Obviously the presidential race is the big ticket item, and a future senate majority is the icing on the cake. I’m sure each of you also has our own personal small hope and dream for tonight’s results, and I’m no different.

First, my hope is that Kay Hagan’s race to unseat Senator Liddy Dole in North Carolina is the first one called tonight. Thanks to Dole’s supreme misstep last week, of slandering a Sunday school teacher who has turned out to be totally hardcore, the race is pretty much in the bag. Having it called first, though, will mean that Kay Hagan (badass) will be the senator who hits the magic 50 and makes Joe Lieberman finally officially irrevocably irrelevant. I hope they have a runner ready to personally deliver the memo to his office as soon as all North Carolina precincts are done reporting. I don’t know who I’ll love to hate when Joe’s been kicked to the curb, but I have no doubt someone will emerge.

Second, my dream is of an Obama Indiana. Whether this election or next, I will be cheering on every percentage tick upwards in the balance of Democrats to Republicans in the state where I grew up. More than just bragging rights, I want to see a black man win the majority of the vote in a place where stupid racist crap still happens all too frequently. I want to be able to believe that people walking off their jobs to protest a smear campaign is the true heart of where I grew up.

In the intervening hours between now and when these results might be known, I’ll be in Virginia with umbrellas.