In New Jersey, the polls opened at 6:00 am and because Hoboken is close to the Lincoln Tunnel and New York City, all the NYC news outlets come to Hoboken to film for the morning news shows.
At 6:00am, we stepped into a line that was almost 2 blocks long. As we waited, the amount of media trucks and reporters steadily increased. At around 6:45am, we noticed an assemblage of microphones and a few "secret service" types walking around.
Walking down to the cameras, we overheard some reporters saying that they were waiting for New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. Soon, a few Lincoln sedans pulled up and a group of people moved inside the polling place. Everyone waiting in line was pretty excited to hear that the Governor was coming to cast his vote. And, even though many of us had been waiting for nearly an hour, no one really mentioned that Gov. Corzine had basically cut the line to vote (he is, after all, the Governor!)
Peeking inside the polling place, there was a line of cameras focused on the polling booth, waiting to get a clip of Gov. Cornzine casting his ballot. But, the cameras were waiting, and waiting, and waiting... How long does the Governor need to decide, some reporters wondered openly? A few moments later, 2 cameramen suddenly began running out of the polling place and 4 more followed. One of the cameramen yelled to his partner - reporter, "He's at the back of the line! Corzine is at the back of the line!", and they all started running down the block.
Rather than skip to the front of the line, Gov. Jon Corzine decided he would wait along with everyone else! In fact, Gov. Corzine brought a few newspapers and his morning coffee; he was prepared to wait!
The Governor was courtious and smiled as the reporters filmed him for the morning news. One reporter shouted out, "Governor, if Barack Obama wins, will accept a position as the Secretary of the Treasury?" To which the Governor didn't respond. (I was behind the reporters taking pictures and when a 'professional photographer' saw me taking pictures, he tried to move quickly out of the frame. When Governor Corzine saw this, he looked me and smiled.)
In all, Gov. Corzine waited in line for nearly 2 hours with us to cast his ballot. His decision to walk to the end of the line, rather than skip in front, was very respectable. The Governor could have easily voted and been on his way, but he stood out in the cold at 7:00am along with other citizens of New Jersey to cast his ballot on Nov. 4, 2008.
[cross-posted at http://cheese.photoprez.com]