happy election day!

We’ll be headed to an election night party with fellow public policy nerds (and fellow UCLA SPA alums) to follow the voting returns here on the left coast… one of the few occasions where it’s good to be 3-hours behind the rest of the news world! And within hours our phones will stop ringing with robo-dialers, we won’t get any more pamphlets in the mail, and our country will have a new direction to march in while our state/city will most likely maintain the status quo.

If you’ve got DirecTV, check out the Election Mix Channel* (Channel 352, beginning 7 pm ET / 4 pm PT) to watch all the news returns in one place… it’s like a sports book for the races!

But… if the end of the election cycle brings tears to your eyes… rejoice that the next batch of candidates is awaiting around the corner! In fact, here in California, the short-list of Arnold replacements are already vying for press time! I’ll probably walk by them on the capital steps as well as they position themselves for a 2-year fight. Oh boy!

For those of you who will need some assistance in disguising their support for a losing candidate come Wednesday, here are some handy tips on how to remove a bumper sticker from your car! (I’m a big fan of vinyl window clings… but mine have been up so long they might as well be stickers at this point!)

But don’t be sad for the losing candidates! I owe my current success to one big-time Presidential loser… he helped me get on the track I’m on today with lots of questions, guidance, office chit-chats and two HUGE letters of recommendations at two critical junctures of life. So perhaps he didn’t get to lead the free world, but as a professor and friend, he’s been invaluable to many people since his loss. And just think, where would our current environmental movement be without that high-level powerpoint presentation by yet another candidate who met defeat?!?

So, my lovely fellow Americans, enjoy your democratic freedom today and pray we all don’t need a refresher in the electoral college process tomorrow! I’ve got my pocket Constitution ready just in case though.