Oh Happy Day: 1/20/2009

I can certainly not even begin to put into word the feelings about today. So I think right now I won't even try. Just Happy Inauguration Day to anyone who's checking out my site.

What a long road this has been. I couldn't be more pleased with the results. More than once this morning, I have been moved to tears, and nothing official has even happened yet.


Several of the UNH College Dems, many former staffers and press I met during this cycle, and many colleagues from TWC are in DC today, among the throngs taking in this historic day. To them: Be safe, and have a wonderful wonderful time. You have earned this day of celebration.



As for me, I will be sitting warmly among the other UNH staffers in the MUB, watching on the large screen TV and pretending to be working. If I'm able, I might do some live blogging here or on BH. I might be too choked up to type.

First Day Jitters

Yes, I am still here. Not much to report other than ice and snow in NH, until this week that is!!

Welcome back! And so, it begins. Yesterday was the swearing in of the 111th Congress, which included Senator Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH! I watched the silly ceremony on C-Span with two colleagues during our lunch hour, in a very empty UNH MUB. We did plenty of heckling and commentary, but I have to admit I was rusty. It's been a few months. Anyway, it was nice to see a few women in the mix, but oh the US Senate is amazingly white!

Senator Shaheen looked great. No scarf, thank goodness. We all predicted green, but she wore a reddish/maroon jacket that was a good color for her. I read on Blue Hampshire a few days back that she's the first woman in the US to be both a state governor AND a US Senator. Go NH!!

Quote of the Day comes from Politico's Shenanigans:

“Like the first day of middle school, except no cool Trapper Keepers and the
dorks have the best lunch tables.”— A freshman House COS on yesterday’s “first
day”

Only In New Hampshire

File this story under "You Can't Make This Stuff Up!"

It's too good to just post the link, so here's the full text from the Union Leader:

DOVER, N.H. (AP) -- There's been some sort of confrontation between two notorious New Hampshire inmates in Dover.

Officials say Gary Dodds and Leeland Eisenberg were involved in a jailhouse altercation on Friday.

Dodds is the former congressional candidate convicted of faking his own disappearance and Eisenberg is the man who held volunteers hostage in Hillary Clinton's Rochester campaign office.

Eisenberg says Dodds hit him in the face, but investigators say it's too early to say exactly what happened.

Strafford County Attorney Tom Velardi says there's a preliminary report of an act that could be charged under state law as an assault. A sheriff's department investigator plans to interview both men on Monday.

Eisenberg told WMUR-TV in a phone interview that it started as a "silly conversation" about who appoints certain county officials.

"He was asking me questions about the structure of the county government. ... I gave him the answers," Eisenberg said. "He didn't like the answers, he started taunting me and teasing me."

Is this how I will keep myself busy until 2012 candidates start coming, in 2010?  Pathetic!

Update: Foster's has a nice twist on the story, even better than the UL!  

Change Agent

Were you wondering, like I was, how the transition to a new, Presidential brand was going to be managed, or how the old candidate-Obama brand would be replaced.  Wonder no more.  Introducing www.change.gov.  

Brilliant.  There's even a jobs section.  Nice touch, since as of Friday there are hundreds of unemployed community organizers who are chomping at the bit to work in the Obama Administration. 

The Day After

Let the post-mortem begin!  A few weeks ago, Colleen had the brilliant idea to watch the documentary The War Room, about the 1992 Bill Clinton victory.  All throughout, we wondered aloud what was really being said and one behind the scenes in the current campaigns, and were eager to get past the election to learn the real story.  

Voila: Newsweek comes through again.  And we can't wait.  If these early snippets are any testement, this should be juicy.  This is the stuff I love!!  I am so very eager to read more about how rogue Palin really went, who bought what to wear when, and of course, and all that truly useless political gossip.  

Other Monday morning quarter-backing: HuffPo has a final word on the brilliance of Obama's 

branding, which you know I love.  I'm wondering if, in the effort to begin appearing Presidential, we will see all these logos disappear...like Houdini 

magic.  ;-)

And, in a final, full-circle kind of way, my old pal from the days of the NH Primary, Susie, sent me a link to this photo.  It's from an Edwards Town Hall event in Dover in the summer of 2007.  We got there early, and I was letting the twins run around as the advance staff set up shop, until they became absolutely out of control and had to be reigned in.  This campaign has lasted almost 2/3rds of my kids' lives!  

Now what?  Well, it shouldn't be long until local small town Republican community groups start holding their own meetings in the living rooms of Concord, testing the waters for 2012.  

For once, I'm in no hurry for that.

Good Morning, America!

Well, what a difference a day makes!

Greetings from Blue Hampshire!  Is there anything I can say, without getting choked up?  Quite a night last night!

My party was small but spirited.  We never managed to get cable worked out, so we stuck with the NH ABC affiliate mostly, so we could check in on all the state & local races, and supplemented with three laptops.  New Hampshire is now very solidly blue, and we are very psyched for Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter and Senator-Elect Jeanne Shaheen!

In my household, much of the talk of the night was fashion-related.  The shiny blue suit seemed to be all the rage for women:  Carol Shea-Porter, Jennifer Horn (R, who lost NH CD2), and Sarah Palin!  Is shiny the new wool??  

Now, onto the Obama women.  What the HELL was Michelle thinking??  She's so striking and attractive, but that dress was hideous.  It did not flatter her one bit.  Lucky for her, my eyes were on Sasha & Malia.  I LOVE that they always coordinate colors with each other & their mom.  Sasha's dress was adorable.  She's such a spit-fire.  I can't wait to see pictures of her and her new White House puppy.

And, someone please send me a link with a close up picture of their matching necklaces!!  Are they new?  They look to be in the shape of an O.  Is it the Obama Symbol??  When did they get them??

So this morning, I can't look at any pictures of any non-Caucasian person or child without crying.  I loved the shots of Huffington Post of the celebration in Kenya, or the kids from Obama's former schools in Indonesia and Hawaii.

This is truly a global victory.  

Anyone up for a roadtrip to the Inauguration??

Evening Election Edition: 6:00pm

Just after that last post, things got a little hectic.  2pm was database-switch time.  Canvassers were called back, and new voter lists were distributed that would show only those who hadn't voted yet.  They were probably accurate as of noon or 1pm, so to me it didn't seem worth the chaos it caused as we had to swap out lists but keep maps and other info in the canvasser packs.  Just as I was packing up to leave at 3pm, I heard someone lament..."Good, that went ok.  And, we will do it all again at 5pm."  

I got home in time to start some decorating and cleaning.  Sure enough at 4pm a canvasser walked by.  He gave me the thumbs up and I tried to save him the walk to the end of the street by telling him the neighbor's already voted.  At 6pm the phone rang, and I laughed as I reported, "yes, we voted already!"  I've always said that Obama has the superior ground game, but now it's a little bit of overkill. We're all ready for the craziness to stop, and the polls to close.  

Two more hours.  Let's REALLY get this party started!  (How do you like our dessert??)

OK, so an update from Colleen at the office around 5:30pm:  database refresh at 5pm was cancelled and all hands on deck for GOTV phone calls to Dover, Rollinsford, and surrounding area, due to lower than expected voter turn out so far.