Election day jitters

Since we arrived here over a month ago I have been surprised at how much press the US election gets here. Every day the German newspapers I looked at had something about it, often on the front page, and the radio news reports would often have a short blurb with the latest updates. Today, the first thing mentioned on the radio news breaks has been the US election. Right now on many of the German TV stations they're reporting the election. They even have reporters in the US to cover it! I think it's really telling how the fixation on this decision extends as far as it does outside the US.

I had an interesting conversation with some colleagues about the election, and they were primarily mystified that people in the US don't seem to care what the rest of the world thinks of them. That, and they were amazed by the length of the campaign. A Brit in my lab pointed out that on the BBC news homepage there's a corner devoted to the US election above the other UK and world news.

I'm also anxious to see the results of the election in Washington state. The governor's race there is extremely important and there are several propositions that are significant as well. (Speaking of Washington, the New York Times had an article about the two neighborhoods where I lived in Seattle, in case you're curious. It made me homesick.)

I'm not sure how late I'll be able to stay up watching CNN - the first east coast polls don't close until 1am here. But I have a beer, some brownies, popcorn and a cabbage pie, so hopefully they will see me through a few of the poll closures.


Does anyone remember those Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas and how they were a reward for Book-It in elementary school? (They apparently still are.) I loved those things even though (as my mother pointed out) they were not at all cost-effective. While I was making the pie (I guess it's really a galette) it reminded me of those pizzas. There's something about having a miniature version of a food that you don't have to share with anyone else.


I have to say that now I'd take a personal cabbage pie over one of those pizzas, but that probably wasn't true when I was eight. Happy election day everyone. May you have your own personal cabbage pie (or pan pizza) to see you through the evening!