From the Guardian blurb: "As the U.S. goes to the polls, liberal Americans are gripped by anxiety that they will suffer a repeat of their 2000 disappointment while right-wingers rail against 'a socialist takeover.'"
The opening scenes are set at a co-op grocery store in the Park Slope neighbourhood of Brooklyn:
A similar combination of apprehension and bitter resignation has been reported in liberal population centres across the US, from the coastal bastions of New York and California to oases such as Ann Arbor in Michigan and Austin in Texas. The experience of winning the popular vote but losing the election in 2000, amid the surreal dispute over Florida's hanging chads and the casting vote of the conservative-dominated supreme court judges, left many liberals shellshocked.
Then when John Kerry lost in 2004, amid a close result in Ohio which many left-leaning Americans are convinced was manipulated, the sense of disbelief hardened into cynicism. "I remember painfully vividly what it was like sitting through election night in 2000," said Josh Rabinowitz, a music director in Park Slope. "Going through that whole craziness was traumatic, then Kerry happened and that reinforced a sense of hopelessness."
This year people tell Rabinowitz they feel optimistic about an Obama victory, but that doesn't make him feel less queasy. He soothes himself by obsessive monitoring of the left-inclined cable news channel, MSNBC, and by eating and drinking. "Every time I get stressed out I eat my kids' Halloween candy." ...
And on the conservative side in Orange, Texas:
The man did not want to stop and chat or give his name. But he was willing to explain the one, simple reason why he was planning to cast his vote for John McCain. "I am not for socialism. Let's just put it at that way," he snapped and then stalked angrily into the local Wal-Mart in the small town of Orange, deep in the heart of Red State America.
Such sentiments are not uncommon on the streets of Texas's suburbs and small towns. As America - if polls are to be believed - stands on the edge of electing Barack Obama, the mood of the Republican heartland is not a good one. There is anger and some fear at the end of eight years of Republican control of the White House.
Much of that is stoked by conservative talk radio. Yesterday morning the Texan airwaves were full of ultra-conservative pundits predicting a socialist takeover of America, the "nationalisation" of the healthcare industry and warning that American business would be legislated and unionised to death. "It's going to be a different world," warned talkshow host Glenn Beck on one broadcast.
Despite the prospect of America's first black president, the talk is far more about economics than race. For many Republicans, especially in diehard areas such as Texas, much of that debate has been framed around the old buzzwords of socialism and even Marxism. The traditional Republican attacks of portraying Democrats as too willing to spend and too eager to tax are dominating the discussion.
That message certainly seems to have struck a chord in Orange. Tucked away in the far south-eastern corner of the state, Orange is solidly Republican when it comes to picking presidents. In 2004 it voted for President George Bush over Democratic challenger John Kerry by 64% to 36%. Even in the wildest dreams of Democratic strategists, Obama is not going to overcome that 28% gap.