Election '08: New York Style

Well ladies and gentlemen, our next president will be Barack Obama - the first African American president in United States history! I hope that we can all agree - regardless of who you voted for - it's pretty cool to watch history in the making.

Eric and I decided to seek out the full New York election experience this week. We started things off by going to Rockefeller Center on Monday to check out the set-up for "Election Plaza." I'm glad we went out there a day early, because when we went back last night for the actual election coverage, it was PACKED! So going a little early gave us the chance to walk around, check things out, and get some good pictures. We even took Achilles, so he could get a taste of the election action!

Election Plaza

Rockefeller Center all decked out - screens on either side of the building broadcasting election coverage on NBC and MSNBC, and beautiful patriotic lights!

Eric and Achilles in the heart of the action

Me with Achilles

The normally international flags were all replaced with American flags

Artsy shot looking up at the building!

On election night, we decided to roam the city and check out all the happenings. We started out back at Election Plaza at Rockefeller Center, which was (as I mentioned) very crowded but very cool. The two screens on either side of the building were showing the coverage on NBC and MSNBC. There were huge banners going up the front of the building, one for Obama and one for McCain. As the states were called for each candidate, the banners would raise up along the building to cheers from the crowd. There was also a map of the states on the ice rink that was colored in as the results came out (although it was too crowded for us to get close enough to see this). They were also giving out all sorts of things, like signs, buttons, and even dry-erase maps with red and blue pens so you could color in the states along with the news folks.

Rockefeller Center on election night - screens still showing coverage, plus the banners on the front of the building that raised up as the votes were tallied

Me in the crowd

VIDEO: The Obama banner being raised to cheers from the crowd

The map on the ice (Eric snapped this one the next day on his way to work - it was too crowded to see this on election night.)

Even the cabs were showing the results!

From there, we walked a couple of blocks over and saw that Fox News had some outdoor things going on: an outdoor round table discussion, and some seats set up for people to watch the coverage.

Eric in front of Fox

Talkin' politics

People watching the coverage outside of Fox News (it's possible these are all the Republicans in NYC)

Me at Fox

After that we walked over to Times Square to see what was happening. And the answer was: a lot. Holy crowds! There were screens playing both the CNN and ABC coverage, and just people EVERYWHERE. It was outrageous.

People packed in to the median, and on the stairs above the TKTS booth, watching CNN coverage

ABC coverage being shown further down in the Square

More Times Square craziness - people were packed in on both sides of the street and in the medians

As the results kept coming in, some Obama supporters hung this portrait of our President-Elect on the scaffolding in Times Square

After pushing our way through Times Square, we walked back over towards our neck of the woods and past the studios for the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, in the hopes that some of their live coverage might be taking place outside, but no such luck. So, we just went back home and finished out our evening in the comfort of our own living room.

Congratulations to President-Elect Obama. I pray that he will be a positive leader for our country in the next four years. And now, the campaigning is over, and it's back to regular life!