The Ticket offers thanksgiving to Obama, McCain, Palin and you
This is the special day of the year that Americans have traditionally set aside to get no bills, to watch the Detroit Lions lose once again, to argue with relatives they won't see for months, which is fine with both sides, and to feel kinda sick not long after the large meal.
Most societies have thanksgivings of one kind or another. Canadian Ticket readers will be scanning this item at their work desk today and saying, "Oh, yeah, it's American Thanksgiving." Because they had theirs last month.
Much of the world's attention has been focused on the United States in recent months and weeks, largely due to the unexpected twists and turns of its exciting election season and the historic outcome.
The Ticket's foreign readership has soared in that time (see photo above) and we welcome you all, especially a certain group of folks down in New Zealand; you know who you are. Also, Peter among the Paul People.
The Ticket's domestic readership increased to record levels for latimes.com, our home port. More than 20 million folks h
ave clicked around this blog in the past months, reading the nearly 4,000 posts and leaving almost 90,000 comments.
You're clicking more each day and staying longer. And The Ticket is now the world's No. 54 blog.
Read all you want; we'll write more.
And with the new White House administration, the new Congress, some 2012 jockeying underway and two developing statewide races in California, there will be plenty to write about in unexpected ways and, you may have noticed, at unexpected hours of the day and night, regardless of your time zone.
(Did you see, by the way, that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has already been to Iowa once in prep for 2012? Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin campaigns in Georgia this Monday. The same day, we could see the top two Democratic presidential contenders team up together in the president-elect's new administration.)
Thousands have signed up for Ticket RSS feeds, for Twitter and Facebook alerts on each new item. And Amazon.com's Kindle now features The Ticket for L.A. Times subscribers.
A fair number of famous people at home and abroad now check out The Ticket daily; we won't betray their confidence by identifying them.
But on this, The Ticket's second Thanksgiving, we wanted to offer our own profound thanks to all of our readers for your patronage, your feedback, your curiosity and your loyalty.
We also offer thanks to those who've gone before us in this grand land and helped preserve it as a place where everyone can freely think, say and write such outrageous things absent any fears.
Briefly, on a personal level, thanks too to my family for its support and patience during the long days and short nights. And to my Times colleagues, especially my longtime blogging partner Don. We miss ya, buddy, but great good luck on your exciting new adventure.
We may take much of today off. But you never know in politics. Something could come up and we'll post it ASAP as usual.
Thanks again, everybody. And Happy Thanksgiving to all, whether you celebrate today or not.
-- Andrew Malcolm
To get The Ticket's RSS feed, go here. To register for Twitter cellphone alerts, go here. On Facebook, Friend "Andrew Malcolm."
To see more photos of Ticket reader crowds, click on the "Read more" line below. For captions, pass cursor over the picture. Photos: Associated Press
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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Happy Thanksgiving, Andrew.
(Thanks, MJ. And the same to ALL of you!)
Posted by: MJF | November 27, 2008 at 05:48 AM
Andy,
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
The 15 month old people of color
I hang out with every day know nothing beyond personal politics.
But some day they will turn their attention beyond the ownership of the toy they are playing with; their attention span will increase from one second to a full sound bite.
When that happens it will occur to them that they were born when Barack Obama began his campaign for President and turned 2 on inauguration day--and 16 years from that day, they will be able to vote for a president of the United States.
If we don't change the educational system to include training in vigorous thinking in the next three years, the chances of them participating in a vibrant democracy are slim to none.
I hope from your vantage point at the Top of The Ticket. you are able to comment on the politics of health, education, and opportunity as the programs unfold.
Blessings,
Dave
Posted by: David Dawdy | November 27, 2008 at 08:46 AM
Good post. I'm also just thankful for my freedom this Thanksgiving Day. Sometimes the world needs to be a better place....
Posted by: Mr Mogul | November 27, 2008 at 03:59 PM