State Sen. Joe McDermott concluded his two-class, non-partisan seminar on the 2008 election process and while personally satisfied with election night's Obama-mania, he made an effort to give a balanced take on events.

The first class was held a week prior to the elections, the second a week after. And while his re-election bid was unopposed, there were surprises and confusion to aspects of the state and national races. During the first class, McDermott tackled Washington State's complicated caucus and primary system. For Democratic voters, the presidential candidate is chosen based only on caucus results. Yes, people vote with ballots they're issued, but that is just window dressing.

"The decision on the Democratic candidate was already made in the caucus cycle, so there was no reason to cast a ballot," he said.

The homework he gave at the first class was to "pay attention to Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Missouri," he said. "Those swing states will play a major factor in deciding the (presidential) election."

"So what happened in those battle-ground states?" he asked at the start of the second class. Some in the audience laughed with approval, and said, "Obama won all of them."

"Yes, except Missouri, which is still too close to call," he responded, then added, "But was it a landslide? The electoral vote count of Senator Obama's 364 to Senator McCain's 163, with Missouri's 11 still undecided may look like a landslide. But was it? I thought it was great that people celebrated in the streets of Seattle. I enjoyed seeing that, but I also know that nationally Obama got just 53-percent. I don't know how to reconcile the exuberance in the streets around the country. I just don't know what to do with that."

McDermott pointed out that the District of Columbia voted 93-percent for Obama. "That's a landslide."

"I've noticed the shift toward more activism ... and think that my generation, my age group, is noticing our time is now to be involved," a 20-something student told McDermott. "I had an 18 year old friend who was killed, blown up, in Iraq. My peers are having this shift where we are personally invested in what's going on. I was raised that activism was dangerous, not wrong, but something extremists did. If we don't get involved extremists will take over."

An older man who attended both classes responded, "There was protesting in my generation, too."

"I'm a 60's activist," said Laura Matson of the college's continuing education department who also attended both classes. "It was not our 'obligation' as citizens to protest. We were protesting for what was right. Hearing that (activism) is what you need to do as a citizen is encouraging to me. So was seeing the celebrating pouring into the streets all over the world when Obama won.

"Something definitely happened," she said. "I have never before seen the outpouring of young people, the disenfranchised, the once apathetic. Could this be a shift in the ethos we have about voting and our individual role?"

"I'd never heard of Obama at first but people felt so suppressed by what's been going on with our government, it gave some hope," said another. "Election Night was like the Mardi Gras. Everybody was just so pumped up."

"McCain turned out a whole bunch of people to vote too," McDermott again pointed out. "I think more participation is better than less. I believe we should have 'election day registration' to make it as easy as we can to vote with fewer barriers, but with necessary safeguards."

He also said McCain got a break at his convention.

"While nobody wishes for a devastating hurricane, I think Republicans were relieved that Hurricane Gustav politically relieved them of having the sitting president appear in St. Paul. That would have tied their nominee on stage to an unpopular president.

"I give a lot of credit to Senator McCain for his concession speech Tuesday night saying we all need to work together, to move on to make this transition successful. My partner who is Caucasian grew up in the south and was truly touched seeing Obama making his acceptance speech.

"What was awkward about the election night coverage on TV?" McDermott asked. No answers from the audience. "At 7 p.m. our time they knew Senator Obama had won but were required to wait another hour until the West Coast polls closed to announce the winner, so they killed time by dazzling the audience with graphics and holograms.

"By declaring Obama the winner at 8 p.m., they left Alaska and Hawaii out to dry," he said wryly.

The topic turned to California's surprising passage of Proposition 8 that bans gay marriage. This amended the California State Constitution to restrict marriage to one man and one woman, which overturned the recent California Supreme Court decision to recognize same-sex marriage. Surprising because the president-elect received 61-percent of the California vote.

"Personally I am disappointed," said McDermott. "One would think liberal or progressive voters would support gay marriage."

As the class concluded, McDermott, not one for pomp, added casually, "I hope you've realized that elective officials are 'people,' not stuffy individuals who are aloof."

Steve Shay may be reached at steves@robinsonnews.com