lite.

Hope they all get egg on their faces tonight.

[wisteria]

24. Yeah! n/t

[Inuca]

26. I don't think Matthews is pro-Brown

(it's his show I was watching I think, and the one that had Feinman's comments) to the contrary, I think. But he gets all excited, all over himslef, and seems to lose a hefty amount of rationality when something politically unusual and unexpected may happen.

[ObamaKerryDem]

31. True. I usually like Chris and I sure hope this is the case..

..I just didn't like Hardball yesterday, with Chuck Todd and Howard Feinman all but declaring Coakley's candidacy dead and being so quick to point out all its flaws, but very little of Brown's. I especially didn't like how Feinman was so quick to jump into the RW spin of how this indicates that MA, "like the rest of the country" is going to the right and how this "isn't Ted Kennedy's Massachusettts anymore" Ohhh...:grr: I was just dissapointed in how Chris seemed to play into all of that or at least didn't do all that much to counter it, which makes it seem as though they/he are pro-Brown, even if they really, individually are not, you know?

But then again it could be at least partly due to my totally raw nerves on this subject---and I'm not even in MA! lol. So I wish all you MA'ers here the very best for tonight! :)

[MBS]

32. yes, they were really driving me nuts yesterday. They absolutely

do NOT understand the local people and issues (though I did agree with Fineman about Coakley's campaign), yet did that stop them from confidently holding forth on the outcome, and the causes of their predicted outcome?:grr:

[Blaukraut]

33. They all want a story for the next 10 months

and what better story than 'Obama agenda in jeopardy'....'Dems dead for '10'.....'Obama now a one termer'...and so on and so on.

[wisteria]

23. The saturation for Brown yesterday was designed to discourage any Coakley supporters from showing up...

I have not seen in a long time such a push by media and radio for a candidate for a state race. I have to think it was all designed this way.
I remember about three weeks ago picking up on this on Hannity's show. They had a big segment about Brown. The promotion started at this point I believe. No doubt he has a great PR group, but he is still an empty headed suite and a jackass in a pickup truck. It amazes me how people fall this hokey stuff.

[Mass]

6. Great turnout here, comparable to 2008.

Despite the snow, when we went at about 11 am, the parking lot was full and people were still arriving or leaving. All sorts of people, older, young, with kids, with husband and wife. Today is curriculum day, so kids dont have school.

Dont ask me if it is good or bad news. Despite being the town of Mitt Romney and Kevin Chase (candidate who ran against Kennedy in 2006), this town is fairly liberal, but there are a number of people who buy the low tax argument a lot. So, your guess is as good as mine.

[ObamaKerryDem]

16. Seems like it would be good news, especially if it's the Dem base that's turning out

..as it obviously did in 2008. Don't want to jinx anything though..

[CBHagman]

7. Good for you for getting out there early.

:woohoo: I'm here in another very blue state, MD, but our hearts are with the Bay Staters today. You make me proud, whometense, and I sincerely hope you kick naked-centerfold-truck guy in the tush.

[whometense]

8. Thanks :-)

I fervently hope the same!!

[ObamaKerryDem]

18. I second that! :)

[Luftmensch067]

9. Ended up voting around 10:45 am

The news had said something about a foot of snow, so I wasn't worried, but it was a blizzard-like slog to my polling place, very slippery and scary (I'm extra scared this winter after my bad broken ankle last year) The place was pretty empty, but I asked one of the ladies and she said it had been very busy earlier, so that's good. I was so scared walking back to the T that I begged a ride up the street from a voter with a car! One of my friends, who hardly ever votes in any election, made the slog to the polls before 8 this morning, which shows that people really are energized. So glad to have this place to come to to hear how things are going!

[Noisy Democrat]

10. I'm glad to hear these reports

Since I'm so far away. I voted on Friday; I checked the USPS tracking thing and my ballot was delivered on Saturday. I'm going to do GOTV calling through the OFA, but other than that I feel so far away; it's great to hear from people there on the ground.

[blm]

11. These firsthand reports are making my day, so far.

.

[Mass]

12. Will Pitt on truthout confirms that turnout is high w

http://www.truthout.org/massachusetts-election-live-blog56173

The scanner proved this out. After I fed my ballot into the machine, the counter at the top read 330, which meant 329 people had been there to vote before me. It was 10:30 a.m. EST. I voted a little after 4:00 p.m. in the primary, and remember very clearly that the ballot count on the machine was only 125. To have tripled that count before noon means turnout is very good so far, at least in my little corner of this town.

And, from WBZ

"Voter Turnout Appears High For Brown-Coakley Race: In contrast to the light turnout for the party primaries last month, there are already signs of a heavy turnout. A line of cars stretched for nearly a half-mile from the gymnasium at North Andover High School. Some drivers turned around in exasperation. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin told WBZ he expects about 40-percent of voters to turn out for the special election. Galvin said about 800,000 came out for the primaries and he believes that should double to 1.6 million based on the intense interest in this campaign."

Now, dont ask me what that means. It has always been the question, depending on whom voters are.

[Blaukraut]

17. I've been all over kos, bmg, etc checking for turnout news

The huge turnout reports aren't predictive unless we also know which way the town/city leans, generally. We know for sure that Brown voters WILL turn out.

[wisteria]

14. jackass with the truck., I love it-he shall forever be know as that to me.

Seems he has the jock vote locked up.

[MH1]

19. I'm praying for you all up in Mass ... and the rest of the country

It's really insane to think that any significant number of people could be taken in by that yahoo. (sorry, no offense intended to yahoos.)

[wisteria]

25. I know and I am praying for them too. n/t

[Inuca]

27. Yes, absolutely

what she said. Me too.

[Luftmensch067]

28. It's good to know you're all pulling for us!!! n/t

[Inuca]

29. No offense but

it's not for YOU (=MA people), its' for ALL of us.

[Luftmensch067]

30. No offense

I know this will affect the whole country, but we're still the ones who have the responsibility today and it's good to know you all are out there supporting us!

[rox63]

20. My polling place had 55 voters before me when I got there at 8:15 AM

They seemed to think it was a decent turnout so far, although I was the only voter in there when I arrived. This was in Lowell, which can sometimes be a bit more conservative than you'd think for an urban area.