As history unfolded on the national stage Tuesday, people in Snohomish County watched in bars, gathered in churches and kept an eye on the TV in their homes. A few snapshots:
2:42 p.m.: Peter Fawcett of Everett has spent the last year and a half obsessively watching presidential coverage. The carpet installer for Gregg’s Carpet was finishing a pastrami dip sandwich with his boss at Barney’s Pastrami off Evergreen Way.
With Fox News blaring in the background, Fawcett says he’s eager to see government get back to what he calls “government by the people and for the people.” He thinks the best man to make that change is Barack Obama.
“I feel like Obama is less connected to those special interests,” he says.
He cast his vote already and despite his previous viewing habits, he says he’ll attend to more important matters: helping his 9-year-old daughter with her homework.
3:30 p.m.: A record 1,050 people dropped off ballots at QFC by the middle of the afternoon, said Dell Holman, who has been a Snohomish County elections worker for at least 30 years.
He arrived at QFC at 6:30 in the morning and has collected ballots from a steady stream of voters.
“There’s been good elections, but this is the biggest election I’ve had,” Holman says.
4 p.m.: Rich Thomas, an airplane mechanic from Everett, took a day off work to stand on a chilly I-5 overpass near 128th Street. He holds a Dino Rossi sign and waves as cars and trucks whiz beneath him.
“Most people give me the thumbs up or honk,” he says. A few others give him a less than friendly response.
“I’ve decided to wave the flag out of patriotism,” says the former Air Force reservist.
4:45 p.m.: As pollsters announce that Obama has likely won nine states and John McCain two, Njat Al-Hamdani is cooking dinner for her family in their Everett home.
Al-Hamdani moved to the U.S. from Iraq 13 years ago and she cares deeply about what happens to her native country. She hopes Obama wins tonight because she believes he will end the war and ease the suffering of those still in Iraq, including many family members.
“People in Iraq are tired,” she says. “They’re sick.”
6 p.m.: As newscasters predict Obama has taken Pennsylvania and McCain, Georgia Thurley Pack, 81, and Annie Rue, 88, wait for dinner at Washington Oakes Retirement Community in Everett.
While their opinions on politics differ, Pack and Rue agree on one thing: a computer generated video of Obama dancing with Sarah Palin is funny. Pack forwarded the video to Rue.
“Maybe they’ll be on the next ‘Dancing with the Stars,’” Pack said, laughing.
8 p.m.: As Obama passes the needed number of electoral votes and becomes, essentially, unbeatable, Anita Randolph is sipping water and chatting with friends about community service projects at the Everett Eagles bar.
Election coverage is playing on two TVs, but the volume has been turned off.
“We’re not really watching,” the McCain supporter says. “We know what’s going to happen and I, for one, am not happy about it.”
8:22 p.m.: McCain is giving his concession speech and the room full of loyal Republican supporters is mostly standing, quietly absorbing the loss at a gathering at Shawn O’Donnell’s Restaurant in south Everett.
On television McCain thanks his running mate, Sarah Palin, and a woman at the back of the rooms says, “I liked her” and the room erupts into cheers.
Candidate Dan Kristiansen says it could be hours or even days before the results of some local races are known.
“Let’s get past the hurt,” he says. “Let’s get through this frustration. Please don’t give up yet. We have along way to go.”
8:30 p.m.: While her clothes whirl around in a dryer, Sarah Salcedo sits on a couch in Everett Laundry, watching McCain concede the election on the laundromat’s sole TV. Her husband’s arm is around her shoulder and her 3-month-old son is sleeping in his stroller in front of her.
She feels she’s witnessing major history. At 26, she never thought she’d see a black president. She and her husband, Brian Salcedo, were raised in Republican homes and consider themselves Republicans, but they want change. This is the first election Brian Salcedo has ever voted in.
“This was the first time there was someone I actually believed in,” he says. “When I went to college, I went to three different colleges. To register and do all that and then move six months later, it didn’t seem like a priority to me, but I will definitely vote in the future. It was pretty cool.”
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