Friday's FIVE!

President-elect, Barack Obama - November 4, 2008

Grant Park - Chicago ... very near Betsy's neighborhood

Barack Obama Rally in Marion, IN April 2008 -

(Mike Morgan on the bottom left, Katie's father-in-law. Katie's head in the left bottom corner....)

Katie clapping just under Barack Obama's right hand at the Barack Obama rally in Marion, IN

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This week, in a historic election.... Barack Obama, Senator from Illinois - is the first African American to be elected President of our nation. It was a fierce battle from the Primary election - as Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton for the democrat nomination - and then on to the general election where Barack Obama/Joe Biden beat the John McCain/Sara Palin Republican ticket with 365 electoral votes. It was an exciting election with a strong focus on 'Change'...

Below are 5 other significant Presidential elections in my lifetime...

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1960 - I was only 2 years old and I don't remember the election - however, it was the election of John F. Kennedy (D) against Richard Kennedy (R) It was significant because I do remember vividly where I was when the beloved "camelot" president was assissinated in Dallas, TX on Nov. 22, 1963. I was in my family room just home from Kindergarten - playing with Kim Blaugher - my lifetime friend and schoolmate...when the Special News Bulletin came on the TV. I remember my Mom crying... I knew it was significant... and it remains one of the pivotal historical events that Baby Boomers still remember and discuss... along with the first man on the moon, the space shuttle disaster and 9/11.

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1968 - I was 10 years old... and the 1968 Presidential election included the assissination of demoncratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy - the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Demonstrations against the Vietnam War and race riots across the nation - that hit home when our family lumber business burned to the ground as a result of racial tension and arsonists.

Richard Nixon (R) won over Hubert H. Humprey (D) and Gov. George Wallace (I).

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1976 -The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate Scandal. Gerald Ford, the republican candidate -was appointed Vice President in 1973 when Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign following conspiracy charges. Vice President Ford became President in 1974 when Richard Nixon resigned after the Watergate Scandal. It was my first election - I was 18 and I voted for Gerald Ford to be elected president - however, he remains the only president to serve without ever being elected. Jimmy Carter won the election over Gerald Ford by a narrow margin.

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1984 - Incumbent President Ronald Reagan/Vice President George Bush won with 525 electoral votes, the highest ever recieved by a presidential candidate, following a strong economic recovery from the recession of the early 80's. The election is memorable for me though, because Walter Mondale the democrate nominee appointed the first female Vice Presidential nominee - Geraldine Ferrara. As a young adult woman, I was baby boomer raised in a home with a stay at home mother... with most of my friends working full time - it was truly a time when it seemed equality for women was making strides!

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2000 - Vice-President Al Gore (D) vs. George W. Bush, son of the former president George H.W.Bush. This is memorable for all of us because of the now famous 'hanging chads'...

Chad were made infamous in the highly contentious during this election where a majority of Florida votes used punch card ballots. Incompletely-punched holes resulted in partially-punched chad, where all corners were still attached, but an indentation appears to have been made. These votes were not counted by the tabulating machines, resulting in a Florida recount.

The outcome of the election was not known for more than a month after the balloting ended because of the extended process of counting and then recounting Florida's presidential ballots.

On January 6, 2001 - George Bush was declared the narrow winner of the electoral vote - although Al Gore carried the popular vote.