In a thoroughly predictable turn of events, Hillary Clinton and Ron Paul were the write-in champions of 2008 (by all accounts a banner year for write-ins). That makes plenty of sense, given that both Clinton and Paul boasted die-hard adherents with a bit of a disenfranchisement complex.

To paraphrase President-elect Obama: “When people get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward candidates who actually have a hope in hell.”

But to assume these two were the only major write-in players would be to underestimate the imagination and pluck of the American people. As Matt Dunn of the New Jersey Star-Ledger sagely observes:

Voters in Cumberland County unsatisfied with the choices given to them on Election Day chose to vote on their own terms in this year’s election. The write-in candidates stood little chance of defeating those candidates whose names were listed on the ballot, but that didn’t stop voters from exercising their right to vote for whomever they saw fit.

Below the jump, some of my favorite write-ins from Ohio, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Florida, and D.C.

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William Ayers‘ appearance last night at All Souls Unitarian Church last night has been well-covered—today’s Post has a thorough accounting of Ayers’ day in D.C., as does the Wall Street Journal. Neither story, though, mentions the biggest noise the audience made during the evening. When Jeff Smith, executive director of DC Voice and moderator for the evening, asked Ayers an audience member’s question about the DCPS, the mention of Michelle Rhee’s name evoked a prolonged hiss from the audience. Ayers is a scholar of public education, and though he professed ignorance of Rhee and the DCPS, he’s not so big on Teach for America, of which Rhee is an alum. He described TFA as a “mixed blessing,” arguing that its method of alternative teacher certification has a built-in classist subtext: that teachers in low-income school districts aren’t qualified, requiring well-heeled college grads to be brought in to fix things.

If the sanctuary was largely filled with people concerned about the state of public education, the sidewalk outside the church was filled with folks who aren’t letting go of Ayers’ connection to the Weather Underground. Raoul Deming, a bearded, middle-aged man who drove to the event from Philadelphia, held up a sign reading, “AYERS LIED PEOPLE DIED NO JUSTICE NO PEACE.” The end of the election cycle hasn’t lessened his anger at Ayers’ attachment to terrorist activity. “These people killed people,” he says.

Conservative rageblog the Jawa Report has footage of Deming and a few other protesters in front of the church:

John McCain’s concession speech made for great television, and not just because his yahoo flock interrupted him enough as he tried to make nice to remind everybody what a hate-based campaign he’d waged.

The most fascinating segment came with his “hug” of Sarah Palin at the end of his speech.

The embrace reminded me of one a boxer gives his opponent after the judges’ decision against him has been announced. Tough to watch, harder not to.

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Spoiler alert: Obama won!

And the winner is: The lady in the grandiose white hat at the corner of 6th St. & Rhode Island Ave. who yelled at me, as I rode past her on my bicycle, “Barack Obama! Sieg Heil, Nazi! Sieg Heil on that bike of yours! Nazi!”

Can anyone top this?

…the roman candles start popping over Petworth.

This isn’t a Red neighborhood.

Look for Ben’s Chili Bowl and the back of my head to be on CNN. A crew from the cable network spent the evening watching the returns in the crowded back room of DC’s most famous restaurant.

As the results kept pouring in on the big screen analog TV — tuned into CNN, probably not by coincidence — the mood in the house wasn’t as tense or joyous as I’d hoped. The experience was sort of like watching a Florida State/Duke game with Seminoles fans as their team runs up the score after a close first quarter.

I wanted to find myself caught up in a happy riot. So did CNN, I think. The crew left as soon as Pennsylvania got called for Obama. I followed ‘em out after Ohio.

Tomorrow morning, Brian Komar will pinch himself. IF, that is, Obama wins. IF, that is, the GOTV organization he helped put together in Virginia helps deliver the state to Democrats. For now, he’s drinking a beer and welcoming other like-minded progressives to LeftBank on 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan. Komar, 36, works for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which is unaffiliated with the efforts he and other “leading influentials” have put forth on behalf of progressive politics. Read the rest of this entry »

While you were watching the election returns:

Seven-Eleven, U St. & 11th St. NW

Ben’s Chili Bowl, U St. & 13th St. NW

Rite Aid, U St. & 13th St. NW

The homepage of FOX News right now:

“RESULTS ROLLING IN” over what appears to be a backwoods church, followed by “McCain Wins West Va., Ky; Obama Takes Vermont.”

Bill Mallison, a friend, cast his vote for John McCain in the contested state of North Carolina (CNN initial polling projected the state at 50% Obama, 49% McCain, though Obama has now broken away). Mallison may be an out-of-state voter, but he is, at the moment, physically in the District (photo evidence above).

Mallison says he supports McCain despite the messy election cycle he’s emerged from. “If you ignore all the election pandering, which you have to do in order to shore up all wings of the party, he hasn’t changed,” says Mallison. “He’s the same politician he was in mid-2007. As bad as the Republican party’s been, after Tom Delay and Rove, it’s important to support the moderate wing of the party. And the moderate wing’s about gone because Delay and Rove killed most of the moderate Republican members of Congress. And McCain is basically all the things that a Republican wants in Republican, subtract all the insane token positions like stem cell research and gay marriage amendments and no prescription drug importation and torture. That being said, it’s not the party’s time to win. It’s the Democrats’ time.”

I, too, once voted for John McCain, for Senator of Arizona (totally won). Perhaps it was even my very vote that encouraged McCain to quench his unspeakable thirst for unparalleled international power. My bad.

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.

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.”