E-mail received from Obama campaign two minutes ago:
Jeremy —
Ask your Boss. Ask your Professor.
Take Election Day off and volunteer to make history.
[…]
No previous experience is required. Sign up now to take the day off and make history on November 4th:
Not even if I lived in a swing state, Barack.
scatterplot 
I’m taking the 5th off.
I would take the 4th off, but I’m not sure if people would like an cockney Englishman telling them who to vote for.
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my assistant dean sent us a message today telling us that we should turn down requests for students to give speeches about politics before lecture. (advice i agree with entirely).
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Gabriel: students to give speeches about politics before lecture
Wait, people really ask for propaganda airtime in a public university? This is not even remotely an option in France.
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My department cancelled a faculty meeting. As academics (and some of us lawyers too) we are well situated to be poll watchers. Unfortunately, it has become obvious int ehpast 2 elections that people are willing to cheat if given the chance. I consider a civil participation mitzvah.
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Unfortunately, it has become obvious int ehpast 2 elections that people are willing to cheat if given the chance
You live in Chicago and this has only become obvious in the past two elections? :)
In Ireland in the early 1980s there was a minor scandal when Pat O’Connor, the election agent of the then opposition leader, was caught trying to vote twice at different polling places in his constituency. For a while he was known as “Pat O’ConnorPat O’Connor.”
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I am tempted to take off Nov 5, just so I can stay up all night watching the returns.
Do you think CNN will have a new sound to play every time a new district reports? I can still hear the 2004 sound in my head, and it gives me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
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We should have a pool for when people think the election winner will be projected by CNN. Except maybe they will wait until the latest polls close even if the outcome is clear. The polls in Virginia close at 7pm Eastern, so that could be the first state called that makes an Obama victory palpable.
I am sure I am going to be up VERY late watching wrap-ups regardless. I was up all night in 1992 and went to class the next morning with champagne in my hair.
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My brother has taken the next day off – he’s Irish, living in Ireland. I’m thinking of doing the same. Whatever about the politics, elections can provide some great theater. Politicians and pundits are tired and emotional, and sometimes the masks begin to slip.
And surely there must be an election drinking game?
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phnk,
it is common practice for students to request (and receive) a few minutes to tell people about things like internship programs. most professors go along with this because it’s non-partisan and related to education (unlike the micro-campaign speeches). and yes, i actually did get one request to use class time to allow a campaign pitch.
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Jeremy,
It was OK in 1992 for you to come to class w champagne in your hair: you were a student. For the professor to do it – not so charming, although as a professor at an Illinois research U with an incoming Illinois president, it should be a genuine champagne moment for the grant seeker in you.
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uwbarry: I’ve kept my calendar free for Wednesday. If Obama is elected, it’s going to be planetarium-sized-overhead-projectors for everyone in Illinois.
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