Postmortem Bingo, Drinking Games and More!

Political Scientist/blogger Brendon Nyhan has devised this bingo card that you can use tonight as you watch cable news pundits explain how President Obama is responsible for his party's drubbing. I bet you get a blackout.

Also, for those thirsty on the right, here's an election night coverage drinking game for conservatives. A sample:

Drink for every block in which Christine O'Donnell is the most-mentioned candidate. Talking about Christine O'Donnell is very important therapy for liberals. First, it allows them to feel smarter than conservatives -- O'Donnell says a lot of silly things, and is a conservative woman, both of which make her a prime target of smug liberal mockery. Also, this is a rare open seat Democrats will win. Combine those two points, and it gives liberal anchors a chance to say their favorite line: Republicans need to be moderate to win.Suggested drink: Witch's Wit ale.

Suggested drink: Witch's Wit ale.

And here's one for liberals, who will probably need a few stiff snorts before the night turns to dawn. A sample:

(Drink) Every time Keith Olbermann excitedly references an obscure event from 18th Century European history as an allegory for the midterms, pound Jägermeister (and your head into the wall).

Though I would rather have a bottle in front of me,  I'll be live-blogging tonight's results, starting around 9 p.m. Please join me and throw in your two-cents, 10 cents, 20 bucks, whatever.

And please vote, if you haven't.

Here's my print column today on voting:

Election Day at last.

My plan is to be at the polls bright and early, although, clearly, it's become old school to actually show up at a precinct and cast a ballot. Voting today has become the landline phone of civic responsibilities. All the cool kids, it seems, are voting early. I've seen their “I already voted” tweets.

Even candidates are voting early, robbing us of that traditional scene - a hopeful and a hopeful's spouse trooping in to vote like just folks. Now, no waves. No thumbs up. No tense smiles. No chance for a television anchor to quip, “I wonder who they voted for?” Sad.

In all seriousness, I have nothing against absentee voting. People have all sorts of reasons for getting it out of the way before this blessed day. Things happen. We're busy. The parties are pushing very hard to get votes in the bank early. Tough to blame them with the stakes so high.

I, however, am not among the absentees. I never have voted early. Never will if I can help it. Voting, to me, is a late meal to be anticipated and savored, not an early bird special.

I cast my first vote on Nov. 8, 1988. It was bright and cold when I left school to drive my parents' big, white Bonneville to McLaughlin Brother's Chevrolet. Our polling place was in the showroom, next to a new Corvette. I did my duty and proudly stuck an “I Voted” sticker on to my letter jacket.

I've cast a lot of votes since then, and I still love the ritual of Election Day too much to skip it for mere convenience. Filling out a ballot at home would seem unofficial. Even voting at the auditor's office or satellite station would, to me, feel like I was missing something important.

For one thing, I'm a deadline guy. I need to wait until the end to see what happens. Politicians can implode at any moment. (There really should be warning labels.) I don't want to give any of them my vote until I'm sure they're going to finish the race in one piece.

I also need the peace. Campaigns are loud and outrageous and angry, especially now. Election Day is so quiet and civil by contrast. It's a heartening, sane silence at the end of a troubling circus of insanity.

And it's a calm before the storm. Regardless of what happens today, already sharp partisan divisions likely will sharpen. Congress and the Iowa Legislature will be more divided and more partisan. Moderates are nearly extinct. Redistricting, a year of presidential caucus campaigning and countless other pitched battles are ahead of us. Next year may make 2010 look like a political picnic.

If you go old school today, linger and enjoy the calm. It won't last.

Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@sourcemedia.net