Off and running

Well, it wasn’t as dramatic as four years ago (I did miss the ol' newsroom a little). But Election Night 2012 was still a lot of fun.

I voted over my lunch break. Kates voted when she was finished with her school day.

Later, we met at home as a family. Ate dinner. Got the girls tucked into their beds. And settled in for what we figured would be a long night of watching the election returns.

After all, this year’s campaign was one of the nastiest ever. Watching and reading the people who cover news these last few days, the race appeared to be so evenly split. I had begun to believe Romney had the edge. Or we were destined for a repeat of 2000 when we didn't know who won for weeks …

Side note: I was in Washington, D.C., for that election. And I’ll never forget walking the streets the morning after with the front pages of the Washington Times shouting, “NO PRESIDENT YET.” I have a photograph …

As always, we tuned into Brian Williams, the crew on NBC, and their painted ice rink at Rockefeller Center. I also kept a close eye on Twitter, of course.

As the hours passed, the returns looked good for Obama. … But I wasn’t taking anything for granted. There were a lot of states left to be called.

Around 10 p.m., I decided to switch to The Daily Show, wanting a break from the straight news talk and thinking surely Jon Stewart and his crew would provide some good entertainment. … Actually, we watched The Daily Show up to the first commercial break, and then I switched to our DVR’d recording of Monday night’s Daily Show, while fully intending to come back to the Election Night Daily Show afteward so we could watch it commercial free.

But around 10:15, a Twitter post flashed that Obama won Ohio and thus had been declared the winner.

It was too early. That couldn’t be true.

Immediately, I stopped the Daily Show and switched back to NBC’s live coverage. Brian and the gang were calling it for Obama, too.

Twitter was flying with tweets now. And like that, this long, bitter, rollercoaster of a presidential campaign was over with Barack Obama retaining the presidency.

Sweet.

Now, there were a lot of races and propositions during this election that Kates and I would have preferred to go the other way, but I’m not going to get that detailed.

I’m glad it’s over.

Another thing that’s over: Phoebe’s sling-wearing.

After last week’s accident the doctor told us she might only have to wear the sling for a week before she’d be running around like nothing happened. But as much pain as Phoebe appeared to be in, we thought surely she’d have to wear it for two or three weeks, at least.

Instead – after our sleepless weekend – something changed Sunday.That evening Phoebe shouted to me, “Daddy! Look! I can move my arm!” And there she was, flapping it like a bird.

So, as scheduled, I took her to the doctor this afternoon for a check-up. The doctor removed the sling from Phoebe’s arm, felt the bones and had Phoebe move her arm. Phoebe moved it freely without pain. … The doctor made a call to an orthopedic doctor for some consultation, and when she returned she gave Phoebe the all-clear.

Phoebe jumped and danced all the way out of the doctor’s office, flinging her arms above her head and singing, “No more sling! No more sling!”

We’re off and running again.

Good reads ...
a How a Race in the Balance Went to Obama
a How Obama Won Re-election
a President Obama's Six Keys to Victory
a Networks tread lightly to avoid 'Dewey defeats Truman' flub
a From Frustrated to Nervous, Television Networks’ Moods Explain Results
a Election night review: TV news announces Obama re-elected; analyzing the analysts
a On TV, broadcasters search for a drama that never materialized
a Election 2012: From Brian Williams to Jon Stewart to Shep Smith, how each network covered the election
a Rove holds Fox News hostage, is ultimately defeated by those traitorous statistics he once loved so much
a Twitter reaction to Obama win: Trump goes on tirade, RuPaul tells Romney to 'sashay away'