And the winner is...

Election Day 2008 turned out to be a lot easier and more exciting than I had originally anticipated. First, I covered the Spaghetti Supper at Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic School. I had no idea what to expect and was completely overwhelmed when I got there. After a few minutes of wandering around, the Democratic candidate for District Attorney, Tina Bennet, pulled me aside and asked me if I were the student who emailed her about an interview. I told her I wasn't but asked if I could do one anyway and made a fool of myself by not knowing who she was or that she was running for something.

After that, I felt a lot more comfortable and wound up interviewing about seven or eight people. In addition to Bennet, I talked to Democrat Bill Magnarelli, Larry Sunser, who was one of the cooks "behind-the-scenes," a woman working at the raffle table, one of the student volunteers, and two older women who talked to me about how much they like coming to the dinner every year. One of the women, Carol Wilhelm, said she uses the Spaghetti Supper to make her final decision and then goes out and votes afterwards. Sunser, however, said he thinks all the candidates go "sour," so to speak, when they get into office. He doesn't believe that any of them are particularly good.

Last night, I went to the Republican Headquarters at the Holiday Inn at Liverpool to cover the Republican side of the election with WAER. The big story, of course, was Joanie Mahoney's win for county executive, which brought lots of screaming and cheering to the Holiday Inn. It was actually really exciting. I also spoke with Bill Harper, who ran for Councilor-at-Large. He didn't win, but it was interesting to talk to him because he said he kind of expected to lose and had prepared himself for it throughout his campaign. My news team also had interviews with Syracuse Common Councilor Ryan McMahon, Republican Party Chair John DeSpirito, District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick and of course, Joanie Mahoney post-victory. Mahoney said she's going to get working immediately. We asked her how she felt about being the first woman in this position, and she said she hadn't even thought about it yet, but that when she has time to let it all settle in, she'll realize that being the first woman county executive is very significant.