Carney at Toledo

Carney at Toledo, originally uploaded by Rock the Vote 2008.

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

Young voters registered yesterday – 40,629
Miles travelled today – 140 so far

7:23 pm – At some point today, Rock the Vote registered our 2 millionth voter. Last election, the total electorate consisted of 122 million voters, which means Rock the Vote has registered 1.6% of the total voters of 2004. This may not sound like much but it is a huge number. Applied selectively, 2 million voters could have flipped every swing state for one candidate or the other in 2004. 2 million voters is more than three congressional districts; there are fifteen states whose total population is less than 2 million; and – if they voted as a block – 2 million voters could easily be the difference in this election.

What I am saying is that I think a self-congratulatory pat on the back is in order.

Way to go us.

As for the day itself: we spent it at Toledo University, hosting a concert with Carney during the tailgates for tonight’s game against Ball State.

There are some October days, before the leaves have really fallen but after they have yellowed, when you can step outside and the air feels crisp and brings back a hundred memories of halloweens and thanksgivings and touch football games. On days like this you can find yourself staring off into nothing, caught off guard by the simple pleasure of breathing. The sun is brighter, the colors sharper, and sounds clearer than on other days, and however wrong your life may be an autumn afternoon can convince you that it will be OK.

Today was such a day and we spent the twilight hours tossing a football with the band before heading toward Columbus where we will spend two more days trying to register anyone we can get our hands on before the deadline Monday night.

–Nick Brown

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