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The Force Is With CNN
Did anyone just see a CNN reporter totally hologrammed into the Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer?? You are in command now, Admiral Blitzer! CP beaming technology coming soon. After we get Wireless Internet.
Photos: Spotts Barber Shop On Election Night
The first polls are about to close, and Mister Lloyd is spending Election Day with his family. They’re all working past dark at Lloyd’s V St. Barber shop, Spotts, which has been on the street for a year but in business for 40. Rodney Pringle (above) works on a close shave while Tommy Comer sits in the second barber’s chair, holding daughter Kira and watching a small corner television. Rico leans up against the wall, filling out the small operation’s skinny row-house. Another customer waits outside, in a pastel button-down and tie, waiting for his last election season cut.
Lloyd (above) says he’s excited about Obama; he’ll be staying up, watching the shop’s television, until the election is called. Nine-year-old Kira isn’t so sure she’ll make it. “I might fall asleep,” she says.
The family might be persuaded to put down their shears in the event of a McCain victory. “We’re gonna tear the city up,” says Pringle. “Damn right. Be looking for me.”
Party Time, Excellent
Busboys & Poets at 14th & V Sts. NW is at capacity and ready to party, just in time for the first polls closing. There’s a line snaking down the block to get a table. My view was from the outside in:
Cutest Voters Ever?
Katherine Dunbar made maximum use of her cramped Precinct 25 voting booth when she cast her ballot this afternoon. Dunbar was joined at her polling place, the Goodwill Baptist Church at 1862 Kalorama Road NW, by two valued consultants: Perry Levitch (age “twelve-and-three-days”) and Esme Levitch (”Well, I’ll be nine in February”) in her Precinct 25 voting booth. But three wasn’t a crowd for Dunbar; “We all held the pencil,” says says. The trio cast their shared ballot “for Obama and for a lot of other people whose names I can’t remember,” explains Perry, who wore her “I Voted” sticker proudly on her forehead. Katherine and Esme opted for a subtler position on the lapel.
More from Precinct 25:
Photos: Adams Morgan Voter Portraits
Precinct 35 voters exiting the polls around 4 p.m. at Adams Morgan’s Iglesia Festival, 1640 Columbia Rd. NW
Irina Van Dusen
Vegetables Against McCain
Emily Richardson, who voted in Maryland earlier today, stands outside the polling place at 19th & Kalorama Rds. NW wearing an elaborate beet costume. She’s campaigning for the Obama-Biden ticket nationally and for the Statehood Green ticket locally, but mostly, she’s campaigning against McCain. Richardson confirms that if McCain wins the election, she may destroy her costume, a delicious leftover from Halloween festivities. “I might just have to ‘beet’ it to death,” Richardsons says.
Watkins Elementary Leads Local Race in Baked Goods, Book Learning
A commenter on the newhilleast Listserv commends Watkins Elementary for its election day coverage, which included an array of baked goods and the city’s youngest upstart exit pollster:
I ended up staying in line for over an hour and forty-five minutes, which is never fun, but it was wonderful to watch how the school was interacting with the voters. . . I saw one teacher, take what looked like a first grade class on a little tour of the people standing in line. The teacher asked questions like, why are these people out here? (to vote, answered the kids), Who are they voting for? (the redskins!, said one little boy).
. . . Finally, after I voted, I experienced my first exit poll, from a second grader! A class of students were out doing exit polling of voters. The expertise of this young new exit pollster leads me to believe, that, 1) most people believe this is the most important election of a lifetime 2) according to her, “no one has told me they voted for McCain yet.”
McCain’s Concession Speech: A Few Tips
CP’s Ted Scheinman, who’s been running around trying to document this entire historic election on videotape, also has a great Slate piece out today instructing John McCain how to lose gracefully. Read Scheinman’s tips for McCain’s (knock on wood, salt over shoulder, Obama jersey unwashed for two years) concession speech—informed by the examples of such great losers as Bob Dole, Adlai Stevenson, and Michael Dukakis. And forward them on to John, please.
What Would Ben’s Chili Bowl Do?
Ben’s Chili Bowl is an epicenter of District Obama supporters. Nearly every employee wears a button—or twelve. Everyone’s expecting a clear win for Ben’s favorite candidate. But what are they going to do if McCain wins? I spoke to D.C. residents enjoying their election day lunch at Ben’s to find out their worst case scenarios.
Carl Clark, Obama merch hawker. Clark says he’s been selling Obama buttons, which he collects from a flea market on Florida Ave. & 4th St. NW, for about a month. (Designs range from Obama/MLK “Legacy of Hope” to “Obama: First Black President.”) Clark says that if Obama wins, he’ll keep picking up some more designs to sell off before the inauguration. If McCain wins, “well, I guess it’s all over for me,” he says.
Photos: Iglesia Festival, Adams Morgan
Scenes from this morning’s poll outside Iglesia Festival, 1640 Columbia Rd. NW
Who Voted at Precinct 35?
Outside the City Paper’s polling place, Iglesia Festival, 1640 Columbia Rd., 9:30 a.m. At 10 a.m., Precinct Captain Paul Motsuk said 1,050 people had voted there so far.
Allan Jirikowic
Photos: 15th Street Presbyterian Church
9 a.m. at the 15th Street Presbyterian Church, 1701 15th St. NW.
Photos: Voting at Marie H. Reed
I just stopped by Marie H. Reed, 2200 Champlain St. NW. A friend told me she waited a little over 30 minutes for her boyfriend to cast his vote there.
Our Morning Roundup
* Wonkette live-blogged Barack Obama’s television infomercial last night on “poverty and murder.” All you need to know:
8:22 — Nevermind, the mother wasn’t the fourth Poor in his story. It’s Joe Biden.
8:22 — No — it’s Claire McCaskill.
8:22 — No — It’s Barack Obama. He is the fourth Poor in his own story.
8:23 — No, REALLY, It’s some guy named Mark, Louisville, lost job at factory, unemployment lines, can’t afford shit, THIS IS MOVING SO FAST, he wants to– THE END OBAMA SHOOTS A THREE POINTER.
* Playgirl editor forces Jezebel editor to consider Barack Obama’s penis.
* The New Gay takes 9:30 club patrons to task for dancing, homophobia, tallness.
* John Dickerson for Slate: Why is the McCain camp so happy?
* GWU blog The Colonialist finds something fishy within the new McCain attack ad.
* And in this newspaper:
- The Battle For the Mid-Atlantic: CP chronicles the last legs of the local campaign. Justin Moyer takes McCain; Franklin Schneider takes Obama.
- Which D.C. Pharmacies won’t stock your contraception.
- Loose Lips tells you to write-in for Carol Schwartz. Bring a pencil.
- And in arts: Maura Judkis on Richard Avadon; Aaron Leitko reviews Gang Gang Dance.
Photo of the 9:30 Club by rpongsaj.
