i remain undecided. not about who i<u+2019>m going to vote for. i knew that months ago. but about my food and drink choices on election night. peanuts or cheese and crackers? whether to cook dinner or order takeout? and undoubtedly most important of all<u+2014>scotch or vodka. though given the way this election season has gone, a sedative washed down with tequila shouldn<u+2019>t be ruled out as an option. and, depending on the results, perhaps a sleeping pill at bedtime. i<u+2019>m not exactly sure when my election-night rituals began to resemble the ones i have for the super bowl. which, for the record, involves two franks smothered in cheese and onions, and an abundance of beer. it probably dates back to 1980: carter vs. reagan. it had less to do with the candidates, or the stakes, than the fact that i<u+2019>d been privileged to watch 1976 election night unfold from the set of nbc news at 30 rock. a recent college graduate, i was employed as a researcher in the network<u+2019>s national election unit. as exciting as it was, perhaps what impressed me most was that my bosses were privy to exit-poll results filtering in throughout the day from across the country. i can<u+2019>t remember whether or not they predicted victory for jimmy carter over president gerald ford. but that didn<u+2019>t matter. what mattered was that you felt at the beating heart, or at least a main artery, of democracy. so when the next election cycle rolled around<u+2014>by then i<u+2019>d returned to civilian life<u+2014>and for all of them ever since, i have tried to read the tea leaves, to glean what insiders know that i don<u+2019>t from the body language and the knowing asides of tv anchors and pundits. <u+2018> i think i<u+2019>ll withhold judgment on whether it<u+2019>s a vodka or scotch night until i see the final tracking polls. <u+2019> and by staying marginally in the game myself, if only by plumbing multiple news sites throughout election day. a primary fantasy (short of getting called to a campaign war room to share my sense of the electorate) involved some arrangement like the console containing three tv sets that lbj set up in the oval office. starting in late <u+2019>80s and into the <u+2019>90s with personal computers and the arrival of the internet, that fantasy came a step closer to reality. you could dupe yourself into believing that with the right web addresses, as well as with a meager grasp of demographics and the way the vote shook out in particular congressional districts in the past, you could feel as immersed in the action as those cable-news analysts standing over their electronic wall maps deconstructing the vote in the philly suburbs or ohio<u+2019>s cuyahoga county. therefore, essential election-night equipment these days includes a device you can continually refresh for the state-by-state results, not only for the presidential race but also senate, house and local contests. you might even be able to call the race ahead of the pros, if only for friends and family who keep telling you to shut up. all of this, of course, builds up an appetite. get the best of the wall street journal<u+2019>s greater new york section delivered to your inbox every day. sign up for the newsletter here. i<u+2019>ll probably vote at p.s. 6, my polling site on the upper east side, sometime in the afternoon, then visit a favorite bakery to pick up dessert. because you shouldn<u+2019>t be without dessert when democracy hangs in the balance. i think i<u+2019>ll withhold judgment on whether it<u+2019>s a vodka or scotch night until i see the final tracking polls. vodka is perhaps more festive. on the other hand, if you feel in need of hand-holding, scotch might be preferable, a decent single malt possessing a talent for evoking hearth and home in one sip. the more i think of it, the more i believe hot dogs might be the way to go. because, when you get right down to it, for news junkies election night is the biggest sports event of the year. i might even consider breaking out a bottle of champagne depending on which way the race goes and assuming i<u+2019>m still awake when it gets called. <u+2014> ralph.gardner@wsj.com
frankly, here<u+2019>s how to stomach election night  - wsj
ralph gardner jr.