On Tuesday, October 7, I found out I’d be in New York City on Election Day. I wasn’t leaving St. Louis until Wednesday, October 15, but packing is packing, so I never found time to cast my absentee vote in person at the Board of Elections office.

This didn’t strike me as a big deal. When I voted absentee in the New Jersey elections in 1992, from what I recall, my mom picked up a blank ballot and mailed it to my college P.O. box. I colored in my circles and sent it in. I figured I’d ask one or another friend back in St. Louis to do the same for me.

But then I thought to call the local Barack Obama campaign office instead. They probably would send me a ballot. All those little videos on Barack Obama’s YouTube channel make it seem like these folks are so devoted to facilitating your vote, they’d cartwheel to your house and back if it would help. I could save one of my friends a trip. Continue Reading

CBS 2 in New York City is reporting that disgraced New York state Gov. Eliot Spitzer is to resign Wednesday morning at an 11:30 a.m. ET from his office.

His resignation will mean Lt. Gov. David Patterson will succeed him as the state’s 55th governor and it’s first black and legally blind governor.

Spitzer has been embroiled in a sex scandal involving moving large amounts of money through different shell companies to pay for a high-end escort service that was part of an FBI probe into Spitzer’s suspicious money movements. They initially suspected bribery but instead found a prostitution ring where Spitzer paid $4,300 to a prostitute from the service for two hours at a hotel in Washington, D.C.

Patterson, 53, is a well-liked figure in New York and is a native who was born in Queens. According to the Agence Frace-Presse he was elected as a state senator from Harlem in 1985 and moved up to become the minority leader in 2002. He introduced legislation on stem cell research, alternative energy and domestic violence.

He lives in Harlem with his wife and two children.