11 47 am pst   [ this is fun ]

This is fun. By fun I mean exciting. People who work for the news must be having a field day today. There's really nothing like political intruige.

As of this minute, Gore has won the popular vote and it looks like Bush will win the Electoral College vote, though they are still conducting a recount in Florida. Bush is currently winning by less that 2000 votes in Florida and the controversy abounds.

I have the same feeling I did when the Berlin wall came down and the cold war ended. We are living in exciting times. As the song says, Right here, right now, there is no other place I'd rather be. Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history.

1 50 pm pst   [ this is fun II ]

Oh goodness it's a zoo. No matter who wins, some people are going to claim the votes were miscounted or misentered. There will no doubt be an uproar if Gore wins the popular vote but Bush wins the presidency (as I predict). Some will demand the end of the electoral college. I have always thought it to be an archaic system, though certainly understandable in its inception. It would be amusing if we still had the old system whereby the loser becomes vice president.

For those non-Americans (or uniformed Americans), the electoral college system was set up to prevent regional candidates from winning. For example, when our country had slavery, if one candidate had been for slavery, then they would surely have won over 90% of the Southern votes. If the Northern votes were anything closer to 50%/50%, the that candidate would have won, without having to run in the North. The electoral college insists that even if you get 100% of the popular votes in several states, you won't win unless you get the majority in the majority of states. It was an interesting idea, and one which I'm sure few people gave thought to until now.

These are exciting times. I'm sure change is on the horizon and I hope it is for the better. I am proud to have participated in this election, and I intend to participate for every presidential election within my lifetime.