Election day thread

11:00 Oh man, what a ride. Just made it back to Lamont headquarters and although he lost, he made a impact on this nation that will never be forgotten.

It was a HUGE day for Danbury as Joe Taborsak and Bob Godfrey won big. I'm still waiting on results from the other races in Danbury.

Be back soon...going to get as many interviews as possible.

5:45 Click here and watch this video clip and you'll see why Joe Lieberman and the Republican Party should be very concerned.

5:30 Okay, I'm hitting the road. Going to stop at all the polling places and see what's going on. Be back soon.

KEEP THOSE FIELD REPORTS COMING.

Hey Greater Danbury residents, I want to hear from you so email me your reports at hatcityblog@yahoo.com. I noticed that the News-Times hasn't updated my blog on their site in a while so I'll call and see what's happening. This is a new thing so there's going to be bugs.

5:15 Field report: East Norwalk:

I was at St. Mary's Community Hall in East Norwalk where voting is very heavy. This was about 1:15pm with several Lamont pollstanders, one Lieberman woman who was a Bloomberg operative from New York and anti-war. We had the enthusiasm and many thumbs up signals from voters and people stopping by and talking ...I am going back out at 4pm to stand there for at least two hours. Very good vibrations here
in Norwalk for Ned.

4:15 DANBURY REPORT: Ward 3: Broadview School


I arrived at Broadview School around 1:30 and unlike in previous elections, I had a bit of a time finding a parking spot so I knew there was a possibility of a high turnout.

Tons visibility for Chris Murphy, and Ned Lamont while there was only one guy holding a "find Joe on the ballot" sign who took off about three minutes after I arrived (was it something I said :-)

One of the rather interesting State Rep races is in the 109th between Democrat JoeTaborsak and Republican Gregg Seabury. Now Seabury is what polical junkies call a carpetbagger. He's tried his luck once in the 107th and two times in the 110th before moving into the 109th to give it a go for the open seat held formerly held by Lew Wallace.

Now, this seat was almost a lock for the Democrats until immigration took the spotlight earlier this year with the arrest of 11 day laborers at Kennedy Park. Seabury took advantage of the situation and launched an attack on Taborsak and made a boring race, interesting.

* Click here to read what I had to say about Seabury views on illegal immigration after the day laborer's arrest.

* Click here to read my analysis of Seabury's attack mailer on Taborsak.

* Click here to see who the News-Times endorsed for the 109th and more importantly...why.

Both Gregg Seabury and Joe Taborsak were at the school when I arrived and each had their team of volunteers holding signs and cheering their guy on. I would say that Taborsak had more visibility at the school while Seabury had more lawn signs on the way to the school.

I went into the school and handed my ID and noticed while they were looking for my name, pages after pages of names already cross off the list. I asked how the turnout was and I volunteer, pointing at the list, said it was amazing. Personally, the last time I saw anything close to this was during the primary in August.

After I did the voting thing, I walked outside and caught up with Joe Taborsak and asked him about his feelings about today's election. Here's what he had to say:



Oh yeah, here are a few photos I took at the school...I promised the kids that I'd place their photos online. It's amazing how fast people want their photo taken when you say you're a blogger...




4:00 Remember when I reported about FOXNews and Joe Lieberman in Milford eariler today...

Just heard this story that came from one of our volunteers in Milford… apparently, he was the only person from any campaign pollstanding at a polling place in Milford earlier this morning. All of a sudden, two or three out-of-state Fox News vans (accompanied by a Fox News crew) pull up and unload a bunch of Lieberman lawn signs, placed right in front of the Lamont signs that had already been planted. And, what do you know, after a few more minutes, who shows up but Joe himself, ready for the cameras.

Who needs a field organization (or an advance team) when you’ve got Fox?

Well, click here to see Republican Liberated Joe gooble up every GOP talking point on FOXNews this morning.

Had enough?

Vote for change.

3:20 Update:

Earlier, I heard from a source that the Sec of State was going to anounce that the turnout for this eleciton was going to be 70 percent. Guess my source was correct.

Here's the update from the News Times

Some 70 percent of the registered voters will go to the polls today, according to Connecticut Secretary Susan Bysiewicz.

By comparison, 56 percent of the state’s voters cast ballots four years ago, Bysiewicz said.

"We only had 5 hours of voting this morning and we’ve already at nearly 30 percent in some cities," she said.

Those cities include Danbury, where almost 30 percent of registered voters turned out by noon.

Here's what the Hartford Courant filed:

Turnout in several communities reached 30 percent by noon Tuesday as Connecticut voters cast ballots in contentious congressional and Senate races and several state and local contests.

Elections officials were checking scattered reports of problems at polling places, but no formal complaints had been filed with state elections enforcement officials by early afternoon.

