I left my hometown of Lewiston, Maine, a few hours ago after checking on polling locations near Bates College, and checking on campaign volunteers at the McCain and Obama field offices there.
My next stop was the Starbucks in Auburn, Lewiston's sister city, where I got a free coffee for voting. My barista said they'd been giving away a lot of coffee that morning. I spoke with three young voters there, all of whom said they voted for Obama. One called today a "beautiful day" and said "life can only get better from here." Out in the parking lot, I passed lots more people, young, old, and in-between - proudly wearing "I voted" stickers.
Coffee in hand, I made my way to Brunswick, Maine, a large coastal town that's home to Bowdoin College - a liberal arts college - and Brunswick Naval Air Base. As soon as I hit Maine Street - downtown Brunswick's main drag - I noticed an abundance of Obama bumper stickers. Even more interesting, several small businesses had put up Obama posters and window decals. I stopped in at Vinyl Haven, a vintage record shop in Brunswick's Tontine Mall, to talk to Dave, the store's owner, about why he put up an Obama sign. Dave didn't want to talk on camera, but was glad to hear I'd already voted this morning. I then headed across the dtreet to talk to Gery, owner of Gulf of Maine Books, which had a large Obama poster displayed in the window. Gary wasn't there, but his counter staff said the store has a long-standing reputation as a progressive hub.
I wandered over to a nearby polling location, but things seemed to be pretty slow there. observed several more Obama stickers, signs and window decals on businesses and homes, but surprisingly, none for McCain. Southern Maine has a reputation for being very liberal, but even so, I expected a little more support for the Republican nominee here. Less than an hour away, in equally liberal Lewiston, McCain/Palin signs are plentiful.
Now I'm in a study carrel in the teen room at the Brunswick Public Library. Teens here, like most other folks I've talked to, seem to have the election on the brain. As I type this, a big group of kids are discussing their thoughts on Obama, Palin, and several key issues. They've been discussing abortion for a while now and, in a town where I haven't been able to find a single McCain sign, I'm interested to hear that so many teens here seem to be pro-life.
But I've dawdled here enough. I'm off to Portland now, with a quick stop off in Freeport (home of L.L. Bean) to get a free ice cream cone at the Ben & Jerry's scoop shop there, and maybe talk to some more voters.
Until my next post, check out some photos from sround Brunswick.
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