Well, the first big presidential debate is over.
The right-wing pundits on Fox News declared Republican Mitt Romney the winner. So did the left-wingers on MSNBC. But they turned red in the face while criticizing President Barack Obama for his poor performance. In fact, I think it was Chris Matthews who seemed to even suggest Obama should spend more time before the next debate watching MSNBC.
The folks on Fox News, on the other hand, were gleeful.
But you know what? Regardless of whom you think won the debate, the sun still came up this morning. In fact, it was a beautiful sunrise on the East Coast of this supposed swing state.
The same will be true on Nov. 7. The election will be over and life will go on. The sun will come up regardless of who wins the presidential race.
And the vast majority of Americans will be glad to just have it over with.
Brome Hill 
Was that this morning’s sunrise in Muscatine? Is that the Norbert F. Beckey bridge? The encroaching clouds of the cold front made for a beautiful sunrise this morning in Cedar Rapids, too. But I have fond memories of that Muscatine bridge–of bicycling across it during the late 1970s in summer to go canoeing at Lake George in Illinois. It cost a quarter to cross that bridge on two wheels, as I recall …
Joe, Please don’t tell your students you caught an old news guy blogging and not writing a cutline.
Yes, I shot the picture this morning at the Norbert F. Beckey Bridge at Muscatine.
I’m not sure a toll was ever charged at this bridge, but someone who knows is likely to see this discussion. I think a toll was charged on the old High Bridge at Muscatine.
I put a link to your post in my biker blog: http://crbiker.blogspot.com/2012/10/its-beautiful-despite-wind-rain-and-cold.html
There was still a toll when I moved to Muscaberg in 1984…maybe 50 cents? (Why isn’t there a cents symbol on keyboards anymore?) They cancelled in about 1988.
My recollection of the late 1970s is that cars paid 50 cents, and bicycles paid a quarter.
Late ’80s sounds right. Don Platt (former mayor and state rep) told me his colleague Sen. Dick Drake got the toll removed in the dark of night at the end of whichever legislative session. I asked Dick about it two different times, but he just grinned and said maybe it could be told someday.