Fuzzy Memories

Past presidential elections and what I remember about them:

2008- I'll remember watching the returns here in this apartment. I'll remember going into the local community center to cast my vote. I'll remember Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin on SNL. I'll remember when at the top of the 11 o'clock hour the graphic came on NBC proclaiming Obama the new president elect. I'll remember my mom calling me, excited and relieved that it was finally all over.

2004- I was busy moving to the East Coast and starting up my first semester of grad school when the election and campaigns were going on, so I don't really remember it. I just remember waking up the morning after the election and finding out that it all came down to Ohio, just as it had all come down to Florida four years earlier. I also remember voting in an elementary school somewhere in Amherst.

2000- I remember how NBC initially called it for Gore, then finding out very late at night that Bush had actually won. I remember how heated the Florida debate became. I also remember voting at my old elementary school, and going back into the cafeteria for the first time, all those years later.

1996- I remember taking the day off work at the library because I wanted to watch the returns. This was the first presidential election I was old enough to vote in. I remember thinking Dole never really had a chance.

1992- I remember a similar excitement to this past Tuesday, when a younger Democrat was elected after 12 years of a Republican White House. I remember Clinton going on Arsenio Hall and playing the saxophone. I remember Ross Perot.

1988- I remember watching the returns, and watching Bush beat Dukakis handily. I remember all the talk about Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle. I remember Willy Horton and reading in People magazine that Kitty Dukakis used to be such an alcoholic that she would drink lysol.

1984- I remember Geraldine Ferraro and Walter Mondale. I remember how everyone seemed to love Reagan except for my parents. I remember Mondale only winning Minnesota and D.C.

1980- I vaguely remember Reagan winning and my mom being pissed. I sort of understood what a president was and new that George Washington had been one a long time ago, and I think I asked my mom if Reagan would be on the one dollar bill now. I remember my sister and her friends singing (to the tune of the Oscar Mayer jingle) "...cause Jimmy Carter has a way of screwing up the U.S.A."