Laura and I cast our votes this morning at PS 234 in Queens en route to the subway. I was proud to vote for John Kerry for president, Chuck Schumer for Senate, and Carolyn Maloney for the House.

You know, standing in line in front of the voting booth felt as close to going to church to me as I've felt since ... well, since I believed in going to church. Of course, the booth itself is a nervous-making place, as one double-checks the levers to be sure the vote going to be counted correctly. I'm not normally a Luddite, but I like our nice, solid, reassuring mechanical voting machines here in New York.