Toddlers Look for Obama, Daughter of Slave Votes Obama, Obama's Grandmother Votes

Voting this morning was unlike any other voting experience I've ever had. I've never waited. I've never seen lines of people snake down Massachusetts Avenue. I've never felt such an air of excitement. I've never seen so many people bring their kids to a polling place.

My favorite part of voting this morning: a toddler kept asking her mother "Where is he? Where is he?" I soon discerned that the "he" in question was U.S. Sen. Barack Obama. The mother explained to the toddler that "he" wasn't actually at the polling place. The toddler burst into tears, setting off a chain reaction around the church of other babies and toddlers. Sippee cups and Cheerios did nothing to stop the din.

A group of foreign observers got off a bus and were escorted in to look at us. Their pamphlets read: "Official Poll Watching Tour." They just stared at us like we were exotic animals in a zoo. I felt somewhat offended until I realized many of them did not have this right in their own country. The man behind me said he had lived many years overseas and had seen peoples thumbs cut off so those thumb prints could be used to vote with. Apparently, foreign observers are a big thing this year.

One of my favorite stories from this cycle: A 109-year-old Texas, woman, the black daughter of a man born into slavery, voted early for Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American presidential nominee.

And this: Obama's grandmother, who helped raise him, died yesterday and won't see whether her grandson becomes the 44th President of the United States. But she voted absentee on October 27. And according to Hawaii election officials, her vote will count.