November 2012

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Perhaps it's just my imagination, but one of the most hard-fought electoral prizes in the nation -- the Buckeye state -- seems oddly quiet.

Late into the evening on election night, as we were waiting for Mitt Romney to concede and President Obama to accept victory, striking images began dominating our television screens.

One moment we saw the Romney crowd in Boston, some of them leaning on each other as if for support –- most of them white, many of them older, all of them apparently quite depressed.

Then in a flash, we saw the Obama crowd in Chicago, dancing, smiling and –- strikingly –- full of young, often brown faces, all of them quite jubilant.

Gwen Ifill covers Rev. Jesse Jackson in the 1988 presidential campaign

A friend of mine who just moved to Mexico City emailed me recently to remind me of the importance of the work we do here at the NewsHour.

The friend, a reformed political junkie who once worked in network news, wanted me to know that she ran into an acquaintance whose work and professional life forces her to shuttle back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico.

Both presidential candidates have been campaigning hard with under a week to go until Nov. 6 (Photo: CNN)

The days tick down to a precious few, and partisans on both sides of the political divide are asking the same essential question: What’s gonna happen?