Yesterday was like electoral Christmas. Early in the day Indiana’s vote count was finalized, and a 22 point shift led to an Obama win in the state where I grew up! Every state I’ve ever lived in — Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, DC, and Maryland — went for Obama. Nearly every state I’ve visited went for him, too — Ohio, North Carolina, Florida, New Mexico, Oregon, California, Washington, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, and New York. The two that remain — Georgia and Arizona — were close enough to make me happy. I’ve also visited Tennessee, but it may be a few more cycles (lifetimes) before I see that one shift. (And, by the way, looking at the places I’ve lived, is it any wonder that I find Maryland just about as far south as I’d like to be?)

Which is all to say that I’m happy about the results of Tuesday’s election. I’m happy about the senate races, even those too close to call. Mostly I’m happy about the prospect of the return to the national stage of science, and talking and thinking and debating and considering and trying to do the best for the most with the least. In this, I am wholly process-oriented and while others may be focused on specific outcomes they’d like to see come out of the first Obama administration — stronger protections for wolves and polar bears, renewed freedom of states to regulate emissions, lifting of restrictions on abortion access and counseling around the world (for example) — I’ll just be glad to see these things taken seriously and acted on responsibly. I look forward to hearing substantive conversations in DC again for the first time since I’ve lived out here.

In the meantime, between now and January 20th, I wait with bated breath for the Dems to kick the Lieb to the curb and Alaska, Minnesota, and Georgia to settle their senate races.