The Merced County Times is a weekly with a Thursday publication date.

Actually, we try to get each edition finished up by the end of the day on Tuesday. Sometimes we add stuff early Wednesday morning, right before it goes to press. Such was the case this week when I added some photos I took on election night.

I also slapped on the latest polling results ... despite the fact that most people will probably know the results by the time they get our print edition.

So ... I honestly regret not writing a quick color piece on behind the scenes action as the results came in.

That would have worked better on the front page ... but hey ... thanks to the wonders of cyberspace ... I'll write down a few things here.

I started my election watch that evening around 6 p.m. ... I don't have a TV in my Merced apartment, but I was pretty impressed with Yahoo ... there was an ABC link on it ... and I watched their live coverage on my computer screen.

It was pretty weird seeing broadcast newsman Sam Donaldson ... man ... that guy is still around ... still kicking ...

At around 7:30 ... I headed over to the Democratic Headquarters ... just getting settled in ... did some chatting with some pretty happy Democrats ...

Then I found myself taking some food off the snack table ... when the packed place suddenly erupted in cheers as CNN announced Barack Obama the winner of the presidential election.

What was it? ... Like 8 p.m.? ... 8:30 p.m.?

My friend, former colleague and photographer Marci Stenberg was already at the front, near the TV and shooting away.

So I stood on a chair behind an office cubicle and got my camera up and started shooting away as well.

One woman started crying.

Another kept saying over and over how exciting this was ... the election of an African-American president.

Obama supporter Dianne Conway offered me a beer ...

OK ... I took a sip.

This was history ... right?

I saw Cathleen Galgiani make an appearance and then duck out ... so I followed her to her party at Fernando's Bistro.

Things there were more calm ... a confident calm ... because when I asked one of Galgiani's pollster's about the results ... she looked at me like I was kidding ... "Of course she was way ahead" in the race for State Assembly.

So everybody knew --- except me --- that she was going to win.

Fernando offered me some wine in a tumbler ... I took a sip.

Cheers to Galgiani!

I'm not sure where her opponent Jack Mobley was ... though I have to feel for him and wonder if he will still stop by the Times offices like he did various times during his campaign. Those were great encounters. He's a man of conviction and I'm sure he will be back on the political scene soon.

Down the street, at DeAngelo's, county supervisor candidate Jim Sanders was losing out to Hub Walsh, who was celebrating at a relative's house in Merced.

One county source of mine urged me to ride over to the County Building ... where he said ... there were long lines of polling officials still carrying in ballot results.

One Galgiani supporter ran up to me and exclaimed his love for the County Times.

Another told me I looked tired.

That's when I went over to Starbucks.

Someone told me they were giving away free coffee to anyone that voted.

By then ... bar flies at the Partisan were watching Obama give his election night speech on the TV near the door ...

The world seemed to be turning again as I walked down Main Street.

I found K Street ... took a look back ... and then I headed home.