I early voted today here in Antioch, which is in Davidson County and considered part of Metro Nashville.
This is the second day of early voting, but the first that lasts until 7. The crowd at my polling place was about 3/4 black. Most were young-ish...late 20's to mid 30's. The line was out the door when I got there, but it moved rather quickly. I was done in 20 minutes.
This is just one of a series of interesting developments here in town recently.
I am a gay man...just tossing that out there for disclosure. I work for a large, multi-national corporation in one of our divisional corporate offices. Our focus is uniforms in our division, and the customers I work with are mainly large petrochemical and pipeline companies, many of which are not well liked around here. Of course, another one of our big utility customers co-sponsored the DNC. Flame-resistant apparel is needed in those industries, and that's what I provide.
So...here are some interesting things...
One of my closest gay friends has never been a fan of Obama. He was a big Hilary supporter. He believed his sister's tall tale of Obamacare forcing everyone to get a microchip implanted in their hands. I could not convince him that it was not true.
So imagine my surprise...He called me out of the blue asking me who I was voting for. His wording was to the effect of, "Are you voting for Obama or that money-grubbing asshole Romney?" He then asked me to help him figure how to vote since he is a trucker and is not sure if he will be back in time.
Another one that surprised me...I had a straight guy as a roommate for a year. We met off Craig's List and hit it off. We did not agree politically, as he was not an Obama fan at all. He was a Ron Paul supporter in the primaries.
Well, we parted ways, but still chat. He had to come by and get some things, and before he left he asked me sarcastically, "So...are you supporting Romney?" Of course I said HELL NO. He laughed and said he wouldn't either. He didn't want someone who destroyed jobs and in favor of corporations to be president. He said he was supporting Gary Johnson. Another Romney vote lost.
I work with a lot of white gay men and black women. All are Obama supporters. Of course, our livelihood is tied to overall employment in the country (Uniforms)...so we all know we need to support the one helping grow the economy. And this is private sector AND public sector, as we provide uniforms for both.
Just tossing in my notes from the ground here in Red Tennessee.