Yesterday morning my wife and I went in and voted early. We live in Chicago and there was a great turn out we thought, no lines but every station was filled at about 10am. We had to wait a bit and then within like 5 minutes we each got to vote. I was used to voting in my old polling place on election day where it was always pretty thin in 2006 and 2004. This time was different, an interesting cross section of voters; young and old, many different ethnic backgrounds, men and women, it was exciting - saw some Obama gear being worn by the voters - it is Chicago though. A good and helpful staff too.
Below you'll also see a focus on the IL-06 race between Morganthaler and Roskam, they just kind of floated to me in their televised debate.
I also would like to say how good it felt to see the Obama/Biden name on there and know my vote was cast. Really satisfying to go the day after the last debate and give my best support to the ticket. More than money, volunteering, phone banking, this was it. Now on to see where I can help on 11/4 as well as the coming weeks.
One other note is I wished I had researched the judges more, seriously it was like five pages of judges in the county and I recognized a few. Hate not knowing some of the people on the ballot.
Just to reiterate I cannot vote for a lot of these races I've mentioned before. I got mine in for my district but if you want to know more and can find some links, give time, money, etc. here you go. So some of the races I thought were interesting to note:
IL-06
Jill Morganthaler
Saw her on Chicago Tonight debating Republican Peter Roskam, Morganthaler has an impressive resume; 2005-2007 Illinois Homeland Security Advisor, awarded the bronze star for her service in Iraq and was an Army Colonel. Roskam is the guy who beat Tammy Duckworth in 2006 and that was close, hopefully given the climate and Roskam's "rubber-stamp" approach this cycle's results will be different.
Oh and doing research for these entries I stumbled upon this nice article in the SunTimes:
Ill. Dems Working to Paint the Suburbs Blue
UPDATE:
Chicago Tribune endorses Barack Obama
This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party's nominee for president.
The Republican Party, the party of limited government, has lost its way. The government ran a $237 billion surplus in 2000, the year before Bush took office -- and recorded a $455 billion deficit in 2008. The Republicans lost control of the U.S. House and Senate in 2006 because, as we said at the time, they gave the nation rampant spending and Capitol Hill corruption. They abandoned their principles. They paid the price.
McCain failed in his most important executive decision. Give him credit for choosing a female running mate--but he passed up any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin's exposure to the public. But it's clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment's notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country.
Amazing!
General Links:
Know the IL Races
ActBlue IL