Election thoughts

It's election night as I write this. I'm sitting in the living room, listening to the coverage on the news, and of course, wondering what will happen.
By the time you read this, perhaps, the election will be settled (or perhaps long settled for any late stragglers), but for now we are faced with questions, and in my case, a bit of suspense.
Earlier in the evening, I went on a run through town. I could see signs of the election everywhere. Literally, campaign signs for all of the democrats and their issues lined the yards of houses (there aren't too many Republicans in this city). A stranger who was walking out of her well-signed house, shouted to ask if I had voted.
As I continued running, I passed a polling site, with a reasonably long line . It was about 6:30, and the after-work crowd had built up outside the very small Gates of Heaven building on the shores of Lake Mendota. They were talking, or just waiting patently. A few people were in post-halloween costumes. I saw one man handing out post-halloween candy to the crowd. In general, they seemed to be enjoying the relatively mild November night.
While I was running, I was listening to an interview with Dexter Filkins, a New York Times writer who had a spent a great deal of time in Iraq. He was talking about the horrible violence and danger he had seen in his trip last summer. Particularly horrific and heartbreaking were his descriptions of the deaths of many of the Iraqi journalists who had been killed, simply because they were doing what journalist do: report the truth.
As I reflected on my peaceful night, I thought about how wonderful we have it. A few court cases aside, the elections run smoothly and peacfully. No one fears for their life. People's critique of the "corporate media" sounds hallow compared to the attempts at media in a place like Iraq.
I can appreciate that many Americans believe that they could give Iraqi's the same kind of life we have. They hoped this peacful night could be replicated thousands of miles away by people who probably want some of the same things we want.
But now, on the eve of the election, we must look at the results of what we as a nation have done. Perhaps our leaders lied. Perhaps the press failed. Perhaps the opposition party didn't put up much of a fight. The criticism must begin with ourselves.