I arrived at Portland High School at 1:30 in the afternoon today. As the snow began to fall and the chanters began, I took my place in the swelling crowd. I was cold and soaked through when I actually got into the school at 2:30, but I had it good. Others were still in line outside as late as 6:30.

I knew what to expect: Long lines, overworked volunteers, and crazy people who were apparently my neighbors. Good times. What I didn't expect was the hate.

I found myself in line with a small gang of grandmothers. They were complaining about the crowd, and tsking the fact that the party hadn't held the caucus in the Civic Center. Typical gripes really, and nothing I hadn't heard from others in the crush of would-be voters, but then it got nasty. It started with a sneering jibe at the folks – mostly young Obama supporters – waiting in an opposing line to register to vote. "If you were so enthusiastic to vote, why didn't you register before today," one of them muttered to her coven. This was meet with general approval before she turned to me and noticed my "Obama for ME" sign.

She was a grandmother in a red hat complete with tell tale purple accessories. "You're on the wrong side," she said, her Hillary sticker proudly displayed. I welcomed the recognition, and readied myself for her pitch, it was a caucus after all, but I wasn't expecting the curve. "He's a Muslim you know."

I'm not sure if my eyes actually popped or not, but she backtracked quickly with a: "That's what I hear." Even after six years, I'm still not used to the racism/xenophobia I encounter here in Maine. It's a quiet racism. Insidious. But I dropped into posture quickly and shot back. "Actually he's a Christian. Not that it would matter to me even if he was a Muslim." Now it was her turn to be shocked...and she was...for about a nanosecond. Then she asked what I knew about this guy anyway, and exactly where did he get his money from?

I in turn asked about Hillary's stock trading record with Tyson Foods and Walmart, but this only pushed her Bill Oreilly buttons and caused her to breathlessly demand that I answer her question. Who is this Obama guy? Where did he come from? Was he a Republicans plant?

I tried to take the wheel of this train to crazy-town and explained that I support Barack Obama because of his platform. Specifically his pledge to open government, and his science and technology policies as endorsed by the EFF. Attempting to explain the EFF to a red-hat wearing racist crone is a good time. I highly recommend it if you have the means. At any rate, she promised me that the good folks up in Aroostook County would never vote for a black man, and that Obama didn't have a chance in Maine. That's where the line ended and we parted ways.

By 8:30 tonight, our votes where cast and counted. In my precinct I'm happy to report that the final tally was 374 for Obama and 104 for Clinton.

Barack Obama carried the great state of Maine.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, maine