Election Day

As usual I have my Election Day obligations so don't expect much till very late. Don't expect much on Battle of Marion either; I'll be covering the Johnson County local beat.

During the day watch the turnout. Also mid-day check the early voting numbers. Through end of yesterday there were 951 mailed ballots not back; vast majority of them from student precincts in Iowa City. Raj Patel's chances depend largely on that 951 number getting smaller.

If you still have a ballot DO NOT MAIL IT. Bring it to the auditor's office. If you lost it, go to the polls and vote a provisional. Polls open till 8.

Looking ahead: Tomorrow the U is hosting a two day conference on "Conflict and Civility in Political Discourse: Where Is the Line?" at the Sheraton. All sessions are free and open to the public. It's a largely distinguished panel* of academics, politicos and journalists, including a Wednesday night keynote from Jim Leach and a Thursday morning address from some former political science prof named Loebsack. If you look up "civility in political discourse" in the dictionary there's a picture of those two guys from 2006.

The * in "largely distinguished panel" is for the 10:45 Wednesday discussion on Social media and political discourse which includes... me. I've been revisiting the early September flame war with CCI in preparation. I promise to be very civil and if you don't like what I say, well, bite me.