Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama came up the winner in the first election returns in small-town America on Tuesday, where two polls opened at midnight while most others will begin operating from 6 a.m. East Coast time.
Obama defeated Republican contender Senator John McCain in two small towns in the state of New Hampshire, 16-6 in Dixville Notch and 17-10 in the town of Hart's Location.
The early victory was shadowed with sadness, however, as Obama tearfully announced during an appearance at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte that his 86-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, had died of cancer late Sunday in Hawaii. The candidate had often referred to Dunham's influence on his life in the past.
Orthodox Jews Predict – and Fear -- Obama Landslide
Most Orthodox Jews and Christian Zionists around the country have expressed deep apprehension, fearing an Obama landslide by the end of the night.
"They say Obama will take it in a landslide," said Dr. Simone Gordon, a New York psychotherapist who is a trauma and forensic specialist that serves as an expert in capital cases involving the death penalty. "Hope and Change," she mused. "It's interesting – I pulled out [Rabbi] Norman Lamm's book, and he was speaking about 'Hope' before Obama ever dreamt up the word."
One man who is a member of a Christian Zionist congregation in Texas noted Obama's ability to engage massive numbers of people, saying "he has been using neurolinguistic programming to get the crowds." The retired medical professional who wanted to be known only as "Jack" commented that Obama was able to mesmerize people "while masking the fact that no one really knows who he is," which he said he found troubling.
A Modern Orthodox Jew from Los Angeles, Malkah, said that most of the Orthodox congregations were urging their brethren to vote for McCain – but that more liberal Jews were supporting Obama, as was the rest of California. "It is the Jews who will get him the vote, who are out there campaigning," she said, adding that she was still undecided and probably would not know what she would do until the moment came to pull the lever in the voting booth. "And I bet I am not alone in that," she stated.
Fears of unrest in mixed black and Jewish neighborhoods, plus deep concerns over what would happen to U.S. support for Israel in an Obama administration, were paramount in Jewish Brooklyn.
"Once Jews get him the vote, he will turn to cut their throats just like other blacks do all the time," warned one Jewish McCain supporter in the mixed neighborhood of Crown Heights, who also preferred anonymity, citing fears of retribution in his neighborhood.
"I think there will be an increase in violence by blacks who will think they can get away with it all because now they have their guy in the White House," he said. "I won't be surprised if things change radically for Israel either, despite all the vows of support," he added, citing an interview with black activist Rev. Jesse Jackson that was reported last month in the New York Post.
In New York City, the black community in Harlem was reportedly already celebrating, anticipating an Obama victory.