The Day I Experienced Newsroom Election Coverage And Had An Interview With Elizabeth From B Street Theatre

5:45pm

I don't know what else to do, so I order a Fat Tire and start talking to people. MVP Bar and Grill is pretty empty at this hour with most of the six customers watching the basketball games on TV. A group of pretty waitresses huddle around a table waiting for customers. The bartender shoots the shit with the regulars. I feel like a duck during hunting season. There was supposed to be an Election Night shindig at MVP tonight, but apparently I'd been misinformed, and it was "Nothin Special But What's On Tap" night. 

The first people I talked to, this older couple, were a pair of state workers who didn't want to tell me their last name after barely saying anything useful for my report to Sac Press. 

Next I tried chatting with the pretty waitresses to see if any of their young minds had something fresh to say about the election. None of them had voted. One was unregistered. The other thought she'd be able to vote tomorrow. I'm not saying anything about their value as people, but I certainly gained nothing from them during this conversation. I did get one good quote from the unregistered girl, though, who had no nice things to say about Meg Whitman.

After that I finished my beer and texted Colleen to find out what I should do next. 

8:20am

I'm awake. It's not long after leaving my dreams that I'm thinking about running around Capitol Park. Should I? Before I can weigh out the options, I get out of bed and put on my shorts, my running shoes, and I leave the house. It's already sunny outside--chilly, but not cold--with bright blue sky overhead. Before I can go running, however, I need to vote. 

The polling place is two blocks down Capitol in the lobby of a cheap apartment building. I give my name, get my ballot, and take a pen. All the booths are full so the woman offers me the digital machine, instead, which scans the ballot and takes my vote via touch-screen. Done, it prints out my ballot with the appropriate marks and I put the votes into a second machine, which counts them. Brown, Yes on 19, No on 23. Those are the only three votes I can remember.

I walk past Grocery Outlet and then start with a slow jog up 17th until I reach R, where I make a right. I pass the Shady Lady and make another right, heading toward the Capitol. I'm out of breath and feeling like my left calf is on fire, but I'm able to trick my mind enough to push forward, at least until I get back to O. 

Where I pushed myself for no good reason was when I thought it would be good to run a lap around the Capitol. I made it about a third of the way before stalling to a brisk walk, and then a u-turn, and a nauseated walk back to my house. 

Showered, refreshed, and then I went to Old Soul.

10:15pm

I met the nicest couple at Pangaea Two Brews Cafe, where Jay Schenirer was having his campaign party while the District 5 City Council votes were being counted. The girl was very beautiful, a student. The guy was an early politician working closely with neighborhood politics. These were the kinds of people I'd want to go on a double-date with. Smart, yet humble, with equal wit and charm. They disappeared sometime after Bill Burgua invaded my personal bubble. 

2:20pm

I'm interviewing Elizabeth about her role as Lisa Kron in the play "Well" that premieres this Sunday at B Street Theatre. She's a lively person, as most actors are, with a knack for emphasizing and gesticulating more than the average person. I like her. She has an adorable spaniel dog with her named Lucy. She tells me a little about the "blocking" part of rehearsal that comes after the "table reading." Then, when we've moved to the other stage, when more of the cast starts to show up, a guy from the crew comes out and tells me to leave.

So I leave. Fuck that guy. It was funny how everyone immediately started apologizing for that guy's bluntness, and I wonder if it's because they thought I'd got home and write an article about B Street's staff being full of assholes. Not true. They were all great people. Truth is: I was ready to go, anyway, and I just couldn't think of a polite way to excuse myself. Hence, the universe supplied another route. 

6:15pm

After getting double-stamps for my I Voted sticker at Yogurtagogo and a tasty yogurt bowl, I head over toward Old Soul to (hopefully) find some customers to talk politics with. Of course this isn't my expertise, nor do I consider myself informed enough to discuss politics, but what choice to I have? I need some interviews and photographs. Readers are depending on me! 

I happened to see Meredith with her friend ("sister") Christina sitting outside at Crepeville. I complained to them about my frustrating outing to MVP, then continued along. In Old Soul, Kirsten and I talked about voting and Obama. There were no customers I knew. I stole one of Kirsten's quotes without telling her, and then I had to make up her last name in my report because I don't know what it is. 

Young.

8:00pm

Jay on the left

I show up at Jay's campaign party first. About two blocks further up Franklin, Peter Kennedy is having his campaign party with the same theme: "Win District 5!" Only one of them can win, of course, and I have to visit with both. Luckily the initial count is so close that neither party can celebrate, so the mood remains cool and collected at both locations. Jay picked a coffee-shop with a full bar. Peter went for the art-gallery attachment alongside a coffee-shop. Based on location alone, Jay gets my vote, though Peter made a much better speech. 

Speech time for Kennedy

There's a photographer there from the Sacramento Bee who appears to hate his job. 

I meet Jay and the campaign manager and Jay's mother and Jay's friends. They all say the same thing, which won't make for a very interesting report, but what can you expect? At the time the votes were less than 30 apart. It was like watching two snails race. 

After a while I decide to go check out Peter's party down the road. It doesn't have the bar, but there is wine and beer. He's actually not even there yet, when I arrive, and that's precisely when the videographer, Jim, shows up with his camera. Sac Press hired his crew to film our Election Night Coverage for a documentary of some kind. Jim and I and the impatient guy from the Bee all wait with these people and their Peter Kennedy stickers. Just when Jim and I go to leave for Jay's party and better footage, Peter shows up.

I interview him outside for a moment with the camera rolling, a microphone clasped to my shirt, and spotlights on our faces. I asked him about who helped him the most--he said the Latino community--and I'm sure I asked some other trite question or two after that. Jim stopped rolling and had to head back to Sac Press with the footage, so I stayed at the party a bit longer before calling Colleen to ask if she wanted me back yet or if I should go back to Jay's party to see if anything had changed. 

By this point it was apparent that Jay was going to win. Colleen told me to go check it out.

11:00pm

For two hours I sit at the Intern Station in Sac Press and write about the evening. I can't even explain why this took as long as it did. First, I suppose, was my mistake of sending Colleen nothing but quotes from the night and not an actual article--which I would have to write later, anyway. That took time. Sending photos with Google was an issue, as well, with errors and disconnections that made a simple task feel like yanking out pubic hair. With pizza and pleasant company, however, the night wasn't so bad, even though I didn't get out of there until 1:20 in the morning. 

I also got a parking ticket. Colleen says I can challenge it.

I mean, come on... It's Election Night. 

- Left to Fry