James Hynes

I dropped by Zilker School again at noon, on my lunch hour. Here's the Obama table again, from a different angle. The McCain sign, by the way, is not for John, but for a local candidate for constable. My neighborhood is the heart of liberal South Austin, so you see mostly Hillary and Obama signs, with a few Ron Pauls thrown in, just because it's Texas. McCain and Huckabee signs are pretty thin on the ground in my part of Austin.

Some members of the local media. There were trucks from two different stations here. Still no line out the door, and I didn't go into the school, but I'm expecting a crowd at 7 tonight, when the caucus is supposed to begin.

The Hillary contingent. It's a pleasant day for an election, sunny, temperature in the 50s and getting warmer. Yesterday's epic wind has died down, so all the lawn signs are safe.

Here's step one of the Texas Two-Step in today's presidential primary. It's a photo I took an hour ago, on my way to work, at my local polling place (Zilker Elementary School on Bluebonnet Lane in Austin). Since we have early voting in Texas, I voted two weeks ago at my local Randall's supermarket, where I picked up some fat-free turkey dogs, two twelve-packs of Diet Coke (with caffeine and without), and, oh yeah, voted for Obama. But I plan to be back at Zilker this evening for the second half of the two-step, and caucus for Obama. When I get back there at 7 tonight, I expect to see a line out the door. I plan to take a book and my iPod and wait for as long as it takes. It goes against my carefully constructed persona as the cynical, seen-it-all satirist, but I'll admit it: I'm excited!

More later, with photos, if possible.

PS: And here is Texas Monthly writer Mimi Swartz, in today's New York Times, writing cautiously but hopefully about the return of (dare I say it) the Texas liberal.