Public Eye

FIRST-TIME voter Orlando, 24, called in to Patt Morrison's show on KPCC Tuesday afternoon at 2 while driving on the 210.

"Man, I was feeling so good when I went into that polling booth that I was just laughing," he said.

He'd skipped other elections but promised never to do it again.

Then Patt rang up Caltech political science professor Mike Alvarez, a leading expert on how and why people vote, and on the mechanics of doing so. Alvarez was in Albuquerque checking in on one of the swingingest of swing states.
"It's a different kind of atmosphere than I've ever seen here before," Alvarez said. "People driving by are honking and waving. They're standing on the street corners waving signs. I've never seen this kind of politicking. There's just a level of excitement ..."

I'd felt that excitement around Pasadena all morning. On my morning run in the Arroyo Seco, other runners I passed by were exchanging greetings with more enthusiasm than on most days. Even at noon, my polling place was hopping much more than usual. Poll worker Martha Denzel thought the turnout so far was higher than she'd ever seen. At Civic Center Cleaners, every single customer had an "I voted" lapel sticker, and, seeing mine, they smiled and waved.

It was like an antic holiday. The joy in participating in the democratic process was more akin to that we see in countries in which voting is new and cherished than to our ho-hum about elections past.

And I had my own 210 election moment. Far ahead of me in my eastbound lane, I saw an older Dodge minivan plastered with six support-our-troops ribbon stickers -- three yellow, three red, white and blue -- one with a "Keep my soldier safe" motto.
Also, I saw as I got closer, most unusually for that public sentiment, the van had a "Bring our troops home" sign. Then the kicker: In the middle of them all, an Obama for President sticker.

This mix of sentiments were indicative of a different kind of service-member family politics than we've ever seen before. It was that kind of election.

It was also an election that was covered differently than anything we've witnessed. Four years ago, I wasn't a blogger; now my digital camera is always in my pocket, and I was posting a picture on our Web site of No on Proposition 8 volunteer Stephanie Foley of South Pas minutes after I shot it. At the office, along with the other online coverage, I was checking out Plodt, the new entrepreneurial venture of former New York Times food writer Amanda Hesser, an e-mail friend since I interviewed her for the paper years ago.

It's a Twitter thing, in which visitors to www.plodt.com constantly rate everything about their lives on a 10 scale. Tuesday, on her Political Anxiety chart, Amanda wrote: "Feeling hopeful, and oddly emotional. mood 9. 1 minute ago." Earlier: "Voting booth smelled of bad vegetable soup. food 0. about 4 hours ago." Culinary criticism, political punditry -- it's an interconnected world, baby.