The Vision’s Wizards

Decision 2008: Obama makes history

Connecticut helped to give Democratic Sen. Barack Obama a significant victory over Sen. John McCain to become the next president of the United States.Obama easily won the state’s seven electoral votes Tuesday. The expected victory  needs to be backed by reform in health care, taxes and foreign affairs, voters in Eastern Connecticut say.“I think Obama brings some fresh, new ideas to the ticket, and I just hope he can install them all,” said Susan Hendren, a bank manager from Montville, who added that Obama needs to bring troops home from Iraq and focus on health care and job creation.In the weeks leading up to the election, Obama enjoyed double-digit leads over Republican candidate McCain in Connecticut.Not only is Connecticut a blue state, but recent polls showed that three-quarters of the state’s residents believe President Bush has done a poor job and the economy is in fair or poor condition. Both voter trends favored Obama.“He’s a born leader,” Akisha Allen, a supervisor at MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino and a 10-year Montville resident, said of Obama. “First one we’ve had for many, many years.”Allen said Obama needs to focus his attention immediately on addressing the nation’s economic crisis.After several years of seeing people spend their money and have a good time at the casino, business has slowed considerably and Allen is worried for the first time about her job. Connecticut may not have been a battleground state, but interest in the election reached record-high numbers, with nearly 2.1 million people registered to vote, including 300,000 registrations since Jan. 1.Susan Bysiewicz, secretary of the state, said 2008 may be remembered as the “year of the young voter,” as 130,000 people between the ages of 18 and 29 signed up to vote since Jan. 1.When David Foss, 18, of Plainfield registered to vote Oct. 28, he was undecided about the race. But after researching the issues online, he chose McCain, primarily because of his experience as a veteran.“I felt as though he’s going to deal the right way with the war and not just pull us out and leave us open to any kind of an attack,” Foss said. Ben Scepanski, 74, and a lifelong resident of Griswold, declined to say how he voted. But he noted the historic implications of a race that put the first black man into the White House.“It’s going to be a big one. Very big. Extremely big,” he said Tuesday morning as he directed traffic outside Town Hall. “The thing is if they back up what they say.”

Alaska senate race results

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