I'd like to say that I spent yesterday at the beating heart of the electoral process, participating in democracy and helping our new President to the White House by ferrying people to and from the polls in the minivan I specially hired.
However, I did not.
I was so excited when I woke up, singing the American national anthem in the shower and donning my spiffy Obama t-shirt with pride, ready to play my part in making history.
I felt very conspicuous in my Obama shirt, as if people were noting it when I walked past, and either silently poo-pooing me, or smiling in solidarity.
I rocked up at the car rental place to collect my minivan, with plenty of time to get to Obama HQ to start picking up the people I'd offered to give a lift to, having called the car rental place yesterday to confirm that they'd have a minivan for me and being snippily assured by the man that there would be a minivan there, implying I was in some way square and/or fussy to be checking.
Hmph. Turns out I was right to be dubious, because they didn't have a minivan for me. They helpfully suggested I take the metro to the airport, because that branch had one. Whatever happened to the famed American customer service?!
Cutting my losses, I dashed over to another car rental place I've used before, established that they did have a minivan and then waited AGES for them to bring it round for me. Eventually, I was on the road, but didn't get to Obama HQ until 10am, by which time everyone who needed a lift had been looked after! I was so sad. I was really looking forward to helping out, in lieu of actually voting.
I sheepishly came home, where Max was hanging out before going into work this afternoon and I picked him up and we cruised around the city, trying to catch a glimpse of the crazy-long queues at polling stations that we'd heard about on the news. We finally managed to find one, just off U St, but it took a while and seemed like the city was in pretty good shape for those hoping to vote.
By way of consolation for not being able to ferry voters to the polls, the Obama HQ people had asked me to drive some students out to Virginia to do some last-minute canvassing. This is exactly what I didn't want to do - I wanted to be in and around polling stations, not knocking on doors or harrassing people on the street, especially as my British accent would surely have made people wonder what business it is of mine who they vote for.
Anyways, I headed off to the DNC headquarters to report for duty, only to discover that they had loads of volunteers already! I had to sit in my minivan outside the DNC for over an hour, in driving rain, just waiting for enough people to need lifts to Virginia. This is not what I'd had in mind for my election day experience!
Eventually my minivan was full of eager and hilariously geeky boys from Georgetown University and we headed off through the rain, encroaching darkness and terrible traffic towards Virginia, as the politics students all argued about who made the best speech on the campaign trail, who was likely to be in the cabinet and other such pressing issues.
We finally found the office we were heading to, which was a hive of activity. We were put in a holding room and eventually given a task to do, after I dropped the bombshell that we only had two hours before we had to go back to DC (as per what the DNC had promised us. Plus, I had an election night party to host single-handed and the eager beavers had to get back for their Democrats Society party).
We were sent out into the darkness to knock on doors of registered Obama supporters, to make sure they'd voted. I had a grand total of 8 households to visit, 6 of whom weren't home and of the other two, one had already voted and the other was in the shower, but his housemate was going to tell him to vote. I'm fairly sure that house was either a crack den or a cult - there was the weirdest array of people there.
The weird estate me and my fellow volunteers were canvassing was in the middle of nowhere and kind of creepy in the pitch darkness, so I wasn't too sad to leave, though really disappointed that the sum total of my contribution to the Obama cause was talking to two people who'd already voted.
We got horribly lost on the way back in DC, so Max had to do the Kenneth Kendall bit for me that I'd done for him in Maine, and talk us through it. We eventually got back, just in time for me to start preparations for my election night party with Anne and Hugh, Jim and Cindy, Tim and Holly (J&C's friends we met at baseball - Tim's Mancunian and Holly works at NatGeo) and Cindy's sad friend who recently split up from his boyfriend.
Tim, Holly, sad man whose name I can't remember, Jim, Cindy, Hugh, Anne
I was really sad not to be able to watch the results come in with Maxy - I really wanted to share the whole experience with him, but he was at the Bureau, working on the results desk - he was one of three people calling the results for the entire BBC! And he'd text me secret inside info, which made the night all the more fun for us, as we ate pizza and watched with glee as the electoral map turned increasingly blue.
