Butterflies

I can't stand it! The excitement is too much for me. I've got butterflies like my team is down by 1 with 30 seconds left. I've been watching CNN's coverage of the Indiana primary for the past 3 hours. It's definitely MUST SEE TV if I may borrow NBC's term. I had to go on to ESPN.com to see who actually won Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-final match-up between the Celtics and Cavaliers. I was watching that game, but I couldn't help but keep hitting the "previous channel" button back to see what was happening on CNN. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce weren't quite as engaging as Anderson Cooper and Wolfe Blitzer. I'm on the edge of my seat. I almost feel like inviting some folks over and watching this coverage like its a Superbowl or something. (Yes, this is me. Don't worry, I haven't bumped my head. Still don't believe me? What? Prove it? Okay...how 'bout this? My first date was walking with Nicole Bell down to Baskin-Robbins after school in the 6th Grade and she gave me the cutest little peck on the lips after I walked her to the door at 397 Bluefield Drive.)

I don't think I've watched the news for this many consecutive hours since September 11, 2001. I can almost taste victory. When they finally do say that Barack Obama has indeed edged out Hillary Clinton to win Indiana, I think I might open my windows and get out some pots and pans and bang them together like its New Year's or something. When they announce that Barack has won, I feel like black folks are going to spill out into the streets and celebrate like Joe Louis just beat Max Schmeling or something. It could be one of those wild nights. This is great! Am I in a time warp? Is it 1938 again?

No, it is indeed 2008, but I do feel some of the old 1938 undercurrent creeping in to this news telecast. When I first started watching, they had only reported about 25% of the precincts and Hillary had about an 8% lead, but as the hours have dragged on, her lead has diminished from 40,000+ votes to about 15,000. Lake County, Indiana is one of the last counties at issue. However, as her lead has diminished, the insinuations by the CNN folks have increased. First it was the CNN guy with the touch screen map, John King, whose incessant questioning of why it was taking so long for the ballot results to be reported. He was very methodical in his approach. First, he stressed the proximity of Lake County, Indiana to Chicago. The city of Hammond, Indiana is the first place you hit when you cross the Illinois/Indiana border. The city of Gary, Indiana is also in Lake County. Then Mr. King touched his map again to change to a view that demonstrated where the urban vs. rural areas. Of course, Lake County was one of the urban areas. After much deliberation, it was articulated that Lake County has a large African-American population, one of the largest in the state. In other words, he finally called a spade a spade.

But I digress. I was talking about insinuations. All night, the CNN crew was hinting that something was wrong in Lake County. Why hadn't they reported their votes? What was taking them so long? At about midnight East Coast time, Larry King joined the broadcast on the inset and started asking the same tough questions, but with even more pessimism in his voice. It was almost like they brought him in to be the heavy. Shortly thereafter, they got Tom McDermott, Mayor of Hammond, IN (and a Clinton supporter) on the broadcast to all but brag and boast about how efficient his city was in counting their votes and distributing their results to the folks at the county. He stressed his ability to get on the spot updates from any of his polling places at any moment.

When there still were no results out of Lake County past 1am EST, and CNN's broadcast was getting stale, they reached back into their bag of tricks and pulled out an old standby. John King had touched the screen every which way he could. Wolfe Blitzer had walked across his simulated stage to give yet another update that was eerily familiar to the update that he had given every 10 minutes all evening. Anderson Cooper and his band of merry men (and women) had speculated, postulated, and also insinuated all that they could. The viewers were about to tune out and read about it in the morning. Then they got Mayor Rudy Clay of Gary on the line. First John King took a crack at him, asking why it took so long. As cool and collected as your uncle explaining the fine points of adjusting the timing belt on an old Chevy, Mayor Clay explained that they had taken in some 11,000+ absentee ballots, a number that translated to more than 3 times the usual amount for that area. He said that they wanted to be sure not to disenfranchise these voters who had been conscientious enough to get their vote in on time. That wasn't good enough for King, so he asked him again and again and again. The network cut away to a commercial to regroup and then came back and let Larry King have a crack at him. Mayor Clay was steadfast, giving the same answers to cousin Larry. On Anderson, on John again, on Larry and Blitzer.... All of them asked the same thing over and over, trying to get a rise out of Mayor Clay. Cool like Antonio Fargas' Huggy on Starsky and Hutch, Clay didn't budge.

Finally, they got the clean cut Mayor McDermott on one side of the split screen and Blitzer talking to Mayor Clay on the phone in the other window and tried to make them spar. McDermott took it there. Suggesting that it seemed fishy and that something seemed improper or tainted, he mentioned words like re-count, hanky-panky, and even corruption. I just knew, at any moment, that he was going to say hanging chad. I was so glad that Mayor Clay resisted the urge to retaliate. They were fishing for an angry black man but he didn't give it to them. Stay strong brotha, because they won't stop coming. They WILL be back. They'll be back tomorrow, they'll be back the day after that, and the day after that. When you think they've taken a break, they'll try to seduce you into another speaking engagement. The allure of the cameras and international media outlets will be great. You'll think, "what could be the harm in doing an interview here or there?" Two words, brotha: You. Tube. Stay strong brotha.

Well, with 99% of the votes counted in Indiana, they've finally given the split decision to Hillary. It was by the narrowest of margins. Her camp will have some clever spin tomorrow, but it won't really matter. We're not having our Joe Louis celebration out there tonight, but we soon will.