On Election night, I appeared on FOX 5 News (WTTG) TV and myfoxdc.com with weekend anchor Will Thomas as part of their LIVE Election Night coverage from 8 PM to 12 Midnight.

I also live blogged here on CapitalGig and via Twitter (@almacy). Here’s how it all unfolded…

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2008

6:34 PM CapitalGig: Freedom Isn’t Free, but Coffee and Donuts Are http://tinyurl.com/5czf3e

6:45 PM Heading down to FOX 5 studios here in Washington, DC to participate in their election coverage tonight from 8 PM to 12 Midnight.

6:52 PM Virginia polls officially close in 8 minutes. Maryland and DC close at 8 PM ET.

7:08 PM Former Virginia governor Mark Warner (D) has defeated Jim Gilmore (R) in the Virginia Senate race, AP reports.

7:12 PM Twitter via @almacy: http://twitpic.com/k1mj – The votes are in and the winner is… Duck!

7:22 PM Dark, rainy night in DC. GW Parkway is slick, traffic steady through Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

7:38 PM Duck wins Presidency in local Virginia school kindergarten landslide. http://twitpic.com/k1mj Check out Duck for President, a kids classic!

8:03 PM Sen. Susan Collins (R) has defeated Rep. Tom Allen (D) in the Maine Senate race, AP reports.

8:08 PM CNN projects Obama wins New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut; McCain takes South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee.

8:18 PM Just arrived at FOX 5 studios in DC. Pulling into parking lot now.

8:32 PM First LIVE interview on myfoxdc.com webcast. http://tinyurl.com/6mslxm

8:42 PM Barack Obama has won New Hampshire, AP reports.

8:44 PM CNN projects that Barack Obama wins Pennsylvania. Wow, not super surprising but that’s huge.

8:44 PM Kay Hagan (D) has unseated Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) in North Carolina, AP reports.

8:57 PM First LIVE TV hit on FOX 5. http://www.myfoxdc.com/

9:00 PM Former governor Jeanne Shaheen (D) has defeated Sen. John Sununu (R) in the New Hampshire Senate race, AP reports.

9:10 PM CNN projects McCain wins North Dakota and Wyoming, Obama wins New York, Michigan and Minnesota.

9:17 PM Rep. Tom Udall (D) has defeated Rep. Steve Pearce (R) in the New Mexico Senate race, AP reports.

9:22 PM Twitter via @almacy: Alternating between FOX5 TV and web. LIVE feed here: http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

9:34 PM Twitter via @almacy: FOX just called Pennsylvania and Ohio for Obama.

9:36 PM U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) has defeated Bruce Lunsford (D) in Kentucky, AP reports.

9:36 PM CNN projects Barack Obama the winner of battleground state of Ohio. Path is getting easier for Obama.

9:54 PM Twitter via @almacy: @kholmgren Thanks, Kurt. We are also live streaming: http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

9:57 PM Jim Himes (D) has defeated Rep. Chris Shays (R) in Connecticut’s Fourth District, AP reports.

9:58 PM Twitter via @almacy: @dcconcierge Yup, @epolitics and I are two cubes away. Fun times, hot lights! Colin will be up shortly.

10:03 PM Barack Obama has won Iowa, AP reports.

10:04 PM Twitter via @almacy: @willthomas interviewing Heather Smith, Exec Dir of Rock the Vote. #foxdc http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

10:09 PM John McCain has won West Virginia, AP reports.

10:13 PM Tom Rooney (R) has defeated Rep. Tim Mahoney (D) in Florida’s 16th District, AP reports.

10:14 PM Twitter via @almacy: @epolitics Hey, just saw you and some prairie dog on FOX 5 LIVE web stream http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

10:33 PM Rep. John Murtha (D) has defeated Bill Russell (R) in Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district, AP reports.

10:34 PM Twitter via @almacy: Next FOX 5 TV hit with @willthomas is slated for 10:44 PM. @epolitics Colin Delany and I ready to go. #foxdc

10:39 PM Barack Obama has won New Mexico, AP reports.

10:42 PM Twitter via @almacy: Getting set to go LIVE on Fox5 TV. http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

10:47 PM Twitter via @almacy: a slew of states about to be called at 11AM. Race ready to be called for Obama as 44th President of the US.

10:49 PM Twitter via @almacy: Looks like Sen. Hillary Clinton will be boxed out from the White House for the next four to eight years.