[...]

Several towns reported turnout at or near 30 percent by noon, considered unusually high for midterm elections.

Municipalities such as Danbury, Vernon, Tolland, Suffield and Bolton reached the 30 percent mark by noon while others, including Middletown and Windsor, saw ballots cast by one of every four registered voters by midday.

They were voting in Connecticut's Senate race, in which Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman was running as an independent after losing a Democratic primary to political newcomer Ned Lamont.

Also drawing interest were three close congressional races that could help determine whether Democrats gain the 15 seats they need to take back the House. Also on the ballot was Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who faced a challenge from Democratic New Haven Mayor John DeStefano.

These reports echo my observations earlier today. Turnout in Danbury is off the chart and we still have a while till the polls close.

3:10 Field report: DANBURY- Ward 5, War Memorial

Well,

I voted at the war memorial. No Lieberman signage of any kind. No Lieberman pollsters of any kind. I gotta wonder what the hell he spent $14 million on in his campaign???

The stream of people into the War Memorial was very steady. More than I have ever seen voting in the middle of the day. I too looked at the names and saw many, many of them crossed off. It was good to see those old voting booths and the votes getting backed up with a real paper trail. I wish all of America could feel like I did after I voted for Ned!

There was a Ned sign guy out there that was doing a great job and quite a few Democrat sign holders for DeStefano and others. Again, no Nancy Johnson people and no Joe Lieberman people either. It was kind of strange. I only saw one Nancy Johnson sign by CVS (near the War Memorial) and it looked odd. The colors were changed to look more like one of Ned's signs?

I think the Democrats missed one good opportunity this year. The entire ticket was pretty strong. It was very easy to just vote the entire line B. They should have publicized voting a straight ticket down the line...

Here's to hoping we can take our country back from evil!

3:00 Field report: DANBURY- Ward 5, War Memorial

I voted in Danbury at roughly 8:20 AM (Danbury War Memorial Building). There were no lines when I arrived so I got through reasonably rapidly. Met an old acquintaince and another chap poll standing for Chris Murphy & Ned Lamont. No sign of any Lieberman presence.

Since we are still using the old machines, there did not seem to be any apparent problems. The lines were just starting to build as I left.

Come on Hat City folks, I wanna hear from ya!

Email me your report at hatcityblog@yahoo.com (don't forget to tell me which ward your reporting from).

Anywhere else in CT, email me at ctblogger@yahoo.com

If you already gave me a report, email your friend and tell them to do the same.

2:50 Observations:

Here's what I'm hearing so far.

The turnout for this election is HUGE. I just came back from voting myself and there were nothing but cross off names on the voter list. Poll watchers and people filing in field reports all say the same thing..the turnout is VERY high.

The DeStefano campaign just issued this press release.

Early polling results from Democratic stronghold voting precincts across Connecticut indicate that voter turnout is extremely high and is on record pace for a mid-term election.

Middletown (34%) and New London (36%) - for instance - already have 5% higher voter turnout that the 2002 gubernatorial election. Hamden and Bloomfield have reached the voter turnout levels for 2002 – with more than 5 hours left until polls close.

"One thing both Gov. Rell and John DeStefano agree on is that today all the earlier polls mean nothing," said Derek Slap - campaign spokesperson. "Election Day is about turning out voters and right now things look promising for DeStefano and the Democrats. The heavily forecasted Democratic wave is taking shape and this can only be a good thing for John DeStefano."

I can't wait to get back out on the road again and see how the evening goes...

2:45 Reminder:

Email me your voting report.

If your from Danbury email me at hatcityblog@yahoo.com (don't forget to tell me which ward your reporting from).

Anywhere else in CT, email me at ctblogger@yahoo.com

I'm love the reponses I'm receiveing so far so keep them coming!

NOTE:I just came back from Broadview School and I'll bring you my full report including my video interview with 109th Democratic State Rep. candidate, Joe Taborsak shortly.

2:40 Field report: New Haven

Just got back from poll standing this morning. Guess who voted in my
precinct? Yep, Mr. & Mrs. Lieberman.

Anyway, there were five or six of us outside, which is hard to
believe given the small size of our precinct. And lines! Perhaps
we're all just eager and voting early, but the turn-out was much
greater than I would have thought. Much, much greater.

Met one guy who was gleeful about voting for Lamont. I guess he had
bumped into Joe on the sidewalk, and Joe wouldn't shake his hand.
(The voter was a down on his luck vet, but he recounted how kind Ned
was to him at an event on the New Haven Green.)

Finally, no Lieberman volunteers anywhere to be found. Two paid poll
workers doing absolutely nothing. But no one advocating on behalf of
Lieberman.

