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Today is momentuous for several reasons:

1. President-elect Barack Obama. I've already received a few notes from British friends who stayed up all night to watch the elections, and I anticipate many excited comments throughout the day. I must admit I am longing to be in Chicago during this historic time...but it'll be fun to see the delight of my British and international community. I'll be happy with them--but I will also continue to promote the character and good name of John McCain, whom I also greatly respect and admire, as McCain receives little press over here. He's generally seen as a wan inheritor to the Bush legacy, which I feel is very unjust.

2. It is Guy Fawkes Day, also known as Bonfire Night, when Brits celebrate the just-in-time discovery 400 years ago of piles of gunpowder piled under Parliament. Guy Fawkes, a minor conspirator in the Catholic plot to blow up Protestant Parliament and the Royal Family, was guarding the stockpile, hence the creation of a day of remembrance that was once used to fuel anti-Catholic prejudices. These days, however, Guy Fawkes Day has increasingly become a time to party with backyard bonfire parties and citywide fireworks displays.

3. And speaking of change, I can't let this day go by without mentioning that it is also my 30th birthday. I'll be celebrating with a giant bonfire birthday party here in Nottingham (complete with garden fireworks) and I feel rather astounded to be entering a new decade in my life at the very same time that America enters its next significant chapter.

Congratulations, President-Elect Obama. And well done, Senator McCain.

I voted. Did you?

Thanks to the wonder of absentee ballots, I received mine several weeks ago. I carried it around proudly, showing it to many English friends who all lamented, "I want to vote in the American election!" After much careful thought and deliberation, I filled it in and mailed it back to Chicago.

Today I've been hearing all sorts of comments like:

"I can't wait to find out who wins!"
"I'm going to stay up all night to watch the returns."
"Your elections are so much more interesting than ours."
"You Americans better vote! I'd vote if I could."

Four years ago today I attended the election night party of newly elected Senator Obama. I was hosting a visiting English journalist friend and we decided the Obama party was the place where she'd experience the most quintessentially American election party. We called ahead to see if we could get in with our press credentials, but the woman who answered said, "Everybody's welcome! Just come on down." (A bit of a contrast to tonight's high-security election party in Grant Park, where some tickets are going on Craig's List for $1,000).

So we made our way to the ballroom of a Chicago hotel and wandered in. The place was packed with a buzzing, delighted multi-racial crowd. Women we'd never met gave us hugs exclaiming, "Isn't this wonderful!" and everyone else smiled happily (except when the giant television screens showed Bush climbing in the presidential election count...at that the Democratic crowd booed). We milled around for a few hours as the crowd got bigger and happier, especially as it realized Obama had clinched the race. The ice sculptures melted, the snacks set out on buffet tables disappeared and finally Barack Obama came onstage to declare victory. He was accompanied by Michelle and his older daughter Malia, and he was holding his younger daughter Sasha, who was curled up on his shoulder, half-asleep, as he thanked the crowd.

After that Obama circulated among the ballroom, shaking hands and giving hugs to his supporters. He shook my hand, in fact, and I marveled at his charisma, which I can only compare to that I noticed when meeting former President Clinton in 1996. In fact, I went home that night and wrote on a Web site blog, "I think I may have just shaken the hand of the future president of the united States."

When I wrote that offhand comment, I expected Obama would run for President in 16 to 20 years, not 4, and my comment sparked a lively debate on the Web site about his experience and readiness for a national role. After tonight, I'll know just how prescient my comment was...or wasn't.