Afternoon, bloggerinos. Well, as I write this, we are only hours away from finding out if we as a nation send the President back to the White House or welcome in a new presidency. Granted it's been a long slog through the swamps of political prognostication; there have been pizza chefs, beards and real estate tycoons all pegged as the person who would take Barack Obama down today, and the person ultimately tapped for the job is... Mitt Romney? Ooooookay then.

First, there is the all-important fact that President Obama is the first black man to run for re-election. However, did you know that he is not the first minority to serve in the executive branch? Charles Curtis, who served as Herbert Hoover's veep, was nearly half Native American, with lineage on his mother's side going back to the Pottawatomie, Osage and Kaw peoples.

If the President is re-elected tonight, he will be the third consecutive president to be elected to two terms. This has happened only one other time in our history: Presidents Jefferson, Madison and Monroe all served 8 years apiece between 1801 and 1825.

A thirty year old person voting today has only seen one president serve a single term. That was George H.W. Bush in 1992

This was the first electoral year since 1976 that no one named Bush or Clinton ran for the Presidency. It could be that the respite will be broken in 2016, if Jeb Bush and/or Hillary Clinton decide to make a run.

Speaking of Bush, the last time that the Republican Party won the Presidency without a Bush on the ticket was in 1972, when Nixon beat McGovern. The last time the GOP has put a man in the White House without a Bush OR Nixon on the ticket was 1928 (Hoover).

While we are at Nixon, it should be noted that in 1968, Tricky Dick was the first vice-president since van Buren to be elected to the presidency without his superior dying first. He's also the last President to have no living former presidents at some point in his term (Eisenhower, Truman, Johnson we all alive 1/20/69, with Johnson passing away in 1973).

John Tyler, who served in 1841-45, was notable for having fathered ten children. Believe it or not, he has TWO grandchildren still alive.

For the first time since 1992, none of the four candidates for Prez/VP are divorced. The first President to be elected after having been divorced? Ronald Reagan. Also this is the first time in history where only one of the top four candidates is a Protestant (Obama); a very interesting thing to think about since, in 1960, there was a great deal of controversy over the fact that John F Kennedy was a Catholic.

And finally, in a statistic that means nothing to anyone but myself, today marked the 8th consecutive time I have voted for President. I nearly didn't make it, thanks to a car that decided to throw a brake caliper, rear cable, and throttle spring in one weekend. Still and all, I managed to get to the voting booth and touch my choices. Regardless of who you vote for, what measures you advocated or opposed, or whether you live in Ohio or one of the insignificant 49 (according to media coverage), enjoy watching tonight's results, and remember that tomorrow's tomorrow begin's today, and what is today but yesterday's tomorrow?

TO THE COUCH!