Exciting moments of U.S. Election Day

By Hillary Rodham Clinton

A political campaign is like any high-stakes contest. Whether the arena is sports, academics, entertainment, business or politics, people have to prepare themselves, adopt a strategy and follow through. But there are big differences. In politics, there is no final game, test, performance or presentation.

There is a day of reckoning, like Super Bowl Sunday, but the candidates are passive observers rather than active participants. After months of hard work, the candidates don't take the field. They can only wait for the voters to pass judgment.

It is an odd sensation and one that I've never liked. There should be something else to do -- another vote to persuade or speech to make. But there isn't. So all that's left is the waiting. Over the years, I have tried many ways to fill those hours. I've gone to the movies, gone shopping, slept late and cleaned closets. Nothing works.

But this last Election Day was special. We were in Little Rock to vote. We arrived at 2 a.m. on Tuesday from a marathon fly- around that had taken us from New Hampshire to Ohio to Kentucky to Iowa to South Dakota.

As the plane landed, I could see a crowd of several hundreds friends and supporters who had gathered to welcome us home. The night was warm, and Bill, Chelsea and I hugged and talked our way through the crowd. We visited with childhood friends who had driven in from all over the country to be with us. We met college students who had worked on the campaign and had figured out that coming to the airport in the middle of the night was the best chance they might have to meet the President. One young man had his friend photograph his handshake with the President, just as Bill had done years before with John F. Kennedy.

After we arrived at our hotel, Bill was too excited to sleep, so he organized a game of hearts with some of his senior staff. Chelsea and I went to sleep around 4 a.m., and Bill finally ended the day an hour late.

When we woke up the three of us went to vote, a family ritual ever since Chelsea was a baby. She always helped her father pull the levers. This time, there were no curtained booths or levers but ballots that could be fed into a computer. I needed my reading glasses just to read the ballot. Luckily, I had decided how I intended to vote on all the Arkansas initiatives and constitutional amendments before I arrived, or I might still be there trying to decipher all the small print. I propose ballots use bigger print for all us aging baby boomers.

After Bill and I voted, Chelsea went out with five or her girlfriends, two from Washington who had come with us and three from Little Rock. The girls had permission to miss school and took full advantage of the day. They introduced Chelsea's Washington's friends to the city, stopping to see favorite haunts and ending up, you guessed, at the mall.

I went to visit my optometrist and order some new bifocals, an unpleasant duty. I've always been nearsighted. After years of wearing thick glasses, I finally figured out how to wear soft contacts when I was around 35. Now that I'm nearing 50, I often need reading glasses on top of contacts.

Once that errand was run, I headed to Doe's Eat Place, a familiar hangout that serves steaks, burgers, fries, tamales and all the food we're told to shun. A bunch of my friends and staff were sitting at tables outside telling stories and digesting their lunches. One of the gifts of my life is that I have people around me who are quick to laugh and don't mind doing so at anyone's expense -- especially mine.

We told storied of the last four years, made fun of each other and quite forgot we were waiting to learn who would win the election. Whenever a cell phone rang with news of exit polls, I made it clear I didn't want to hear the numbers. I don't believe in exit polls. They're often wrong. They invade voters' privacy, and they can interfere with voter turnout in later time zones.

Joining us at Doe's was my mother. When my friends learned she had recently remodeled her living room, we all piled into cars to go take a look. I drove, one of my favorite activities whenever I get the chance. When we got there, one friend played the piano, while others received a guided tour. I just sat there watching the sun go down on the hills behind the river, feeling relaxed for the first time in weeks.

Once I returned to the hotel, I was caught up in the excitement and tension of election night. Our suite had four television sets, and people gathered in front of them to watch and discuss the results. When the President won Florida, everyone cheered. When he was declared the winner, we started congratulating each other. Some of us even cried.

By then, it was time to get ready for Bill's speech. After Sen. Dole called to congratulate my husband, we left the hotel for the short ride over to the Old State House, Arkansas's first capitol. Standing in front with the Gores and their four children, we were overwhelmed by a huge crowd stretching as far as we could see. The big trees in front were draped in little white lights. As Bill spoke, leaves gently floated down across the podium as though they, too, wanted to play their part in this historic night.

I looked out into hundreds of faces I knew and loved, feeling very blessed to be in that place, proud of my husband and my country. It didn't even matter that I still had three more receptions to attend and that my feet were throbbing. It all seemed just right, and not a bad way to end this Election Day.

-- Creators Syndicate