One day to go...

Only 24 hours to go before the first polling stations open. 36 hours left until the first polling stations close.

Deep breaths all day at work today, just to keep myself sane. Did a little shriek when I saw the front page of the Dom Post World section with a massive picture of Obama - the headline being something about him being "poised for victory". "Eeek! Don't jinx it!" I thought.

This diary by Focusers at Daily Kos - Wow! Obama Cavalry in Pennsylvania has arrived - made me feel a little less jumpy. The ground game sounds absolutely awesome.

And this one by Brett Marty - Eight Epic Weeks Across America (w/538) -PHOTOBOMB- - is just amazing.

Wore my "I heart Obama" T-shirt today and got noticed by a bunch of big burly workmen on a building site near my work. "I love Obama too!" called out the biggest burliest guy. "I think everyone in NZ loves Obama!" I called back - and they all woohoo'd for Barack. Very nice.

My new Obama 08 t-shirt arrived in the mail today - hooray! I'll wear that one to work tomorrow.

Plans for tomorrow:

• Buy champagne, beer and general food supplies. It's gonna be a long night/day/night.


• Make sure that my American friends Sue and Jeffrey know how to get to my house - they're coming over Wednesday evening to share in the excitement. Sue's bringing a giant American flag and Jeffrey will be wearing a hand-made Obama T-shirt 'cos he couldn't find any to buy here.


• Get art supplies so we can make Obama posters in any quiet moments (not sure if there'll be any of those...)


• Make sure we have plenty of tissues on hand. Whatever the outcome, Sue and I are both bound to be bawling our eyes out at various points during the evening.


• Let my flatmate downstairs know we won't be going to bed on Wednesday night, and that we might be somewhat noisy (somewhat!?)


• Collect my Obama Change poster that's been waiting to be picked up from the frame shop for ages - think I might need a taxi to get it home.


• Remember to breathe.


• Try not to panic.

I'm taking the day off work on Wednesday, (and another day off work on Thursday to recover!) and I was thinking I'd have the morning to pootle around getting ready, but having reviewed the timeline in terms of time zone difference between here and the US, I realise that this time tomorrow (past my bedtime on Tuesday night) you'll be starting to vote, and by the time I get up on Wednesday morning the voting day will be half over.

Which means I should probably plan to settle down in front of telly as soon as I get up on Wednesday, so as not to miss anything. Laptop on lap, open to Daily Kos, HuffPo and a few other sites, telly on, coffee in hand...

I can't believe the Big Day is nearly here. It seems like this race has been going on for ever.

Reading this from Gallup today - Final Presidential Estimate: Obama 55%, McCain 44% - made me feel slightly reassured.

I'm still basically terrified, though.

UPDATE: OMG! SQUEEE!!! I was just having a look at my Sitemeter stats and I see I was linked to from The Guardian the other day! Woah! How cool is that? I wondered why there was a bit of a jump in my stats the other day. Totally awesome!

Technorati tags: US Presidential election, countdown, Barack Obama, Barack, Obama, Gallup poll, final Gallup 2008 pre-election poll, Pennsylvania ground game, election watch plans, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.