Courtesy Flickr user Mrs. Gemstone

I almost forgot there was an election today until I saw a VP walking around with his “I Voted” sticker. Compared to last year when everybody toted stickers it was a complete turn-around in turnout. Today polls opened in Virginia (and a few other states) for election of state officials. In Virginia the big race is the state Gubernatorial battle between Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell. With the election coming on a non-Presidential election day, we could possibly see the colors change this fall: from blue back to red.

The Washington Post reports that the low turnout could help an energized Republican party take back the top seat in Virginia:

Turnout was light, and interviews with voters at several Northern Virginia precincts showed little sign of the blue tide that swept Virginia a year ago, when the state played a pivotal role in the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president. Instead, many voters said they were distressed about the direction the country seemed to be taking under Obama’s leadership, and would vote for Republican candidates in part as a way to slow the pace of change.

I’ve long since lost interest in the local elections in my state, but I do believe in voicing my opinion- and you’ll see me step out of my office this afternoon to cast a vote, because if you don’t vote you can’t complain.

Polls statewide will be open til 7 P.M. today, to find your local polling station click here.

Well I had some fun with a live blog during last week’s live blog of the Presidential Debates- so let’s try it again!

I will be blogging live on DC Metblogs during the final Presidential Debate at Hofstra University. I hope anyone interested will stop by during the debates- leave a comment or question while I continue to throw out my random commentary and running tally on buzzwords.

8:41 PM: Hello internet, I’m back for constantly update you with random thoughts about the final debate! It’s a little more than 15 minutes to go and here are my initial thoughts I have on top of my head coming into this debate:

• Towards the end of the workday I heard my state of Virginia is now apprently leaning towards Obama according to CNN. To me this is the latest in current pulling ahead of Obama in the polls. It’s clear that here in the DC area, as well as across the country, that Obama could not only win this election- but may even win big. I am still a little sketpical of how realistic a landslide could be- and others are as well. For me this debate is McCain’s last effort to stop the growing wave of Obama. I am waiting to see how McCain is going to play this last card in his deck.
• Bob Schieffer will be moderating the action tonight- will we see the candidates play by the rules? Or will this be another sit down message point delivery session?
• Will I pick better buzzwords this time around? I have 10 minutes now to pick some.

8:59 PM: Ok after looking at the C-SPAN Debate Hub (thanks Steve) some of the keywords that have been mentioned so far include President, Taxes, Spending, and Billion. Obvious words that would be said- but I’m looking for the buzzwords that wouldn’t normally be said. On that note I will look for these phrases: “voted with bush 90% of the time”; “just doesn’t understand”; “ready to lead”; “I got the scars to prove it”; and “maverick.”

Read the rest under the more tag…

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Well tonight is the 2nd Presidential Debate at Belmont University. I know the a lot of us in DC will be watching and tonight I will try and blog live from DC Metblogs during the debates- providing the “joe six-pack” view. Maybe I’ll even crack open a six-pack; I’m sure good amount of viewers will have their drinking game sheets in hand.

If things go well I’ll be back before the debates and I encourage those to keep DC Metblogs up during the debates and feel free to comment away during the debates!

8:24 PM: Hi everyone (or maybe just myself)! I just emptied my bladder, grabbed a slice of pie, and I’m

settled down to watch this debate. I’ll be watching the feed from CNN tonight- I don’t know what people think of their use (or overuse) of timers, graphs, and polls. I could definitely feel overwhelmed with information with all that junk up there. However I love it.

Wolf Blitzer just said Al Gore is in the house and so is John King with the magic wall. Who knew that in 2008 we would be analyzing the news using a “magic wall”?

8:39 PM: I won’t be some of the few out there in DC drinking along with the debates but I did decided to track a couple of buzzwords: “Maverick”, “Change”, “Main Street”, and my personal favorite “voted with bush 90% of the time.”

8:50 PM: 10 minutes to go! Listening to talk on the format of tonight’s debate- it will be a town hall format where the candidates will be talking to an audience of undecided voters. Tom Brokaw will moderate and questions will be selected from the audience as well as e-mails that Brokaw selected before hand. CNN just reported that there were over 6 million thousand questions submitted. I didn’t hear that they were looking for questions.

9:00 PM: Here we go, 90 minutes of fierce talking point delivery!

See the rest of the night’s live blog underneath the more tag…

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