Jack Gray
AC360 Associate Producer
It’s an emotional time to be a journalist. The only thing that’s been a bigger staple in my life than this presidential campaign is my neighbor who sits out on the curb every morning, having a smoke in his bathrobe. He reminds me of the killer from “No Country for Old Men.” Except not as friendly.
But now, the campaign is drawing to a close. Remind me again of the choices. Oh, yes, that’s right. The Socialist who is making me miss the new “Knight Rider” tonight or that old guy who wants to invade Canada on his riding lawn mower.
It’s not over, of course, until everyone votes. Some people say we should do online voting. Because that wouldn’t be a giant disaster.
But hey, if they can make it secure, I’m all for it. In fact, why don’t you just e-mail me my ballot. You can get my address from the people who like to remind me that with every Ph.D. in horticulture I earn from their online university I get a free month’s supply of Viagra.
You would think New York City would have the latest in electoral gadgetry, but no. The clunky voting machines in my precinct look like those contraptions from which my grandmother used to buy packs of Benson & Hedges during late nights of Keno and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Naturally, there is a bit of nostalgia that’s washing over me this week. Four years ago, when I was working for a station based in Boston, I was sent to Washington to produce our coverage from Bush headquarters. It was a blurry night. I remember someone telling me early in the evening that it was “Kerry in a landslide.” Next thing I knew it was morning, I was missing a shoe and playing Texas Hold ‘Em with Karen Hughes on the floor of the Dulles Airport Cinnabon.
By the way, hats off to all these politicians who have recently endorsed Barack Obama. Seriously. I mean, any opportunist can endorse a guy when he’s a long shot in the primary, but it takes real courage to squeeze your butt onto the bandwagon of the frontrunner who’s up by 30 points six days out.
I’m assuming you’ve heard that Bill Clinton is joining Obama on the campaign trail tonight. Because, don’t forget, the Clintons want him to win. Really, they do. There are no hard feelings. So stop being so cynical, people.
Also tonight, by popular demand of those of you in the comments section, I’ll be stopping by the AC360 Webcast with Erica Hill.
Erica has warned me that if I make her look bad I’ll be back to selling bootleg “Hee Haw” DVDs in Times Square.
In which case look for my table outside Cinnabon.
| Michelle ,fonthill,ont, canada |
October 29th, 2008 12:21 pm ET Good Afternoon Mr. Gray |
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| Lilibeth |
October 29th, 2008 12:23 pm ET Jack, I look forward to the webcast tonight. This may be the only time I’ll tune in to the webcast. Good luck! I’m sure you’ll be great. I’ve already mailed in my ballot, so voting is easy for me. But I’m also hearing stories of voting irregularities already going on in other states (particularly swing states…is this coincidence?). I’m glad you have the voter hotline available for this. Please, I’m asking you all at CNN, to please look into these calls. I’m sure we can all agree that we want the elections to be fair. See you later, Jack! Lilibeth |
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| missy |
October 29th, 2008 12:48 pm ET Your boycotting appearing with Anderson? I thought I was clear, Jack, that I do not watch the webcam. I was looking forward to seeing your face and hearing your voice. Can we work this out? I am so upset right now I am beginning to hyperventilate and thinking of boycotting the program altogether. |
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| Sarah, Indiana |
October 29th, 2008 1:04 pm ET Again, THANK YOU Jack for bringing a lighter side to this whole mess. It’s almost like the calm before the apocalypse out there. I guess if you believe some people, that is exactly what will happen if Barack Obama is elected. Gimmie a break…. BTW, I think we must be neighbors, I see that guy too. |
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| Roweena D'Souza, Seattle |
October 29th, 2008 1:05 pm ET Do they use electronic voting machines in the US?, they do back in India! The postal ballot is good though, a lot of my friends have already voted to avoid the queue on election day… Looking forward to the webcast tonight, you’ll be great Jack. I’ll take one cinnnamon bun! |
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| Presley |
October 29th, 2008 1:06 pm ET I personally enjoyed the voting in the Malls in Las Vegas. Looking forward to your DEBUT! |
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| Vegas |
October 29th, 2008 1:12 pm ET I’ll be glad when it’s over… pretty sick of the endless BS on the idiot box interupting my NFL schedule… At any rate… whomever wins… (Obama looks like the guy)… I hope the polarization of America can decrease… it’s pretty sad… you love one and hate the other… makes the aisle wide… which really isn’t what we need… Enjoy your roll… have a coffee to boot… |
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| Jennifer - Michigan |
October 29th, 2008 1:27 pm ET Hi Jack, Thanks for the great post today. Just had a chance to check in, and there you were – very cool! Your timing is good for my schedule. Anyhow, good luck for tonight – I’m sure you’ll do great. Hope you won’t have to sell bootleg dvds in Times Sqaure afterward, very funny! You and Erica will look so cute together I just know it. She’s so cute! I hope to see your special webcast tonight. Sometimes I can become a zombie by 9:00p – fast asleep shortly after. However, I’ll be up at 5a – no problem. Not a night person I guess. Have a great day, see you later. |
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| Lori from IL |
October 29th, 2008 1:34 pm ET Jack, Looking forward to your appearance on the Webcast tonight. You are too funny. Thanks for brightening my day. |
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| Cindy |
October 29th, 2008 1:43 pm ET Jack, On the online voting….yeah, that’s a disaster waiting to happen! Just look at how great they do things now….imagine that great work all online for anyone and his brother to hack into! If we are going to do that we might as well just let the two candidates duke it out and the best two out of three wins! Hey…that would be A LOT more entertaining than what we’ve been through the past two years! And hey..it’d last all of five seconds! LOL C-Ya tonight… Cindy…Ga. |
