John Liu, New York City Councilman (D-Queens), spoke in Rockefeller Hall on Saturday, warming another frigid Ithacan afternoon with hopeful talk of a new era in American politics.

The first Asian American legislator in the history of New York State, Liu currently chairs the New York City Council’s Transportation Committee, one of its most influential bodies. The committee oversees the city’s mass transportation agencies and facilities.

Liu discussed the 2008 elections in terms of voter mobilization, race and international impact. He emphasized the historic significance of Barack Obama’s successful campaign for the presidency.

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The dark gray of a typical Ithacan overcast sky contrasted sharply Saturday afternoon with the rainbow-hued umbrellas held by community members and students who were assembled on the Commons to protest Proposition 8, as well as Propositions 2 and 102, which ban marriage between same sex couples.

The protest was organized by Lambda, Cornell Law’s LGBT and ally group, but was meant to be part of Join the Impact, a movement created in the days following Election Day to protest Proposition 8. Saturday, people from across the country held coordinated protests at 1:30 p.m. According to the Join the Impact website, the combined protests included over 1 million people in 300 cities in the United States, as well as in 10 other countries.

As Barack Obama transitions into his first presidential term, he will be backed by an overwhelming Democratic majority in Congress including the addition of at least five new Democratic seats in the Senate and at least 20 in the House. A few weeks after the election, Republican officials remain busy speculating about where they went wrong and which direction they need to move toward in the future.

Most Republican leaders blame the losses on their inability to build a cohesive platform that could resonate with a more diverse group of voters than just the party’s base. The elections exposed the strong divide between the different factions within the party, specifically between the fiscal and social conservatives.

HAVERHILL, N.H. (AP) — A county treasurer who lost her bid for a fourth term last week to a 20-year-old Dartmouth College student from Montana blames her failed candidacy on "brainwashed college kids."

Republican Carol Elliott said students just voted for the Democratic ticket, which included Dartmouth junior Vanessa Sievers. Sievers won by nearly 600 votes out of 42,000 cast after targeting voters at Dartmouth and Plymouth State University through a $42 ad on the Web site Facebook.

"It was the brainwashed college kids that made the difference," Elliott, 66, told the Valley News of Lebanon. She said she had little faith that Sievers will fulfill her duties adequately.

In the weeks leading up to the election, the Cornell community watched Keith Olbermann ’79 lead MSNBC’s television coverage, read the blogs of Ann Coulter ’84 and watched Bill Maher ’78 on HBO and live in Barton Hall. And when it came time for Election Day, C.U. saw its alumni rise to the top, winning coveted seats in public offices.

Last week’s election ballots featured a slew of Cornell alumni, and many of them won the races they ran in. Cornell graduates won five seats in the House of Representatives and one seat in the New York State Senate.

On Nov. 4, voting was a particularly arduous task in Colorado. Apart from choosing the next president of the United States, as well as Senators and House Representatives, Coloradans were also asked to vote on a grand total of 14 ballot measures.

Across the nation, 153 ballot initiatives were presented to voters in this year’s election. Apart from Colorado, the ballots of a few other states were also crowded with up to 12 questions. While it is possible that voters may get worn out by the seemingly never-ending list of questions, Prof. Josh Chafetz, law, believes voters can still make sensible choices.