A Republican poll watcher writes in to the National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg:
Jonah,
Spent my lunch hours working the polls in the People’s Republic of Old Town, Alexandria. My polling place is city hall, where Clinton et al. had their rally last night. I couldn’t avoid the rally, since it was right around the corner from my house. The turnout and the energy of the crowd made me very concerned about the results today. True, this is a very liberal area, but I’ve been through many elections and never seen that sort of buzz for a political rally here. These people are pretty fired up. True to form, Clinton arrived late and spoke to long, crowding others off the schedule.
Turnout today was about 1,000 voters by lunchtime. Last year for the gubernatorial election, it was less than half that. While passing out Allen literature, I was called macaca once, and another person said he was getting his noose for Allen – a reference to a Post story about a noose he kept in his office I believe. The talk was generally that Allen ran a terrible campaign, and if this election decides anything, it is that Allen and Kerry are both toast for 2008.
A pickup truck with a coffin in it was parked in front of Market Square, the site of last night’s rally. The owner appeared to be a middle aged Hispanic man, mourning his son who was killed in Iraq. He had a pickup truck with information on his son, and a coffin in the back with his service information. I wasn’t close enough to hear, but he appeared to be blaming Bush for his son’s death to the TV cameras. It was really a pretty moving sight. Although I think the conclusions he has drawn are incorrect, I am sure that sort of thing can sway many people.
My report from the front.
