A Wry Look-Back at the Presidential Campaign

Has it been only two months since the presidential campaign ended? For the twenty-one previous months we obsessed with the spin and the speeches and the debates. And ta-da, Barack Obama is within a few days of becoming our 44th President. Finally. Incredibly. Blessedly.

What sticks in my mind, now that a bit of time has passed? Strange things. Random things, including:

-- The seething of Joe and Mika on Morning Joe, when the other talked about one of the candidates, although Mika hardly got a word in. Joe called her "in the tank" for Obama and she bent over backwards to be nice to Palin.

-- The "He's... an Arab" lady at the McCain rally. There was something so pathetic about the back of her head. She reminded me of Bozo in more ways than one.

-- That voter-response thingy on CNN. I never quite got it, but it was an awfully purty distraction when things started getting wonky.

-- Waking up at 3am and worrying, and then falling peacefully back in the bliss of knowing Obama wasn't nervous.

-- The fall of Rudy ("a noun and a verb and 9/11") Guiliani.

-- The Comedy: The Al Smith Dinner, Letterman badgering McCain for sneaking out. Jon Stewart, SNL. (Governor Palin can now stand-in for Tina Fey on 30 Rock.)

-- The crowds behind the candidates. All ages, shapes -- and in the case of Dems -- colors. Nodding, nodding off, fainting; cheering, waving signs, squinting in the sun, shivering in the cold. The men in baseball caps and beards (or was that the women?).

-- Cindy and Sarah's outfits. They were put together -- at least they looked put together. But at the cost of the GNP of Bulgaria.

-- Michelle Bachmann, and others who stuck their tootsies in their mouths, live, in front of our eyes.

-- Trying to convince my Republican friends to vote for Obama. Finding out that I have some extremely greedy, deluded friends.

-- The debate parties, real and on the Web. Cursing at the TV. Scatological blogging with virtual acquaintances. Downing beer or wine or Cosmos when certain phrases were uttered: woozy on "maverick," plastered on "my friends."

-- The over-the-top ads. Libby Dole's "Godless" worst among them. She's gone; Bill Maher, Mr. Godless, are you cracking up?

-- "Pundant" and "nuke-u-lar." Buh-bye, I hope.

-- CNN's Kings: Larry, seemingly half awake, despite Arianna's eloquence there; John, fast-finger, keeper of the techie blue and red electoral map. I could never figure out which states were which in the middle of the country.

-- The Talking Heads, our eccentric relatives: Cokie Roberts, the annoying know-it-all; Eleanor Clift, with one expression (but ok, she was married to Montgomery Clift's brother); Tom Brokaw, sometimes incomprehensible; George Will, with his seemingly low thyroid level; Pat Buchanan, finding his own comments laughable. The self-proclaimed "Best Team" and the dozens of preening others who coveted their air-time, knowing how lucky they were, and how boring.

-- Elisabeth Hasselbeck sputtering out talking points like a blond hamster on speed-laced kibble.

-- The Republican primary candidates also known as the bar scene in Star Wars or "The Seven Dwarfs."

-- Joe The Plumber. After his book deal tanks and his country-western career balks, he'll have a full time job fixing McCain toilets in all their homes. Oh, wait. He's doing what?

-- Flipping back and forth between CNN and MSNBC 50 times a night.

-- Tucker Bounds. What is it about youngish Republicans named Tucker, and where have they gone?

-- Gerunds without "gs." Missin' 'em already. Kinda.'

-- Katie Couric, Campbell Brown and Rachel Maddow. Job well done.

-- Olbermann's "SIR!" commentaries. Oh the ire. (Never fear, he's still got Billo.)

-- The anticipation of maybe, just maybe, winning this thing. And then winning! And now, Obama about to be elected.

-- "You betcha!"