2:35 Field report: New London

Just voted at Ocean Beach Park in New London. No Lieberman signs or workers anywhere to be found 3 men working outside for the Democrats. Courtney, DeStefano and Lamont signs around. Don't remember any other signs except for 2 Simmons signs across from the park, and this is the conservative part of the city!

They have had good traffic all day and had 4 booths that were all in use. There had been only 1 booth for the primary.

Courtney was there when I left.

2:30 Field report: Guilford

I spent the morning poll standing in Guilford. Ned did very well here during the primary and he needs to do well here again today in order to pull out a victory. All indications are that he is on track to do that.

The polling station in the third district, where I was stationed, was extremely busy for the entire pre-morning commute period. If what I saw holds throughout the state then the projections of 65% turnout might be right on target.

The staff working the polls was extremely efficient. Even though people continued to flood in all morning, the lines never got too long and most people were in and out in 5 to 7 minutes.

I got a lot of thumbs up, shouts, waves, and other signs of support for Ned. While I also got some gruff assertions that, "I'm sticking with Joe" these were definitely a minority. Of course, the vast majority of people give absolutely no
indication of who they will be supporting. However, I would hazard a guess(based on the percentage of people giving overt signs of support for Ned, the general demeanor of most voters, and my "gut feeling") that Ned was running a bit ahead by the time I had to head out for work.

If not for the crowds of voters it might have been a bit lonely as only a solitary Joe supporter showed up with his GPS system (I mean sandwich board) indicating how to locate Joe on the ballot (hint, just keep going down and down and down). While he seemed pleasant enough, he elected to stand on the other side of theparking lot from me, as I had gotten there first and staked out the best spot (right over that 75 foot line).

This election will be a nail biter either way, but I am feeling optimistic. In communicating with incoming voters I found that I received the most thoughtful stares and nods when I mentioned that a vote for Ned Lamont was a vote to bring our troops home. Certainly, I think that many people will have second thoughts when faced with the realization that pulling the lever for Lieberman means giving their tacit approval to the disaster in Iraq. Hopefullly, Ned can win a few voting booth conversions when the voters of Connecticut realize the heavy responsiblity that this Senate race has placed on them.

I will be back poll standing after I duck out of work early this afternoon and will be there until polls close at eight. Registered voters in Connecticut, the world is watching, get to your local polling place and vote for Ned Lamont.

1:00 Problems in Bridgeport:

I'm just got a report of strange things happening down at the Blackham school in Bridgeport. According to a source, someone was caught passing out Farrell and Lieberman literature (which is a NO NO).

Also hearing reports of unusually long lines (I can not verify this as I'm not in Bridgeport).

If anyone is in the Bridgeport area, can you please take a camera or video camera and get down to the Blackham school ASAP.

Blackham School
425 Thorme St,
Bridgeport, CT
(Google map)

12:30 I'll be traveling to the Broadview School in Danbury to see how things are going shortly. I'll come back with photos and hopefully a video report.

12:25 Field report: Wethersfield

Voted in Wethersfield 1st district this morning. There was a Lamont poll worker there and Lamont signs in a row as you come to entrance of the polling place, nothing at all for Joe anywhere. The only Republican present was for Jodi Rell.

11:55 Field Report: East Rock School, New Haven

I just voted at the East Rock School in New Haven. My initial reactions:

-A lot more people at the polls today than compared witn the primary (at the same time).

-Lamont signs far outnumbered Joe signs. In fact, I do not think there were any Joe signs.

-There was one Joe campaign "volunteer" attempting to handout "find Joe" literature. Quite frankly, she looked liked she couldn't wait for the day to be over (already!) so she can collect her slush fund money from Joe LIEberman. She was wearing headphones, had them cranking, and barely turned them down when she attempted to approach voters. I say "attempted" because she looked so disinterested and nobody was paying much attention to her.

-Lieberman looks lonely on the bottom line. VERY lonely.

I voted for NED!!

Email me your voting report.

If your from Danbury email me at hatcityblog@yahoo.com (don't forget to tell me which ward your reporting from)

Anywhere else in CT, email me at ctblogger@yahoo.com

10:55: Field report: Glastonbury/Eastbury

NO SIGNS FOR JOE ANYWHERE!

This is a pretty solid Lamont area, but I was surprised that the only Joe LIEberman sign I saw was on van a Stop & Shop in Glastonbury yesterday.

I would have imaged more presence at the Eastbury School polling location.

But, there was nothing.

Not a juicy story for you, but, just like in sports, the formula for success is winning your home games and splitting on the road. Ned needs to capture all his stongholds and split Joe's.

Go DEMS!

Email me your voting report.

If your from Danbury email me at hatcityblog@yahoo.com (don't forget to tell me which ward your reporting from)

Anywhere else in CT, email me at ctblogger@yahoo.com

10:40 A.M. Here we go!