Election and Deck liveblog

7:01 p.m. - A decent crowd gathered already, but not as packed as I expected.

7:14 p.m. - A quick timeout at the house to deal with The Kid throwing up ... that's what drinking two cups of lemonade and eating a pack of M&Ms will do.

7:15 p.m. - Nice and brief public comments. Impressive.

7:16 p.m. - Athens-Clarke County District Six Commissioner Ed Robinson - complete with a tie - offers some clarifications ... the garden will be open to the public during the day, the retail space will be valuable, the land use plan calls for the growth of the height of the buildings in the central core, the height is below the maximum. He says he's voting for it, but asks for staff to make sure the building displays the strength of the Athens art community and includes solicitation of local art.

7:21 p.m. - Alice Kinman is up now, and she's eager to clear up the misconception about the lack of public input. She said there have been 10 work sessions and seven agenda-setting/voting sessions dedicated to the parking deck since November 2007. She adds that this is the most public input for one specific project then she can recall, and she adds the need for parking downtown is without dispute.

7:24 p.m. - Kinman adds the space is currently occupied by a blighted parking lot that is unused.

7:25 p.m. - Kinman notes that parking rates are only assigned to this one deck and rates will not be raised downtown by any vote taken tonight.

7:26 p.m. - Kathy Hoard asks Alan Reddish, the community's county manager, for clarification on the accessibility to the rooftop garden. The garden is open during business hours.

7:27 p.m. - It's a full-court press on public input as Andy Herod references Blake's post.

7:28 p.m. - Alice Kinman makes the motion to approve the basic agreement for the deck ... and it's 10-0 for it. Kinda of less than dramatic, was it not?

7:33 p.m. - The polls in Atlanta, by the way, are open until 8 p.m.

7:35 p.m. - Bob McConnell is beating the fool out of Creigh Deeds in Virginia.

7:40 p.m. - This was kind of a letdown, no? I mean, the public criticism was pretty intense in the days leading up to this, but it seems the majority of folks with concerns over the project must have seen the writing on the wall. The public input portion of the meeting was respectful, considerate, well-thought-out and brief.

7:41 p.m. - Kelly Girtz uses his portion of the wrap-up to call for a circuit shuttle in downtown, as well as a master plan for downtown Athens-Clarke County.

7:42 p.m. - And we're done. Wow.

7:48 p.m. - On the national front, President Obama is not a factor in the governor races in New Jersey or Virginia and that local perceptions of the candidates are the driving factor. Stunning, isn't it?

7:55 p.m. - Funny watching that liberal network, MSNBC, and hearing the commentators bash Obama's leadership. I mean, they're so in the tank for him.

7:57 p.m. - The best part is I knew drinking all that lemonade would upset my daughter's stomach, yet I was powerless to stop her.

8:00 p.m. - MSNBC calls it for Bob McConnell in Virginia.

8:02 p.m. - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an up-to-the-minute news page set up.

8:05 p.m. - MSNBC exit polls show that 57 percent of voters in Virginia didn't feel President Obama was a factor in their vote, while 19 percent said their support of the president drove them to the polls. In New Jersey, it's 60 percent who said Obama wasn't a factor, while 19 percent said their support prompted to cast a ballot. That whole 'political rebellion' meme is really, really silly ... as proven by this.

8:19 p.m. - Still nothing from the Atlanta mayoral race.

8:21 p.m. - Observing the national scene, one of the things that is most striking about Virginia and New Jersey is the low turnout for Democrats. This can be attributed to a variety of things ranging from voter fatigue to dissatisfaction with the choice. Looking at both the candidates in those races, it's obvious the latter was a big driving factor (honestly, Jon Corzine is an awful governor). In New Jersey, for instance, independents are breaking for Republican Chris Christie, but the Democratic advantage is so strong there that Corzine could still win ... it's just that they're not showing up.

8:25 p.m. Ezra Klein - 'This seems like a bit of a disaster for the Republicans. Look at the Senate right now: If Democrats have 60 votes, it's because conservative activists kept running primary challengers against Arlen Specter. If they fall short, it's likely to be because liberal activists ran a primary challenge against Joe Lieberman. If tomorrow's election makes the Republican Party way more primary-happy than it already is, it's probably going to end up costing them a lot more seats than they're about to gain.'

8:26 p.m. - I'm remembering how painfully slow it takes for Atlanta results to come in for statewide races, meaning it might be December before we have a clue on the mayoral race.