Need a lift to the polls?

The Lancaster County Democratic and Republican parties are offering free rides to the polls on Tuesday. Voters in need of a ride can call the Democrats at 402-476-2268 or email coordinator@lancastercountydemocrats.org. Or call the Republicans at 402-475-2122 or email andrew@negop.org.

Anyone interested in providing rides is welcome to help the Democrats by meeting at the party's office, 2215 C St.

"Big surge" when polls opened this morning, said election inspector Diana Yearsley at Christ United Methodist Church. A line had already formed outside the door by the time the church at 45th & A opened up to voters at 8 a.m.

"It wasn't eight hours long like Florida or anything like that," Yearsley said. "Maybe six people, but typical of a presidential election."

The election inspector says voters can expect to cast ballots in about five minutes this morning. Forty-one ballots were logged by 8:45 a.m. Yearsley said highest turnouts are expected between 4 p.m. and early evening, but -- at least in her location, typically a higher-volume one -- wait times should't be an issue for voters.

"Just get out and vote."

An update from the Highlands --

It may be a pretty windy day for golf, but a couple of dozen cars still are in the Highlands Golf Course lot. The polling site was up to 155 voters by noon, with a steady trickle coming and going. I made #156.

-- Lori Pilger

Eagle Elementary School students got a lesson in voting today. Precinct Inspector Kelly Gillaspie reported steady traffic in the lunchroom, where there were 241 ballots cast by noon and 6 provisional ballots.

“The kids are wonderful,” Gillaspie said. “They’re so well behaved. They don’t run through the election area.”

Farm policy lost in the campaign rhetoric

Right up to the time when Congress went home for the election, farm groups regularly aligned with either the Republicans or the Democrats were calling for passage of a farm bill.

The job is still undone, but the inattention of Congress on legislation is nothing compared to the inattention of President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney to agricultural issues in the 2012 campaign.

John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, and Steve Nelson, his counterpart with the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation, are among those shaking their heads in a major farm state.

Hansen said the president could have claimed some credit for the bustling agricultural economy. “In farm country, we never made as much money in the last 60 years as we made in the last four,” he said.

But no matter how much agriculture matters in Nebraska, Nelson said, the number of voters on the front lines of crop and livestock production matters more to a presidential campaign.

“It really comes down to the fact that there are less and less farmers as a percentage of the total population,” he said, “so it’s just not seen as being as important an issue as it should.”

The combative tone of the Senate race between Deb Fischer and Bob Kerrey didn’t leave a lot of room for promoting contrasting farm policies, Hansen said.

“When you load your guns and stand in a circle and commence firing, the finer points of a lot of things get left behind.”

Wednesday will be a time to look ahead, Nelson said. “It will be interesting to see, whatever the outcome of the election, how that plays into whether Congress is able to function better than it has, or whether it continues to struggle to get anything passed.”

-- Art Hovey

Working the Independents

Recent polls showed Democrat Bob Kerrey closing the gap in his race with Republican Deb Fischer for Ben Nelson’s U.S. Senate seat. Whether Kerrey pulls it off remains to be seen. But if he does not, it won’t be for lack of effort. I got two calls on the cell phone today from the Kerrey campaign -- asking me, a registered independent – for my vote.

-- Kevin O'Hanlon

The New York Times is calling the first states in the Presidential race. Vermont goes to Obama. Romney takes Kentucky.

CNN calls Georgia for Romney. No surprises yet.

Latest presidential projection via CNN: Romney wins Alabama, Obama wins Massachusetts. Electoral count 82 Romney, 64 Obama. Obama is leading in Ohio 58 percent-41 percent, with 21 percent of votes counted.

As preliminary results rolled out in a hotly contested U.S. Senate race, a confident Bob Kerrey took the stage at The Single Barrel in Lincoln on Tuesday night, telling a crowd of more than 200 "the odds favor us being able to declare victory."
Kerrey entered the restaurant and bar just before 8 p.m., just as his campaign's planned celebration at the Embassy Suites in La Vista began. Speaking over crowd applause, Kerrey yelled out "are we gonna win?" before taking the podium to thank and energize supporters.
"We didn't think this was gonna be easy," Kerrey said, with a laugh. "And we have not been disappointed."
The former governor went on to explain that he was confident about his odds.
"We will at some point be able to celebrate a great victory for the state of Nebraska this evening," he said, before the crowd broke into chants of "Kerrey, Kerrey!"
Campaign volunteers dined and watched results roll out on projectors set up throughout the hall. Stephanie Pickerel, who handled social media outreach for the Kerrey campaign, said she felt good at the candidate's odds, noting that she saw widespread support for him on Facebook today.
As to whether anticipation would build ahead of his event in La Vista, Kerrey laughed "what I'm gonna be thinking is, 'I've got one more speech then it's over.'"

Two big Senate victories for Democrats: Elizabeth Warren projected winner of Massachusetts Senate race by CNN, with Joe Donnelly defeating Richard Mourdock in Indiana.

Missouri called for Romney by CNN, giving him 201 electoral votes.

It appears President Obama has a big Electoral College win, but the popular vote is a different story. The latest numbers have both Obama and Mitt Romney with 49-million-plus votes, a near dead heat.

Obama projected to win Virginia, giving him 303 electoral votes to Romney's 203. Still awaiting word on Florida. Polls don't close in Alaska until midnight Central time but is seen as safe Romney territory.