Chennaiites Hail the Election of the 44th President of the United States

Chennaiites and US consulate officials watch Obama's speech at the Open House event

On November 5, 2008, about 1500 enthusiastic citizens of Chennai joined U.S. Consulate General officials at an Election Open House event from 7:00 a.m. onwards as they anxiously watched CNN and other major television networks on large screens for the results of the U.S. presidential election. The excitement was palpable as hundreds of school and college students jostled with other invited guests including leading politicians, senior government officials, artists, think tank officials, policy makers, representatives of numerous media outlets and curious citizens of Chennai as they all waited for the final announcement of the new U.S. President. Several important opinion-makers, like N. Ram, editor-in-chief of The Hindu, came to both the Open House on November 5 and the pre-election reception on November 4. Consulate officials took turns to speak to the audience on several issues of interest including absentee/early voting, the impact of the youth vote, and participation of Indian-Americans in the political process. Consulate officials also provided election analysis at regular intervals as the poll results came in.