So Kerry has conceded. It is, in the long run, probably a good thing. Given the numbers in Ohio, there was pretty much no chance that he could win even with the provisional and absentee ballots, and the pointless ugliness of a drawn-out legal/electoral battle would have only hurt Democrats’ long-term prospects.

I’ve spent the better part of the morning trying to put a good face on this whole business. Given where the Democrats were in 2002, I suppose we should be happy Kerry did as well as he did (hey, it could have been another “Minnesota was right!” situation). Election turnout was the highest it’s been in forty years, with record numbers of new voters and young people coming out to the polls. There were long lines at polling stations, but the dire predictions of chaos, controversy, and corruption do not seem to have come to pass.

Also, there is the small consolation that whatever happens now, the Republicans own it.

That’s about all I’ve been able to come up with, though, and it doesn’t stack up so well against an actual popular majority for George W. Bush, the possibility of multiple Supreme Court appointments, and larger Republican majorities in both houses of Congress.

I can also say that six hours into the day, I’m already sick to death of hearing the punditocracy going on about how Bush won on “moral issues.”

I’m not sure what to make of all of this, other than “Aw, nuts!” Or perhaps this explains it.

More later.

I think it is safe to say that there is little risk of fraud or voter intimidation at the Kripplebush/Lyonsville volunteer firehouse.

However, I have to admit that I was rather surprised to find that when I stopped in to vote on my way to work at 8am this morning, there was a line of eight or nine people. According to the number the nice little old lady gave me, I was the seventy-seventh person to vote there, which tells me that it’s going to be a pretty busy day for them.

So I spent my ten minutes in line thinking about voting, and about the many discussion I’ve had with friends, acquaintances, and otherwise about its various merits. For all of the fooferah about voter fraud, election tampering, money corrupting the system, and various other electoral woes, we have yet to come to the point where a vote can actually be bought. I have had people make the argument to me that our current system is the equivalent of being able to buy a vote, but while the system has plenty of flaws, this claim is simply NOT TRUE.

Mostly, I group this sort of claim with others such as “Both the parties are the same,” “My vote isn’t going to matter anyway,” and so on; in other words, lame excuses from people who can’t be bothered to care, or who are too devoted to their pet issues to make a compromise for the greater good.

Thanks to an early-morning ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Republicans will be able to place voter challengers in Ohio polling places. In the words of one of the supporters of this strategy quoted on NPR yesterday, “Only someone intent on committing fraud could possibly be intimidating by these challengers.”

True, and only someone with something to hide would be opposed to letting the police search their house without a warrant.

I’ve been listening to the new Le Tigre album This Island quite a bit in the last couple of days. Very entertaining stuff—a great mix of keyboards, drum machines, and punk. I think I probably could have lived without the Pointer Sisters cover, but the rest of the record is quite strong.

In other news, I went down to the city for Halloween this past weekend. Well, actually, it was just for Saturday night, but given the number of costumed party-goers out on the streets, I think it still counts. There were a lot of people dressed up as Elvis, as well as quite a few zombies, both of which made me happy.

Among other things, I went with a friend to see her roommate’s sister’s husband’s band play at Arlene’s Grocery. The band in question was called Lesion, and they were surprisingly fun, although I’m not sure how well their schtick (“We’re a German hard-rock band”) would have gone over had it not been Halloween. Still, they were a lot better than I was expecting.