I kept track of which state went to whom with my hi-tech system that rivalled anything Peter Snow or Wolf Blitzer could manage. Sure, CNN had a weird and pointless hologram of Will.I.Am, but I had postits! And one column for Obama, the other for McCain. Foolproof!
Max texted very early - before 9pm - to say that it was game over, that Obama had won Ohio and was looking good in Virginia and Florida, which were crucial swing states.
Shortly afterwards, he texted to say that McCain was about to concede, but with the west coast polls yet to close, I knew that that was a bit premature.
Nevertheless, our sitting room was a-buzz with excitement and teary eyes and rank disbelief. Then, when CNN called it for Obama on the dot of 11pm (just as west coast polls closed), we all erupted and cried and whooped and cheered and hugged and texted loved ones, amazed it was all over so quickly and with such little effort (give or take the two solid years Obama spent on the campaign trail). Amazing!!!
I was so sad not to share the moment with Max, but so pleased it happened and that I was at home with friends. It felt like a 'where were you?' moment. And so exciting that Obama entirely re-wrote the electoral map and won so decisively, with none of the hanging chad-like shenanigans that allowed Bush to take power. What a dude.
I was amused to see McCain look so relieved during his concession speech, with Palin quietly crying next to him. It was so lame that some of the handful of people McCain was addressing booed when he paid tribute to Obama and so excellent that, although Obama addressed hundreds of thousands of people in Grant Park, Chicago, not one boo was audible when he praised McCain.
I didn't much like Michelle's weird dress she wore at Grant Park. She's looked so great all campaign, and then wore something that looked a bit like her insides were bursting out of her. But Sasha and Malia were adorable, and I loved Obama's line about them earning the puppy that would be coming with them to the White House.
Anne and Hugh and Cindy's friend had to leave after the speeches, but Cindy, Jim, Tim, Holly and I headed out onto U St to join crowds of people celebrating.
It was so emotional that U St had been the epicentre of race riots in 1968 and was now the site of jubilation at an African American becoming president. 
The atmosphere was just incredible, like nothing I've ever experienced. Everyone was just so happy and there was an amazing range of people just wandering around the streets, cheering, whooping, hi-5ing and grinning as cars crept past, honking their horns with people hanging out of the windows. There were young people, old people, a range of ethnicities and apparent backgrounds and everyone was united in this outpouring of euphoria - what an extraordinary thing, that politics managed to do this. And if anyone was in any doubt as to how important Obama's win was, they just had to look at the glee and relief on people's faces. I can't imagine McCain would've received the same reaction.
We walked around for a while, soaking up the atmosphere and marvelling at the manifest happiness of such a huge group of diverse people, then went our separate ways.
Max came home shortly afterwards, having suffered no mishaps at work, despite being under immense pressure. In fact, he saved the day! The BBC were getting their results from the wires and also had a deal with ABC that they'd tip the BBC off 15 mins in advance of calling a result for a particular candidate.
The Bureau Chief was the liaison with ABC and came into the results room at one point, to say that McCain had one three of Maine's four electoral votes, so they should call Maine for McCain. However, Max thought this sounded fishy and refused to post the result. And he turned out to be right! I'm not sure how the mistake was made, but Maxy spotted it and prevented poor David Dimbleby, who seemed to be coming under enough fire from Gore Vidal and Christopher Hitchens, from having to back-track and correct an erroneous result! What a clever fellow Max is.
I caught a repeat of the Daily Show's live election show and was so moved to see Jon Stewart, usually a picture of togetherness and never one to show any real emotion, get choked up as he announced Obama as the decisive winner of the election. What a night.
After a couple of hours sleep, Max and I drove round to pick up Susie and Louis just before 6am (I still had the minivan) and headed to the Lincoln Memorial, where we met Jim and Cindy again, to watch the sun come up on this bright new day, from the spot where MLK delivered his 'I Have A Dream' speech. 
Obviously to be in that spot was particularly poignant on the day when that dream took a massive step towards being realised.
The monument was deserted, but for some security guards and mental joggers dashing up and down the steps, and we were able to sit there as the thick cloud cover got gradually lighter (so much for a dramatic sunrise!), trying to get our heads around the enormity of what's just happened and what it means for the world, and babies like Louis.
the future's bright
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