It's Election Eve and everyone's freaking out on TV, Twitter, everywhere.
To lighten the mood and remind people that we're voting for real people, I've posted some favorite, funny videos of the candidates from the last few weeks. (Sorry for the commercials before the SNL clips.)
Finally, my favorite video -- McCain and Obama trading jokes at the Alfred E. Smith dinner. McCain actually won this debate.
Happy Halloween!
On Friday night, Amanda and I joined the Chaffees and strolled out to house party in Tacoma. See Amanda's Facebook album for pictures, including Scott and Courtney as "Chips and Hot Salsa."
On Saturday night, I went out to The Mix in Georgetown with Amanda for her boss's 40th birthday party. The family hired me to shoot photos... so I did!
See the slide show here. (If the slide show images look distorted, click "Options" in the upper-right corner and uncheck "Embiggen small things to fill screen.")
After minimal reading, constant absorption of campaign ads and a couple bottles of wines over the last day, the WIB 2008 Election Board (Paolo) is ready to guide you through this year's election choices. This board only endorses contests it has some knowledge about and does not endorse uncontested candidates, which would be pointless.
President of the United States: Vote Obama
Before digging into why Obama is the right choice, let's review what we know about the candidates:
Now that we've got that out of the way, recognize that U.S. government is inherently conservative thanks to the checks and balances at its foundation. Changing parties will only generate gradual change. That said, the GOP has led us into debt, relative international isolation, hopelessness and an unmarketable, indistinguishable war. We need new leadership.
Barack Obama is inspirational to the masses and innovative in his resourcing new media and one half of an outdated two-party system to reinvigorate conversation about education, economics and national identity.
After an exhausted Democratic primary that bumped into presidential campaigning, Obama has become oversaturated and overplayed like a Green Day song in 1994. Still, that should not distract from the promising vision he has to get the country headed back in the right direction because we can all agree that, war aside, we've lost the cohesiveness we once had.
Washington State Governor: Vote Rossi
In the interest of avoiding repetition, Dino Rossi is the right candidate for all of these reasons.
Every time someone votes for Christine Gregoire, a baby seal dies. Think about that.
Sound Transit Proposition 1: Vote Yes
For just $69 a person in sales tax, you're getting 36 new miles of light rail to Redmond, Lynnwood, and Federal Way (Yes, Scott, Federal Way); 100,000 hours of new express bus service; and a 65 percent expansion of Sounder commuter rail.
Think about how much you pay for gas. Now think about paying $69 for actual, usable public transportation. You'll get your money back.
State Initiative 985: Vote Hell No
Each election season shits out a terrible initiative. This initiative is no exception. Tim Eyman wants to rewrite just about every traffic efficiency law. It's like Communism -- It looks good on paper but doesn't really work in real life. Don't vote for Commies. Don't vote for Eyman. Don't vote for I-985.
State Initiative 1000: Vote Yes
Ever since Oregon passed its "death with dignity" law, I haven't exactly seen the state go to hell in a hand basket. This is another one of those intiatives about choice -- in this case the choice to request-and-self-administer-lethal-medications-prescribed-by-a-physician-in-cases-of-terminal illness-with-predicted-fewer-than-six-months-to-live. That's a mouthful and a handful of moral issues. Choose to let people choose how they check out.
State Initiative 1029: Vote No (with guilt)
Who doesn't want the elderly and disabled to be well taken care of? That's why this vote is a little unpopular. Still, this initiative, which would require state workers to be certified with more than double the current requirement of 34 hours training hours, is bypassing legislature.
Quality of employees should be the responsibility of the employer -- in this case the state -- not the people. This issue should be handled through legislation rather than be put to vote because the repercussions here affect legislation. For example, demanding higher qualified entry-level social care will make for a higher pay scale for those employees. That affects state budget.
City of Seattle Proposition 1: Vote Yes
This is a pricey, $73 million, six-year proposal to basically keep Pike Place Market's physical infrastructure maintained. Pike Place is an invaluable resource for this city in terms of both culture and tourism. This is one of those necessary votes that you might not feel immediately, but will appreciate in the long run. I personally am voting so that the doo-wop group that sounds like Boyz II Men has an uncracked floor to stand on.
City of Seattle Proposition 2: Vote Yes
No one has a yard anymore in Seattle. Thank the condo overlords for that. We might as well have nice parks, right?
I've received emails from just about every UW official over the last 24 hours because a former UW employee doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire in Red Square yesterday.
The man later died at Harborview.
"There was a pond of gasoline around him, and he was standing in a lake of fire," one student said. "No one could help him; there was so much fire."
Barack Obama is making a big push less than one week from Election Day.
It's been 16 years since a presidential candidate has bought network time, in prime time, and tonight Obama is airing a 30-minute program on NBC, MSNBC, Fox, Univision and BET. Hopefully he'll have better luck than the last man to try this tactic - Ross Perot.
The 30-minute program is reported to be heavy on documentary-style content and will also include a live component featuring Obama at a rally in Florida.
This comes off a smooth PR tactic in which Obama spent part of Tuesday outside in the rain in Chester, Penn., while John McCain postponed his outside rally in nearby Quakertown. Dressed in sneakers and jeans, the rain pouring down as he spoke, Obama addressed the 9,000 who turned out and said, "Let me just begin by saying that a little bit of rain never hurt anybody."
It's those simple decisions that make an impact. Tell that to Elizabeth Hasslebeck.
For those who just want to emerge in unadulterated, liberal bliss, be sure to tune into The Daily Show tonight, following Obama's infomercial, to hear Jon Stewart and Obama make babies with words.