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| Kristien,Antwerp, Belgium |
October 29th, 2008 1:44 pm ET Hi Jack, Let’s just hope that by this time next week the old guy on the tractor won’t be elected to be the next President!!! Kristien |
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| jamie, Philly PA |
October 29th, 2008 2:01 pm ET Jack Gray, I am so very excited you’re going to be on the show tonight! You’re hysterical and I love you! We share a love for the cinnabon! I have to keep my laptop handy to watch the E-Hill show during the ACoop360. The Phillies should be world champs by then so i look forward to tuning in to you to celebrate even more! Go Phillies! |
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| Jenn/Monrovia, CA |
October 29th, 2008 3:41 pm ET I love Cinnabon… If you were missing a shoe, what sort of Texas Hold ‘Em WERE you playing? |
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| Terri from Atlanta |
October 29th, 2008 3:45 pm ET Congrats, Jack, you’re a webcast star! |
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| Terra Hoskins |
October 29th, 2008 3:54 pm ET Break a leg, Jack! My computer is old and crusty and I can’t watch the webcast. But oh, I can’t wait to hear about it. Because you know everyone will be logging on to do an online cheer. |
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| pati mc., camp hill, pa |
October 29th, 2008 4:31 pm ET Well Jack tonight is the night! Finally your funny self will be televised for all of the world to see. No pressure! Heh heh heh. I feel certain that you will do fine, just be yourself and remember we are all behind you 360%. so there ya go. Once again, you have brought some much needed hysterical laughter into our days. Boy, do we owe YOU big time. I would like to see you and David Gerrgen together. The two sweethearts of AC360. Oops, and OF COURSE that includes YOU Anderson! You know we love you best! XXXOOOXXX Have fun tongiht! See ya then. |
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| Julie San Diego, CA |
October 29th, 2008 4:36 pm ET “The Socialist who is making me miss the new “Knight Rider” tonight or that old guy who wants to invade Canada on his riding lawn mower.” Jack, you are a riot. No online voting. Too easy to hack. Permanent mail-in voting with optical scan ballots, the fill-in-the-oval, chad-less kind. Give us 2 months to send them back, then maybe e-mail a confirmation of how the machine read the vote. All is beautiful here in SoCal…but Jack, I fear you could never visit; we take the garden hose to anyone who lights up a cigarette in this state…fire danger, you know |
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| Jolene, St. Joseph, MI |
October 29th, 2008 4:37 pm ET Jack: Wednesday is finally here! Looking forward to your webcast debut! Funny you should mention Hee Haw DVD’s. Just today, I was in a deep discussion about love (go figure) and this song came to mind: “Where oh where, are you tonight? Yes, my favorite Hee Haw song! Okay, so I got my fingers crossed that you exceed Erica’s expectations tonight because us groupies would be devastated if she had to give you, the infamous Jack Gray, a “pfft” you was gone” moment. |
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| Lorie Ann, Buellton, California |
October 29th, 2008 4:59 pm ET Well Jack, don’t be too stressed about the web cast. Just think of it as an open mic, improvising, flying by the seat of your pants life experience..With an audience of 1000’s of eyes, watching..judging! Look at the bright side, you’ll bomb and get the hook pull you offstage or a thunderous ovation! So take a deep breath and remember, the Pillsbury Dough boy was once unknown and now is the King of cinnamon buns..TV exposure, what a beautiful thing. Good Luck. Lorie Ann, Buellton, Calif. |
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| xtina, chicago IL |
October 29th, 2008 5:13 pm ET you’re like a mini-Anderson; you are so funny but always careful not to give your political affiliation. If you haven’t already begun one, you should be writing a book, jack. |
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| EJ (USA) |
October 29th, 2008 5:36 pm ET you’re like a mini-Anderson ouch! Xtina just said you are not half the man that Anderson is. LOL |
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| Annie Kate |
October 29th, 2008 7:46 pm ET Jack Your posts are such a delight. I am deriving great amusement from the mental image of McCain attacking Canada on his riding lawn mower. I’m assuming that Palin will join him in the attack but will use a snow mobile. And Todd Palin will back them up with his dog sled. They ought to win the attack handily as the people in Canada will be incapacitated by laughter and won’t be able to fight back. The people that have your email must have mine too because you just described my email perfectly – except I also get promos for Cialis as well as well as a few other ads for items in that same category that I would never need. But hey, on-line voting would be neat – except with hackers we might find that the population of the US voters suddenly tripled overnight. We had voting machines in Tennessee that were left over from the great depression era or earlier. The people who monitored the machines and the voters used to joke that they could tell if you voted GOP or Democrat because a vote for the Democrats would make the voting machine lever fall off….. Looking forward to seeing you on Erica’s webcast tonight – I hope you all will post the webcast on the 360 page for those whose computers can’t do that many things at one time. Have a great evening and keep the laughs coming! Annie Kate |
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| Megan Dresslar (Shoreline, Wa) |
October 29th, 2008 9:02 pm ET Hellooo Jack!!! |
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| Lilibeth |
October 29th, 2008 11:54 pm ET Hi Jack, thanks for appearing on the webcast tonight. I don’t know what you were so worried about. You’re such a beautiful man! I like you more than ever. Good night, beautiful man. Lilibeth |
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| Brandi-bottom of the boot |
October 30th, 2008 1:40 am ET not fair, i missed the webcast and they dont put out the videos for those! cant go back and look it up. frustrating, who is this new character, i have read ur posts before, very funny, just never read ur name. lol |
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, so I’m counting on you to get it posted!
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