The Real Good News Story from Last Night

After the record setting 2004 election, the predictions were that 2008 was going to be another banner year for voter participation.

As it turns out, that was the case:

More than 130 million people turned out to vote Tuesday, the most ever to vote in a presidential election.

With ballots still being counted in some precincts into Wednesday morning, an estimated 64 percent of the electorate turned out, making 2008 the highest percentage turnout in generations.

In 2004, 122.3 million voted in what was then the highest recorded turnout in the contest between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

This, more than anything else, give me great hope.

Regardless of which party one supports, the fact that we are seeing such great participation from Americans means alot. While listening to the C-Span call-in segment after Obama's acceptance speech, I heard some people who demonstrate a profound ignorance about Obama (and some about McCain), these people are a tiny minority, and their impact on the outcome is blunted, and overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people who chose to participate.

Let's hope this trend continues.