YES WE CAN

As Johnny Drama from Entourage would say, "Victory!"

Barack Obama has defeated John McCain. This is a huge historical landmark and I wanted to celebrate the election in a historical way so I went to Rockefeller Center and celebrated with thousands of others New Yorkers. The energy of the crowd was insane and it truly felt like I was a part of something important. Here's some pics I took to document the night:


My mom actually called me on the phone and told me to go to Rockefeller Center because she saw it on CNN and said it looked like a crazy cool place to be. I don't think she used the words "crazy cool" but I'm sure that's what she meant. And she was right.


They had many indicators as to who was ahead in the election. One was the U.S. map on the ice skating rink where they would paint each state red or blue when the results came in.


The other was this amazing building where the Obama and McCain elevator (or decorated window washer thing) would rise with the results. It was a race to the top - well, to 270.


Later that night I went to NYC hotspot Haven where Obama Girl was hosting a party. Um yeah, I said Obama Girl. Remember that You-Tube video with the girl singing her affection for Obama and dancing seductively? Well she still has love for her man and she was hosting a party. Good times, good times. Check out my interview with Obama Girl here. She was awesome. Even though Obama was expected to win, seeing this announcement on TV felt surprisingly powerful.

Here is some video of the scene at Rockefeller Center. The crowd goes crazy when Obama rises and boos when McCain's does. It is New York people. At the end there is an adorable kid who starts jumping up and down when Obama wins New York. This election has affected people at every age!

ELECTIONS BLOG

It's up to you America!!!



Even Sarah Palin is embarrassed to vote for McCain. This morning after she finished voting at a polling place in Wasilla, Alaska a reporter asked her outside who she voted for and she replied, "I am also exercising my right to privacy and I don't have to tell anybody who I voted for and nobody does. And that's really cool about America, also." There were also a lot of Japanese reporters who started asking her about Japan. It was a bit awkward for everyone.



Is CNN really that desperate for advertisers that they're allowing Fox news to advertise on their channel? I seriously thought I accidentally put on FOX News when I heard an ad saying, "The most watched, the most trusted election headquarters ... Fox News!" But nope, I was watching CNN News. CNN must be so confident they're the best, they don't believe any of their viewers will actually change the channel to laughable FOX. Or perhaps they figure any ad is better than Viagra and Diabetes medicine commercials.



Voting booths are very confusing. It looked like I was trying to fly a plane in there with that huge board with 500 nobs and levers. I don't remember it looking like that at my polling place four years ago in Cali. This was so old school! Who came up with this system?! I thought I had to pull the lever after each vote so I pulled it after I voted for President and then couldn't vote for anything else! On top of that, my polling place didn't have the "I voted" stickers! What's up with that? I don't understand how we can have crazy databases, fly to the moon and be so technologically advanced but then have voting booths from the 1960's. Update your shit America! Simplicity + Efficiency = Accuracy.



The robo calls that the Republicans have been doing today are desperate and pathetic. Total lies. They made calls about how Vidal Castro endorses Obama and how voting for Obama will turn the US into a Cuban dictatorship. Give me a break!

Walking the streets of New York I hear everyone talking about the elections. There was a young girl with her mom standing in front of me at the polls and the little girls was telling her mom how in school all the students had to choose who they would vote for. "Every one of the kids picked Obama mom."



In Union Square there are a ton of people selling different Obama t-shirts but I don't see any booths selling McCain shirts. Do McCain voters not represent?



In sports news, today the Cleveland Browns announced they're benching QB Derek Anderson, and will finally be starting Brady Quinn. I've been a Brady Quinn fan since his early days at Notre Dame and I was lucky to meet him at the ESPY's this year. This move is long over due. He already has a million endorsements and he's never even started a game. He'll make his first starting appearance against the Broncos on Thursday night. However, I was disappointed when I discovered this:



...Ok, leaving for an elections viewing party. Peace.

POLITICS AND SEX

This is just ridiculous.

There are a lot of distinguishing factors that make this historic election unique from past Presidential elections - youth registration is up in staggering numbers, the impact of SNL and pop culture, the fascination with candidates lives like never before, the breakdown of stereotypes ... and then there are things like this:


A dude on the street in Time Square selling Barack Obama and John McCain condoms.

Obama's reads: "Use with good judgment" and McCain's reads "Old but not expired."

While I was tempted to buy some, I figured that probably wouldn't be the smartest idea, so I settled on some pictures instead for documentation purposes. Years from now when my kids ask me about this historical election I'll be able to say, "Yup, they were selling condoms with the candidate's picture on them back in my day."

Pretty sure I don't remember seeing these for sale four years ago. Hilarious.