Violin Monster, a video portrait

Via: Wolf with a violin

Victory rally

There is an Obama victory rally on the Diag right now. The crowd was singing "America the beautiful" and is now chanting "USA, USA," and "Obama, Obama."

Admiral Ackbar making strides in Ward 1 Race

Albert McWilliams posted the above picture on his tumblr. Saying:

Just because they run unopposed, doesn’t mean you have to vote for someone you don’t want to.

Albert, I tried to find your email to ask if it's ok to repost this pic. Email me if you want me to take it down.

Grading and Shaming the Pundits After Election Day

Over the weekend, I saw a lot of chatter in the conservative blogosphere/Twitterverse about a Romney landslide.  This seems, to me, to be a bit of an exaggeration and probably even wrongheaded.  That said, here's a collection of Electoral College predictions (as of 3 PM-ish).  Figured it would be nice to have a list of media people who I can shame on Twitter on Nov. 7.

Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Nate Silver (Five Thirty Eight) - Obama, 313 to 225
InTrade - Obama, 303 to 235
Real Clear Politics - Obama, 303 to 235
Talking Points Memo - Obama, 290 to 191 (57 still a tossup)
Dick Morris (prediction here) - Romney, 325 to 213
George F. Will (prediction here) - Romney, 321 to 217
Karl Rove (prediction here) - Romney, 279 to 259

U of M Bike Fest today

If you're looking for a break from the election today, consider checking out Bike Fest from noon til 2 at the North University Transit Center.

Grass Widow, Swimsuit, & Chit Chat at the Yellow Barn Wednesday night!

This is going to be a great show! Grass Widow are a rad band from San Francisco and most of you probably already know and love Swimsuit. I have to say I've never been disappointed by either of them live. Plus I'm hearing hella great things about Chit Chat...

Check out Grass Widow's "Fried Egg," from their album Past Time (what a great song title!):

Doors are at 8 PM (November 7) with a $7 cover and guess, what? It's all ages!!

Life will go on after the election. Celebrate or console yourself with rock'n'roll! RSVP and invite your friends here, plus there's a lot more info on the show. See you there!

Damn Arbor voting guide: everything else

Gentle readers, perhaps you have read parts 1 (the Proposals) and 2 (Local Races) of our incredibly popular voting guide series. You may be wondering about the races we have failed to cover so far: the county and judicial races. Well gentle readers, rather than do any original work, I'm going to pull that old blogger trick and just link to another site. The venerable MarkMaynard.com is endorsing a good slate of progressive liberal candidates for most of the races. You should totally check it out if you are still wondering who exactly to vote for for the Washtenaw County and state judicial races. Happy voting!

Ryan Stanton on the local races

Newsfeed Sits Down With AnnArbor.com's Ryan Stanton from WOLV-TV on Vimeo.

Check it out folks, it's the Com's very own @ryanjstanton commenting on Ann Arbor's races. I'm a little disappointed the WOLV-TV folks didn't ask about the most contentious local race, Proposal 1: The Library Bond. Maybe they didn't do quite enough digging before the interview. Still Ryan, good job explaining the background to the race for Mayor and for the Fighting Fifth (Ward).

Damn Arbor election guide: local races and proposals

The real race for Ann Arbor's city council and Mayor is the Democratic Primary in August. Jane Lumm's (Independent, Ward 2) ousting of incumbent Stephen Rapundalo (D, Ward 2) is a notable exception to this trend. This is not to say that Democratic candidates for the Ann Arbor City Council and Mayoral races are running unopposed, just that you are fighting an uphill battle to get elected as a Republican in a town this blue. So I guess what I'm saying is that if you are looking for an exciting election, the Ann Arbor City Council races are probably not it.

The most contentious local issue is probably Proposal 1: the Library Bond. If this passes it would authorize the Ann Arbor District Library to borrow $65 million to build a new library downtown. People are really up in a tizzy about this one with both the pro and anti sides spending tens of thousands of dollars on ads.

In terms of local proposals, folks in the City will find Proposals A and B on their ballots too. Proposal B would levy a 0.1 mil property tax to raise about $450,000 a year to fund public art. Proposal A would continue a 1.10 mil property tax that funds city parks. It's my understanding that this millage also funds the efforts of Natural Areas Preservation to some degree. I am very pro-Proposal A.

Electrician at Far House tomorrow

Electrician is an electro-folk duo hailing from Oakland, CA. They play "songs about social war and relationships." You can check out a sample song, Hold on to your fear, above. Pretty crazy, eh? Anyway Electrician is currently on tour traveling by "via megabuses, greyhounds, walking, a couple airplanes, erin case's car, my dad's car, tony presley's car, and maybe some city transit, taxis, and hitchhiking." Sounds exciting. They are playing tomorrow night at Far House, a venue I somewhat embarrassingly did not know existed until I looked it up. This free show starts at 8 pm and features local artists, Fred Thomas, Jim Cherewick, and Unicorn. Sounds like a lot more fun than watching election returns.