Feeling Patriotic

I have a standard Election Day post, edited to bring it up to date...

I do love Election Day.

And it's a good one, lots of great stories, too many to repeat here.  Political Wire has the poll closing times.  The best guides I've seen are from Ed Kilgore and from the Boston Phoenix.

You know, most of my academic work and interests are all about how small a portion of democracy is occupied by today -- I think democracy is found in the complex workings of elites within party networks, and in Congressional committee rooms, and in interactions within issue networks, and in White House showdowns between the president and a reluctant Senator...all those things, to me, at an intellectual level, are democracy just as much as today's events. But nothing beats the rituals of Election Day. Hey, I even like the annoying and useless "What Does It All Mean" stories, as long as I can restrict my intake enough. I love watching the spin (but see Brendan Nyhan's brilliant Spin Bingo). I love the weather stories, and the cheesy shots of the candidates voting, and the oh-so-careful anchors not revealing what they all know from the exit polls (I miss the leaked exit polls, which made you feel like an insider if you heard them and a goof when they turned out to be phony.  And I'll miss the % of precincts reporting -- that's gone this year, I hear). I'm one of those people who could easily do without the National Anthem, and the Pledge doesn't do much for me -- and I really dislike the Selig-imposed 7th inning GBA. But then today comes around, and I know that I'm a very patriotic citizen of the USA.

So, Happy Election Day, everyone! Vote early, vote often!