Okay, the Martinelli's is still in the fridge. Unopened, it'll last for three years, but I don't want to keep politicized apple cider through a move. So in the next six months, I'll need to celebrate something.

I've read more stirring post-election posts than I can count, but I'll lead with Ampersand's:

The big mistake the Democrats, and most of the left, made was to believe that by winning elections we will change the country. Just the opposite is true. It is only by changing the country that we will win elections.

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• The results of this election don't matter. Why? We're all about to be eaten by global warming-enabled giant squid, that's why. [Via Worldchanging]
  
• I'm going to reload the BBC's results page every five minutes for the next half hour, squealing like a stuck pig every time. Then I'm watching the Gilmore Girls and heading off to the volunteer party.
  
  
  I feel like something the cat is currently dragging in. I bought Martinelli's instead of champagne, for the one hand, and orange juice instead of vodka for the other - but even teetotalling is probably not enough to stave off this cold. However I'll be damned if I forego the chance to suffer/rejoice with compatriots for at least a little while.
  
• What's the conventional wisdom about the kinds of precincts that get their counts finished and reported early?
  
• Meanwhile back at the ranch, I've gotten a couple hundred extra hits in the past few days for my judicial endorsements. Due to the vagaries of Google-ju they've been mostly for the Office 52 contest; if Ms. Priver wins by a small margin, then, I and my bot-optimized heading tags fully intend to take credit.
  
• I've never been this invested in an election before. Eeeeeeek! I should write a reflection - but not until after the party tonight.
  

We've got two pieces of electoral reform brouhaha on our ballots today in California - I voted "no" on both. There's lots of ways in which to reform party primariesm, many are ill-conceived, and manyI haven't heard of. Like Fusion ticketing. I would love to have voted as "Green for Kerry"...but alas, I don't live in New York.

This election is a productivity pit. I'm getting a little bit of work done, but only a little, and I'm sure tomorrow will be worse. My throat started getting sore yesterday afternoon and hasn't stopped; calling up two precincts worth of Democrats* and going out in the crisp evening air to distribute door-hangers was probably not what the doctor would have ordered. I haven't quite worked out where I'm going to watch the results, but I'm sure it won't be a recuperative experience.

If you've also given up on getting anything done until Thursday, try contrasting Joshuah Bearman's stories from Florida with Common Cause's liveblogging of voter intimidation tactics. Then spin around in your chair until your head goes wubba-wubba-wubba.

* These were La Canada-Flintridge precincts, so it didn't take long.

I'm too late for Professor Bainbridge's spreadsheet of California blogger endorsements, but what the heck, I still need to make up my mind on this damnable list of plebiscites. Below the fold: my ballot! Before breaking to Calicentric tedium, though, a few notes:

• I'm on Mildred Escobedo's official endorsements list! I don't know why that makes me giggle, but it does.
  
• I wore a "Zombies for Kerry" shirt and some black lipstick to phonebanking today. Zombies have been painted as Bush/Cheney supporters, which I find suprising as they are really single-issue voters and frankly, when it comes to BRAAAAAAAINS... well, you know.
  

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It's always nice to read about how the left is getting its act together:

Those liberal organizations that already knew how to do politics � the AFL-CIO, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and a few others � are doing it better than they have before. Those liberal groups that stayed aloof from elections or phumphered ineffectually are now playing the game like seasoned pros. [...] And most amazingly, all the 527s � ACT, the AFL-CIO, the LCV, the Sierra Club, the NAACP, Emily�s List, MoveOn and 25 others � are working together under the umbrella of a single coalition, America Votes. They meet together, plan together, divvy up turf, parcel out messages, coordinate their mailing and phone banking.

It's about five days too soon to start asking this, but how can we keep these alliances going once we no longer have a common enemy?

UPDATE: It's not too soon to place your bets on the efficacy of the newly synergistic left - The American Street is giving away Jon Stewart's America: the Book to the lucky winner. My bet: Kerry, 284-253, with one smart-ass West Virginian for Dick Cheney.

(link via Kevin Drum)

"Fuck you too, asshole" is supposed to be for the jackass in the SUV who just cut me off... not
goofy U.N. initiatives:

The United States has refused to join 85 heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorses a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman's right to education, health care and choice about having children.

President George W. Bush's administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights."

[...]

The Cairo support statement was signed by more than 250 global leaders in all fields, including leaders of 85 nations, 22 former world leaders, notably Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and 24 Nobel Prize winners.

The government leaders included those of the entire European Union, China, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan and more than a dozen African countries.

Pakistan. No, really, George Bush, fuck you. Seriously, fuck you.

Fellow 29th/21st/44th District mostly-doctrinaire lefty Hugo Schwyzer has posted his ballot, for all but the judicial slate. We agree on everything except the things we disagree on, but it looks like my ballot has ten more names on it than his!

Under the fold are my endorsements for Superior Court Office Nos. 18, 29, 52, 53, and 69. They're based on the League of Women Voters questionnaire; my sample ballot is only lightly marked in pencil so arguments are welcome.
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Well. Peter isn't sufficiently appreciating my debate-related witticism, but he did bring home delicious beer. And I'm stealing his laptop to cast pearls among Internets, hoorah!

• 7:30 - Yeah, it ended right on time. I'm hungry. And I bet people in Wisconsin and Ohio and Indiana are hungry too.
  
• 7:27 - Wait, is this a closing statement? The food hasn't even arrived yet! And why didn't Kerry refer to any swing states?
  
• 7:22 - In all this talk about Russia, Bush never quite gets around to mentioning that he doesn't believe in checks and balances either... take a drink!
  
• 7:15 - they're talking about "wilting". Presidential candidates are all lovely and unique flowers!
  
• 7:13 - "I don't think [a difference of character] is my job or my business" - aahhh. That's a lovely sentiment.
  
• 6:54 - I didn't think anything said in this debate could change my vote... but it's time to order Thai food and we still haven't heard about Kerry's stance on delicious shrimp tom kha. One well-timed stalk of lemongrass could put California in play.
  
• 6:41 - OH SHIT! John Kerry is wearing a RED tie, and George Bush is wearing a BLUE tie! The major parties are telling us something here and I think I should vote Green again. Also, the moderator is wearing a red tie. Oh, shit. Liberal media my ass.
  
• 6:35 - I'm downgrading "gratuitous mention of a swing state" from two drinks to one.
  

It seems at this point that voting against the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Reform Act would be political suicide - which is why it's the best bill ever for introducing sneaky measures to legalize the practice of sending random Canadians to Syria for two-week torture vacations! I'm throwing my panties at Dennis Hastert in adulation, that's for sure. Obsidian Wings has more. Halfway Sane Readers, write your representatives, friends, family, and editors.

(via Kevin Drum)