Yesterday’s Presidential election, some are saying had the biggest voter turnout this country has seen in over a century. The numbers are pretty convincing I must say, some are estimating an over 60% of registered voters actually voted. The following story shows just how many people, and the insane variety of people that actually seemed to care about this election. A friend of mine and I went to San Fransisco to see our friends of ours who are on tour and were playing a show in San Fransisco (love you Pizza and Maine boys). As the election results were getting closer and closer to being the final nail in John McCain’s coffin we took a walk to Mel’s Dinner which was down the street from the venue. On the way out of Mel’s there was lady who definitely had a steady meth intake for probably a decade or so, had little to no teeth and probably haddn’t showered in weeks yelling OOOBBBAAMMMAAA!! over and over again. For me the fact that this lady probably had no idea where she was and knew Obama had just got elected and was excited about it blew my mind. After the Mel’s and the show ending and good bye’s were said, my friend and I were walking back to our car which was a little over a mile walk through The Tenderlion District in downtown San Fransisco. As we were walking another, more well put together than the previous meth addict, but a meth addict none the less started yelling at my friend and I. He was saying something to the effect of “it’s you guys, it’s you guys”, at this point we had no idea what this guy was trying to get across. He proceeds to say “It’s all thanks to you young, white college kids that we have Obama, thank you”. He yelled and mumbled this for about a block walk behind us. Again, the scope of how far this election actually reached blew my mind. An older, “semi-bumly”, African American male, thanking two 20 something white kids walking in downtown San Fransisco past midnight for the outcome of the presidential election. It was a very odd experience I must say. Everywhere we walked there were chants of “OBAMA” and “WE DID IT!”. Reguardless of who you wanted to win this election, republican or democrat, everyone should agree, people must have wanted change if bums in the street are celebrating over the outcome. I’m just glad that we were out of the city by the time it was more official that Prop. 8 would actually pass.

Jesse Jackson has recently gone on the defensive after being caught on tape criticizing Barack Obama for being too harsh on black Americans, particularly fathers, in regards to a Father’s Day speech in Chicago . Jackson has come out and apologized for the unintentional public criticism, but still kind of stuck to his guns:

“My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility.”

Hey Jesse! You are voting Democrat, I assume? You’re not helping the cause, buddy.

With every web site, TV station and newspaper weighing in with their 2 cents regarding which horse they’re backing in this year’s Presidential election, there are certainly more than enough learned opinions being circulated for even the most hungry of newshounds. Even the Average Joe is getting his voice heard this election season, via blogs, online forums, call-in shows and those ubiquitous polls, undertaken seemingly every 5 minutes. But there is yet a third demographic, one that is still sorely under-served by the media at large, the true “man on the street” who isn’t simply passing by but spends his days, and sometimes even nights on the street; that lower-crust of society who though seen by all, are heard by few. Seeking to give a voice to the voiceless, Synthesis correspondent Cayle Hunter sought out a spokesperson for those in our community who have yet to have their opinions added to the public discourse and found one, where else, in Chico’s Downtown Park Plaza. We asked this man, who we shall refer to as “Vincent”, who he was voting for in the upcoming election and why, and this is what we got. Learn about it.

Right outside Synthesis HQ in sunny Downtown Chico, CA is a sprawling concrete square known as Downtown Park Plaza. Once upon a time it was filled with magestic oak trees, but they all got cut down and now we have a fountain that bums wash their asses in and kids get E. Coli from. WINNAR! Even better, the park is always filled with really intelligent folk just waiting to share their wealth of knowledge with the public, like so many scruffy Socrateses. In this video, Synthesis Marketing Boss Cayle Hunter asks a few of these park residents their opinion on the upcoming presidential election.