Barack Obama won Virginia because of a lot of people who made up their minds late (in some cases, not until they were in the voting booth).

So what do they want their new President to do? Slate reports on a focus group conducted by Pollster Peter Hart.

Their goals are realistic–none expects the economy to get fixed tomorrow. But they are insistent that they want the new President to change the tone in Washington. They want a pragmatic approach to solving the enormous problems facing the country.

They also reveal that they share one of the new President’s goals. Just as he is worrying about how he can stay in touch with the things that make him feel like a “normal” person, these voters are worried about the same thing. “Just don’t forget what life was like when your car had that hole,” one advised.

It’s unseasonably cold. The economy is still in the tank. The post-election euphoria is starting to fade.

But there are still signs of a benevolent Divine Providence. Exhibit A: The Maui Invitational.

Eight teams square off in a tournament played the way basketball is supposed to be played–in a real, honest to goodness GYM. (Not one of those horrid dome affairs.) (And in case you’re wondering, the Carolina game is at 9:30 on ESPNU.)

There are worse ways to spend a  cold November night!

So I ran our blog through Typealizer and here’s what it says:

ESTP – The Doers

The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

attacks the United States during the Harvard-Yale game any time over the next four years, we’re screwed,” concludes David Brooks while contemplating the Obama administration thus far.

Otherwise, he thinks the Obama appointees are an impressive bunch. As do I.

It’s nice to see some understanding that being good at governing is like being good at anything else–from writing (ahem) to brain surgery. You get better by doing it.

This first year is going to be a lot like a parachute jump–there will be only one chance to get it right. So I’m glad to see some experienced folks in key jobs.

Although Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com is best known as a statistics guy (he originally did baseball statistics), his analysis is also well worth a read. Today’s analysis of the President-elect: “We should expect him [Obama] to be as methodical and meticulous about spending his political capital as he was about spending his advertising dollars and his ground game resources during the campaign.” There’s more here.

I thought it was a typo. “Keydets Beat Kentucky,” the crawl at the bottom of the screen read.

No way, I thought. The VMI Keydets were not supposed to win this game. Heck, they weren’t picked to finish in the top half of their conference. (If this had been a matchup in the NCAA tournament, everyone’s brackets would have been blown apart by this game.)

Yet there they were, running with Kentucky, out hustling Kentucky, and simply shooting the lights out in Rupp Arena.

All Virginia is proud of this scrappy team. Great job, Keydets.

This is a time of hope and promise. All day yesterday, I watched as people brought their children to the polls.  Last night, the reality of what our country had just done began to sink in. Here are two of my favorites stories:

About 1 a.m., my daughter Sara called. She was on U Street in Washington, scene of the riots 40 years ago. Last night, a multi-racial group gathered to celebrate the Obama victory. “We are dancing in the streets,” she said.

In Richmond, VCU students watched the election returns outside the Siegel Center. Then they marched down Broad Street to the Capitol.

Where they sang “The Star Spangled Banner.”

One of the untold stories of this election is that it brought our young people, the Millennial Generation, into the political process. They truly will change our country.

Last Monday, Toddy Puller and I were invited to a Mount Vernon Women for Obama meeting. We went, figuring we might meet a few new people.

Boy, were we wrong.

There were more than 100 women at the meeting, and I’d guess that 90 percent of them had never been involved in politics. They’d run PTAs, volunteered in classrooms, organized swim teams, and worked on a host of other community activities. But for many, this was their first foray into politics.

And they are just amazing. They’ve made thousands of phone calls. Written zillions of post cards. Knocked on door after door after door.

This week, they’re ramping up. To increase their volunteer hours, they’ve also created a huge support operation. Middle-school-aged kids are babysitting for younger kids. Moms are trading car pool shifts so other moms can hit the doors.

I have never seen anything like it.

Now, this election is far from over. I have been on the receiving end of the Virginia GOP Get Out the Vote operation, and I hold it in the highest regard. As the Sundance Kid said to Butch Cassidy, “They’re very good.”

But the energy I saw in that room last week is the reason I believe we can win in Virginia. Eight years ago, it was Soccer Moms who delivered the election. This year? It might just be the Obama Mamas.

With the happy news that college basketball is back. UNC has scheduled Late Night with Roy Williams tonight. (UNC was on fall break when many other schools had their Midnight Madness first practice.)

It’s been a rough election season. But joy (and the three-point shot) cometh.

The emails started pouring in around noon. “Your state is on notice,” the message line read.

The rest of the message informed me in no uncertain terms that members of TrueVote (few of whom apparently live here in Virginia) were watching me. And if there were any elections problems in Virginia, well, I’d be in Big Trouble.

Other than the fact that my Outlook crashed, I experienced only minor inconveniences from the onslaught. The local Registrars, however, had a much rougher go. Some local Electoral Boards, including ours here in Fairfax, reported that they were unable to email absentee ballots to members of the armed forces stationed overseas.

So in other words, the folks who were putting us on notice that we had better conduct a smooth election . . . prevented us from conducting a smooth election.

I’m not suggesting Virginia electoral laws are perfect. I wish it were easier to vote by absentee ballot, for example (and I think we will see the wisdom of that on Nov. 4). But here’s a clue for those who want to advance a position: blast emails don’t work to persuade elected officials. Threats don’t work at all. Calm, personal communication from people who actually live in our districts? Now THAT works.