Update: 10/20/08 - Mr. Kenyada has created a Daily Kos account (once posted, his diaries will be here). Please keep your eyes open.
In FiveThirtyEight.com's article about early voting today, there was a comment that deserves higher status than a comment.
Link To Comment (edit: thanks to bethcf4p for a better link.)
The user's profile states that he is an Engineer in Atlanta. I found what he had to say about African American turnout in this election very insightful:
I'm pretty sure the fear we are seeing among down-ticket Republicans is an acknowledgment that the wedges they've used to peel minority votes from Democrats in the past just won't work this year. Kenyada writes:
I suggest that the pollsters throw out all data for African American voting in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. This election is very different for AAs. In previous elections, the majority of us voted against Bush, but there was a wedge created by the Repulsicans when they appealed to the black church, and paid off black preachers. Particularly in 2004, where the pulpit of the black church became just another campaign stop for high level Repulsican candidates, including Bush.
In 2008, however, there is a ground swell in the black community, and silence from the megachurch leaders, lest they suffer the price of empty collection plates. In the past, we always had to choose the better of two representatives of the status quo. Change was not an option. This year the choice is as clear as a bell. You should see the lines in Atlanta for early voting. And the faces of the people waiting in lines stretching 60 to 100 minutes in length tell the story. "This one is for Florida in 2004!"... "This one is for Fannie Lou Hamer in 1964!"... "This one is for Katrina!"
I'm cutting out just a little bit of the comment so anyone interested can give 538 some extra hits from their site's comments and read the whole thing. I love how Kenyada wrapped it up though:
I’m not sure you understand. This vote is 400 years in the making. Pollsters don’t seem to take that into account. My 82-year old mother had to be rushed to the hospital last Sunday – congestive heart failure. One of the first things she asked when the oxygen mask was removed was "Will someone please get me an absentee ballot. I don’t want to miss the election." Committed? Nah, black folks are passionate about this one. This is not only a vote for a candidate; it is a vote for America, the America we heard about from our parents and their parents, across the generations. Freedom and Liberty sound so trite these days, but I remember those words spoken by my Dad on his way to the March on Washington. January 20th will be a dream fulfilled. And if you are expecting only a 95% response on Election Day, you are misinterpreting the sound of the drum.
The reaction to Kenyada's post further down in the comments at 538 is great - a lot of people felt touched by his words. I feel they deserve a little more attention.
Obligatory Rec List Update: Figures my laziest diary so far would be my first time on the Rec List. I'll use the opportunity to pimp a deserving diary on GA turnout from this morning: CB8421's GA Early Voting Update. Contains a very useful link to early voting data direct from Georgia's secretary of state.
Edit1: An apropos image & link from tdub's comment:
Prairie View A&M students (TX) march seven miles to vote
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Early voting in Cobb: Not a single black voter abandoned the long line
Edit2: A more personal picture (originally linked by muzikal203 -thanks to Dartagnan for suggesting it and to conlakappa for his comment pointing to it in these comments.) You can see the passion Kenyada is talking about in the faces of every person in the shot: