A classic Virginia fall day, all greens, yellows and the brightest of reds, a warm sun and an almost clear sky. And in the George Washington Elementary School in Alexandria, the turnout is heavy.
On the worn baseball field the kids, freed by democracy for the day from their studies, play soccer. Twenty a side, no quarter given.
State Representative Marian van Landingham is beaming from ear to ear. A high turnout, she says, will help the Democrats retain the threatened Senate seat of Charles Robb. On a particularly good day it could even tip the state to Gore.
By 11 a.m., still early, Mary Lamois of the local election board admits polling is as high as she remembers it in 20 years.
What had them so fired up?
"Nothing in particular. I'm just a solid conservative", says Tom.
"A woman's right to choose", says Kate Waters, "and I just believe Al Gore has a lot more qualifications on things like foreign affairs."
Juniper Sage (26) is the first of the many Nader voters The Irish Times meets in its deeply unscientific survey of attitudes.
She admits she would have felt obliged to vote Gore if she had been back home in Oregon but "today I'm voting where my heart is. I can't stand Bush, but Gore is very negative."
And if Bush is elected? "I hope the four years pass very quickly."
"This state is solid Republican," says Bjorn Munson, "so we can afford to create a third party here."
A few miles across the state at Langley, the home of the CIA, the school car-park is full and polling is also brisk. By late morning already half the registered electorate has voted. Feelings are strong.
After threatening to have The Irish Times arrested for troubling her outside the polling station, Marlene agrees to talk. She used to be a Democrat, she says, "well, really an independent".
She says it's a matter of "disrespect for office".
"We were brought up to see corruption in other countries and thought we were free of it. It's unbelievable," she says of the Clinton White House. "You can actually see them lying."
Any state employee who had behaved like him with Monica Lewinsky in a government building "would have been fired".
Beverlee White insists that the issue is "integrity" and that she is tired of the bickering in Washington and "the angriness of politics". She likes Bush's insistence that he will try to secure bipartisan agreement on policies.
Two anonymous Nader voters express deep disappointment with the calibre of both main candidates. The Democrats have deserted their roots and principles, they say, admitting to deserting the Democrats for the first time.
Not so, says Richard Horan. He's voting Democrat for continued prosperity.
"With a healthy economy it is much easier to solve other problems like Medicare or social security."
But George Batalo is having none of it. Bush will return the country to the people, he says. "We have been having too much socialism, and if this administration stays in office we'll all be living under the thumb of someone."