Today is the big day.  Either John McCain or Barack Obama (sorry 3rd parties) will become the next President of the United States.  As I said earlier, history will be made one way or another.

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After having a discussion with one of my friends where I randomly started tossing out made-up ratios of Obama to McCain signs in the nearby areas, I decided to perform an experiment on my drive home today.  Other than some cities in the Hampton Roads area, parts of Richmond, and small communities around various colleges in the state, the vast majority of the rest of Virginia is traditionally Republican.  A generally rural state with a strong military presence, this has played to the Republican party and Virginia hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since LBJ in 1964.

I live in northern Virginia (Nova), an extremely dense metro area outside of Washington DC.  Northern Virginia is heavily populated by basically two types of people: those who work for the government and those in the high tech industry.  Not surprisingly, as both of these typically Democrat-leaning groups have grown (quite dramatically), the area has become more and more Democrat-leaning in general.  Four of the counties in the Northern Virginia area have been in the top 15 fastest growing counties each year for the past 5-10 years.  Since the growth in this area greatly exceeds the growth in the rest of Virginia, the state in turn has also turned more and more Democratic.  Five of the last seven governors have been Democrats and Mark Warner, a former Governor looks set to beat another former Governor, Jim Gilmore, for the Senate seat.  That would put both Senate seats in the Democrats hands.

That said, even though Virginia still hasn’t gone Republican for so long in the presidential race, many pundits are predicting Virginia to go for Obama.  This is highly dependent on how strongly he wins in Northern Virginia.  From this, I decided to perform my highly scientific and foolproof research experiment: I would simply count the number of signs, bumper stickers, etc, on my way home from work today to pick up Christina at the VRE, on my way out to dinner, and finally on the way home.

I only had one rule:  A single home only counts as one vote, regardless of how many signs they have out front.  One person, one vote.  I had a few interesting observations: Neighbors seemed to clump together and support a certain candidate.   One corner would have all McCain, the next all Obama.  Do these people move around together?  In McCain’s favor, I came across a house that had signs for all Democratic candidates for the state positions but surprisingly, a McCain For President sign.  He’s obviously convinced one Democrat to vote for him.  More humorously, Obama has at least one support who decided their whole house needed to be decorated in Obamania.  Banners hung out of every window while signs littered the lawn — that’s the kind of enthusiasm Obama has to love.  And the neighbors probably hate.  

All in all, I was actually a bit surprised at the results.  With all the talk about how Obama looks set to “turn Virginia blue”, the signs favored him by only 45 to 35.  I’ll be curious to see how my results stack up with the actual results from the election.

No soon had I mentioned that I tried to stay out of politics than McCain announces his VP selection.  I said it before but you have to be somewhat excited about this years presidential election.  Two reasonable candidates and now, a guaranteed “first” - either the first minority president or the first female vice-president.  Well done, McCain and Obama. Well done.

I try not to get too involved in politics mostly because of the partisanship and incompetence at all levels but every now and then, someone says something that just rings true.

We are borrowing money from China, to buy oil from the Middle East, so we can burn it in ways that destroys our future.

– Al Gore

Last night, Christina and I had dinner with another couple, Andrew and Jen.  Andrew is best friends with Christina’s brother and is about to be deployed.  They had their wedding the weekend before ours and so it was, yes, yet another anniversary dinner!  It was great to see them though and I wish Andrew all the best when he goes overseas.

I already mentioned that I can’t believe two nations could fight a modern conflict using the incredibly powerful weapons in use today.  Just as amazing, and probably stupid, are the journalists who cover these conflicts.  They sit in the middle of a war zone and assume their journalist credentials will protect them from bullets and bombs.  While we are given an unprecedented view of battles on TV that is disturbingly captivating, I simply can’t imagine what makes these journalists go through what they do.

The news this week of the invasion of Georgia by Russia has jarred me.   I’ve grown up in a country that has by far the most powerful military in the world but hasn’t really fought a traditional war since before I was born.  All of our recent military actions have quickly turned into  rapid response deployment of our superior weaponry against an asymmetrical, guerrilla force.  We fight very few pitched battles as our opponents have either capitulated almost immediately and/or devolved into fighting an insurgency that avoids direct confrontations.  Relatively modern countries fighting a modern-day conflict using traditional arms seems “antiquated” somehow.

Which of these does not belong?  Terrorism.  Patent reform.  Health Care.  Social Security.  Immigration.  Iraq.  Iran.  North Korea.  Economy.  Trade deficit.  National debt.  Steroids. 

Among the number of problems facing the US today, I know where I would rank steroid use in sports.  Yet, for whatever reason, Congress have made it a point to hold congressional hearings on steroid abuse in baseball.  Under what circumstances does it make sense for Congress to get involved?  This is a problem that the organization, MLB, should be handling. If anyone outside of MLB should care, it should be law enforcement… maybe even the FBI if you must make it a federal level investigation… checking out the illegal drug use angle.  It should definitely not be Congress!   President Bush even stuck his nose in there for some reason in a State of the Union address a few years ago - probably only because, surprise, he used to own a baseball team. 

On a similar note, some Congress members want to investigate the “Spygate” scandal in the NFL where the Patriots videotaped their opponents before the game.   Seriously?  Congress is now the enforcer when it comes to cheating in sports?  Let the NFL handle it! 

The abysmal approval ratings for Congress reflect their effectiveness at doing their job.  There are so many issues that could use some serious, realistic efforts… and yet, Congress is wasting time and money getting involved in something completely removed from their reason for existence - making laws.  

Today is primary day in Virginia and Christina and my work colleagues have asked me if I’m voting today.  I didn’t realize the primaries were *real* voting days.  I thought they were just for extremists from each party to nominate their respective politicians.  Right now, it looks like either Clinton or Obama are going to win the Democratic nomination and McCain the Republican.  I don’t necessarily agree with all issues for all candidates but as far as getting a reasonable, competent candidate, I think America lucked out, regardless of which party wins the election in November. 

I hate partisan politics and have an intense dislike for the Bush-Cheney political machine that operates solely on the "if you’re not with us, you’re against us and a terrorist."   Bush has done 8 years of damage since he’s taken office and I just hope his successor is able to start mending those mistakes.  The parting shot by Romney …. well, Jon said it best.