Marc and I trotted down to the early voting polling place on UT's campus, and rest assured, once again I'm glad I didn't vote on Election Day. There was a 5 minute wait, and when I passed by there later it looked like it was up to 20 minutes. It only gets worse from here on out. And I've heard from others that you're already seeing 20 minutes lines at some polling places in Austin. Obviously, the fact that we're seeing a much higher turnout this year is an overall good thing, because it improves Obama's chances greatly (as well as the chances of all downticket Democrats), but that means lines. And lines suck. So get out early and avoid them.
My usual habit is straight party Democratic, and a vote for the libertarian in any race that doesn't have a Democrat. But this year I just didn't even bother to vote in those races. (There was only like one, thank goodness.) Ron Paul has permanently soured me on the idea that libertarians are usually marginally better than Republicans. You could roll the die and get a reasonable Republican, still, or you could help some right wing crank running as libertarian win. They can hash it out without my help.