10:51 PM Barack Obama has won Virginia, AP reports.

10:54 PM Twitter via @almacy: @acedtect RT: We can now project Will.I.Am as President of Holograms.

10:57 PM Rep. Mark Udall (D) has defeated former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) in the Colorado Senate race, AP reports.

11:00 PM Barack Obama has won Florida, AP reports.

11:00 PM Twitter via @almacy: @FoxNews is now officially projecting Sen. Obama as the next President of the U.S.

11:01 PM Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States of America, AP reports. CNN also projects that Sen. Barack Obama has won election as the next president of the United States.

11:04 PM Twitter via @almacy: Obama is leaving Hyatt around 11:35 PM and is expected to speak at 12 AM. McCain to speak shortly.

11:06 PM Twitter via @almacy: Campaign official says that McCain called Obama to concede.

11:09 PM Beverly Perdue (D) has defeated Pat McCrory (R) and will become North Carolina’s first female governor, AP reports.

11:13 PM Twitter via @almacy: How ironic that this my 1600th tweet on the night that we elect a new US President – as in Pennsylvania Ave. Congrats, Sen. Obama.

11:18 PM Twitter via @almacy: Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin taking the stage.

11:22 PM Twitter via @almacy: Sen. McCain officially concedes, congratulates Sen. Obama on winning an historic election.

11:24 PM Politico: John McCain concedes, says “this is an historic election… I pledge to [Obama] tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.” CNN: John McCain congratulates Barack Obama on his “historic” election as president of “the greatest nation on Earth.”

11:32 PM Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) has defeated John Kennedy (R) in the Louisiana Senate race, AP reports.

11:33 PM Sen. Roger Wicker (R) has defeated former governor Ronnie Musgrove (D) in the Mississippi Senate race, AP reports.

11:47 AM Twitter via @almacy: Top Twitter themes: President OBAMA, President-Elect, United States, Congratulations http://election.twitter.com/

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2008

12:00 AM President-elect Barack Obama expected to speak in Chicago.

12:01 AM Twitter via @almacy: Obama takes the stage in Chicago. Quite an impressive scene.

12:02 AM Barack Obama declares victory, says, “If there is anyone out there who still… questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

12:08 AM Twitter via @almacy: Just flipped through channels, Obama speech being aired on 21 of them. M*A*S*H, Frazier & Tyra fans rest assured, programming uninterrupted.

12:13 AM Barack Obama, in victory speech, tells supporters that his election as president shows that “change has come to America.”

12:16 AM Kathy Dahlkemper (D) has defeated Phil English (R) in Pennsylvania’s Third District, AP reports.

12:22 AM Twitter via @almacy: http://twitpic.com/k49i – @willthomas on the set at Fox5 in Wash, DC on Election Night 2008. #foxdc

12:26 AM Twitter via @almacy: @FoxNews Shepard Smith, “If you’re conservative and angry, get over yourself. We gotta move past this.” FOX 5 newsroom erupts w/ laughter.

12:32 AM “Good job, people!” overheard in FOX 5 Newsroom, received by thunderous applause. That’s a wrap!

12:34 AM Twitter via @almacy: All wrapped here at FOX 5. Thanks @willthomas and myfoxdc.com crew. #foxdc Headed home.

Related

Election 2008 Memento: Live at Fox 5 (Colin Delany, e.politics)

Election Night: E.Politics is Live on Fox5 (Colin Delany, e.politics)

Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) is on Twitter @johnculberson. So is Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) @timryan. For those who don’t know, Twitter is a microblog that enables users to “tweet” out short text messages in 140 characters or less (about a sentence or two) designed to answer this question: “What are you doing right now?”

The popularity of the site has certainly grown, especially in the world of politics in recent months:

• The White House has been on Twitter for about a year.
  UPDATE 1/2009: President George W. Bush’s Twitter account (@TheWhiteHouse) was closed shortly after President Obama was sworn-in. The new account may be found at @whitehouse.
• Many presidential hopefuls were Twitterng early in the 2008 campaign including Sens. Edwards, Obama, Clinton and McCain.
• At the Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) on June 23-24 in New York, Ana Marie Cox moderated a policy debate between Liz Mair (for McCain) and Mike Nelson (for Obama) via Twitter (hashtag: #pdfdebate).
• Just this past week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was Twittering live from the G8 Summit in Toyako, Japan.

Although the U.S. House (@HouseFloor) and U.S. Senate (@SenateFloor) are both on Twitter, supposedly the leadership feels differently about individual Members of Congress using the tool.

