An historic victory and a forward vision. The newly elected 44th President of the United States is a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. He is looking forward, not back: He would have been forgiven for a little bit of jubilation, even triumphalism, but no. His acceptance speech tonight focused firmly on the challenges ahead, and he had some news for America's enemies. Obama is not one to be 'tested'.  read more »

No question. A zeitgeist moment - and in Grant Park, Chicago a glimpse of the real "real America". Sorry Joe the Plumber. Tonight we are witnessing history, the election of the first African American President exactly 40 years after a prescient Robert F. Kennedy dared to dream of such an outcome. Stop and think just how incredible this is. The robocalls, the Rovian playbook, the name calling: none of it worked, and now the guard is changing. Ok, it's not official yet, but the math is inescapable.  read more »

So at 9:15pm ET when so many hopeful Obama supporters were saying it could be "over" ... well, it's not. Not yet. So far no surprises. Blue states are going "blue", red states "red" - and everyone is still biting their nails over Virginia, Ohio, Florida, Colorado and Missouri. Interesting that Obama chief strategist David Axelrod is talking up Iowa and New Mexico as the most likely red-to-blue flips. Curious who is voting where in Virginia, and what prescincts are in, and where folks are still standing in the rain waiting to vote.  read more »

The mood is electric. Record turnout. Standing for hours in the rain in Virginia. And now the moment of truth. The first results are coming in, while voting continues in many areas of the country. Everyone is trying to read the tea leaves, divine the results from body language of news anchors, exit poll clues, and now the seemingly wistful statement from John McCain travelling "for the last time" on his plane with the media.  read more »

Miss your flight? There's always skype! Elizabeth Edwards never quite made it to New York, but from the comfy confines of her living room in North Carolina she parried questions from citizen journalists, accountability activists and pollitical operatives. She says - wait for it - online journalism has been good. Some issues, she says, are just "too big" for the mainstream media: Whether Iraq or healthcare, the "mainstream media will shortchange it because the issue is too big for the package."  read more »

It's a big leap of faith: that you and millions of other Americans will have enough faith in the power of a good question to keep Presidential candidates on their toes and lawmakers accountable. They need to know you are watching them, that you care! We are betting you do - that this election year you will ask questions you think journalists should be asking, that you will add your voice to questions others have asked, that you will use and share the audio answers our journalists track down for you.  read more »