Venezuelans today turned out in record numbers to elect, what was it, mayors? Governors? Seriously the English language press is sending a fleet of reporters down to Venezuela to cover the crucial battle over who will better implement trash pickup in Maracaibo. Wait, no, just kidding. It's not what the locals will actually do so much as the symbolism of it all. You see, if Maracaibo falls to the opposition, it will start a chain reaction that eventually topples Chavez, maybe. Everything with US-Latin American press coverage gets back to the domino theory somehow. Blame Reagan.
Anyway the point is there are roughly forty kazillion US journalists in Venezuela today, and there is still NO NEWS about how the elections are going, which is annoying. This is because the media aren't supposed to leak exit poll results until the polls have all closed. In the meantime all we can do is sit here and gossip. Sounds good to me! What'chu got?
- Item! Record turnout means really long lines. Election authorities have promised that everyone will get a chance to vote, which means keeping polling places later to accommodate the queues. Naturally the opposition are already calling this "fraud."
- Item! Speaking of that Maracaibo mayoral race, if he wins opposition candidate Manuel Rosales may be the world's most blinged-out mayor ever. New reports (in Spanish, sorry!) show that he owns 7 houses, 13 businesses (including a commercial center in Orlando) and has been known to move around $31 million in a single transaction.
- Item! One hilarious opposition blogger doesn't need no stinkin' exit polls: "18:34 'Carometro' is a local political term where we measure the expression on the face of folks to decide whether they won. The 'carometro' of Muller Roajs of the PSUV was nto [sic] very good," so there you go. Another crushing defeat for Hugo Chavez.
- Item! Radio Venezuela en Vivo is keeping the updates coming in many languages. Right now I think it's Italian or something, but sooner or later they'll speak something you know.
- Item! If you needed another reason to buy that Rosetta Stone Spanish thingy at the airport, consider that you could be reading election coverage from El Chiguire Bipolar instead of here.
- Item! McClatchy breaks the exit poll embargo: "An exit poll by a pro-Chavez group - released shortly after polls closed at 4 p.m. Sunday - showed opposition parties winning only a single race. Exit polls by opposition parties showed them winning more." Which sorta explains why there is an exit poll embargo in the first place.
- Item! Oh look The New York Times' laziest little reporter is reporting, from Caracas! Simon Romero says Chavez is being "conciliatory" by telling all Venezuelans to respect the vote, just like he always says in every election, but whatever. Romero also brings up the meme that Chavez would "roll tanks into Carabobo" if his candidate loses there. Of course what Chavez said was that the oppo candidate there had been a leader in the 2002 coup, and would probably bring a another battle against the federal government if he won. Small dif, but hey, Romero read it in AP or something, so it's "true."
- Item! The Latin American Herald Tribune has lots of interesting tidbits and unfettered-by-pesky-laws exit poll info to crunch. Take it for what it is, but it looks like the opposition may have picked up 5 or 6 of the 22 states up for grabs today. Watch for the Washington Post to announce a Crushing Defeat™ for Chavez if it's true.
