just voted here in Ohio. Went with dad at lunch. Mom and sister voted early (mom doesn't get home till 10 tonight). little brother votes after class. Big brother after work. 6 Ohio votes, straight republican. On the other hand. Convinced a dem not to vote. If you can't win em, get them to stay home.
A couple of observations. First, the early crowd at my precinct was predominantly Republican, in a community of 45,000 that is 75% white, and 25% African-American. Most of the people in line at 0630 were about my age (mid-40s), with very few senior citizens. About 10% of the voters were African-American, and half of them work at Wright-Patterson AFB. I'm sure many of them punched the ballot for Kerry, but there were some Bush supporters as well.
Additionally, the Dims vaunted "get out the vote effort" appeared to be in low gear early this morning. I only spotted a couple of first-time voters; both of them were with parents or other family members. Looks like members of the Michael Moore slacker brigade were sleeping in this morning.
Ohio will be tight, but I'm encouraged by what I saw this morning. The GOP base is definitely energized, as evidenced by the high turnout in GOP suburbs and rural areas. BTW, I drove by my polling place on my way home for lunch; it looks like turnout is holding steady (or even dropping a bit) through mid-day. And, at least in my middle-class neighborhood (home to a lot of UAW members), I'm not seeing any signs of the Democratic ground game....