Tag Archive for 'politics'

Where the rubber meets the road

Published
by
lennon
on November 6, 2008
in politics
. 0 Comments

The election is over. We (meaning the progressive youth vote) won. Time to lean back, relax, and enjoy the victory, right?

Wrong.

Now that we’ve elected Obama, increased the Democratic majority in the House and Senate, and (in Oregon, at least) added a bunch of smart, young, enthusiastic new legislators, it is incumbent upon the electorate to help set the policy agenda. We can’t afford to let our current momentum die down one iota if we want to insure that the promises of the campaign season are actually fulfilled.

For myself, that means moving into a “citizen lobbyist” role. I’ve started the groundwork for that (along with a few of my like-minded friends) with Policy in Motion, but we haven’t yet completely figured out how to sip from the massive firehose that is an active legislative body.

I definitely believe that having one party control most major offices + both legislative bodies in the state means that transparency and access to information will be especially critical. Working towards open government, using both technological and volunteer-driven tools, is going to be a huge part of that. (And it just so happens to be part of Obama’s transitional agenda, as well.)

Regardless of the issues we choose, our government is not magically going to serve us well, simply because we voted in the right column on Nov. 4th.

Update: Digby seems to agree, at least in principal.

What? Is there something happening today?

Published
by
lennon
on November 4, 2008
in twitter
. 0 Comments

You try to go bowl on a Tuesday night, and suddenly find yourself in the midst of a huge party with a bunch of people cheering every time someone mentions the name “Obama”. I can’t help feeling I missed something…

Since I did happen to have my laptop with me, though, I got roped into helping to maintain some live stats on local returns for races the Bus worked on this year. There’s going to be some live-blogging going on, and some twittering, so fellow info-junkies should be able to keep themselves busy.

Update (5:49 pm): We just lost power in the “nerd quadrant” at Grand Central Bowl. Thankfully, the laptops kept chugging, but the display relay connecting us to the projectors downstairs croaked pretty much immediately. (Power restored as of 6:03pm.)

Update (6:19 pm): The NY Times results already have the Dems up three seats in the Senate. I’m starting to feel better already.

Update (6:38 pm): This is looking like a good night to be one of those horrible Portland liberals.

Update (7:35 pm): Had to sneak in and out of the press area for some food. Getting back into the building was much harder, since there’s a line a block long outside to get in. WTF? Since when did a bowling alley become the place to be for election night?

Update (8:01 pm): CNN is calling it for Obama. The crowd here has gone, well, pretty much apeshit. I’m enjoying the ambiance for a moment before digging in to the local returns.

Update (8:20 pm): McCain is giving his concession speech. I could be truly happy if Deschutes county will just start reporting numbers.

Update (9:05 pm): After a frustratingly long wait, Deschutes county finally posted results for the Stiegler/Burley race (the last Bus Project candidate with no numbers posted). With that, it looks like every single candidate the Bus walked for this year is winning. Hell, yeah!

Update (9:51 pm): They’re all still winning. I’m almost tempted to leave and go across the street to get good beer.