Can We Be Frank?
So, what’s the issue? According to the House Administration Committee, any official communication with constituents needs to be approved by their Franking Commission which issues policies related to mailings from Congressional offices.

Rep. Culberson believes that preventing Members from Twittering is a violation of First Amendment rights regarding freedom of speech. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) agrees and fired off a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It has come to my attention that the Democratic-controlled Committee on House Administration, at the recommendation of the Democratic chairman of the Commission on Mailing Standards (Franking Commission), is considering the adoption of new congressional rules that would effectively shut down what has emerged as a free and helpfully uncensored pipeline of real-time information between the American people and their elected leaders.

I believe Members of Congress should have the ability to choose whichever service they believe will best assist in communicating with their constituents, and not be limited to only services “approved” by the House Administration Committee or any other government entity. We must encourage, not restrict, the free and open flow of uncensored information between the American people and their elected leaders over the Internet.

Members should be allowed to use technologies, websites, and services (paid or unpaid) to communicate with their constituents via text, video, or audio, so long as the content posted by the Member complies with House rules and Franking content regulations.

So, should tweets fall under House franking rules or does Congress need to adapt to 21st Century technology? I vote for the latter – and I am not alone.

Others, such as The Open House Project and the Sunlight Foundation are also calling on Congress to update their policies to reflect our changing digital world.

‘Twitter’ origin
A side note: After reading a few books to my 5 year-old daughter a couple weekends ago, I came across a character named “Twitter” in a Disney published fairy tale called “Beck and the Great Berry Battle.”

In the story, the hummingbirds get into a blackberry battle (actual berries, not RIM devices!) with the chipmunks over a big misunderstanding. Beck, an animal-talent fairy, attempts to resolve the dispute along with her friend, Twitter, a little blue hummingbird. They fly between the various animal factions delivering messages and attempting to broker peace, all the while dodging flying blackberries.

Hmmm. Note that the Twitter logo is a little blue bird. Coincidence? Don’t know, but for some reason I felt the need to tweet about it (@almacy).

UPDATE

During an interview with Chad Pergram from Fox News just outside the House chamber, Rep. Culberson LIVE streams via Qik and discusses the issues surrounding the proposed House rules to restrict Member content to only a list of “approved” websites. Look out CNN iReport, here comes iHouse.gov!

Related

Republican = Open, Democrat = Closed (Patrick Ruffini, The Next Right)

Pelosi: New Bipartisan House Rules Won’t Quash Free Speech Online (Wired)

Why does Pelosi want rules she already violates? (Soren Dayton, The Next Right)

Speaker Pelosi to Leader Boehner on Proposed Franking Changes (The Gavel: Speaker Pelosi’s official blog)

Culberson, Capuano, and the Struggle for Relevance (Michael Turk, Kung Fu Quip)

Sunlight Foundation launches LetOurCongressTweet.org, complete with @LOCT08 Twitter page, #LOCT08 hashtag “tweme” and this recommended tweet:

Nice work by Andrew (@agfhome) over at Washington Internet Daily to nab this Qik interview with Rep. Culberson.

Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford Law Professor, author and Internet civil liberties advocate made two annoucements on his blog this week – the formation of Change Congress and that he is considering a run for Congress in California’s 12th District to fill the seat of late Congressman Tom Lantos.

As a self-proclaimed “progressive (pc word for liberal),” Lessig will most likely face former state Sen. Jackie Speier in the Democratic primary and he responded to strong objections from some that his entrance into the race would only serve to stall her “deserved” bid.Will Oremus of the San Jose Mercury News reports: 

Known as a fighter for the public interest in the Internet age, Lessig has picked Congress as his latest target. His bid to replace the late Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, would be part of his broader campaign finance reform project, called “Change Congress.”

“My goal is to get Democrats and Republicans to agree on some fundamental principles that need to be reformed so Congress regains the confidence of the people,” Lessig said. The question now is whether running for office himself is the best way to do that.

Not surpisingly, Lessig and his supporters have engaged heavily online through Lessig08.org, DraftLessig.org, 4Lessig’s “Hackfest” event, Change Congress video, and a Draft Lessig for Congress group on Facebook boasting almost 4,200 members to date. He plans to announce his decision by March 1.

UPDATE 2/27/08

Lessig’s Bid for Congress Ends As Quickly As Begins (WP, Post I.T. blog)