Four years ago tonight, I was sitting in a hotel room in Erie, Pa., covering a federal trial for my paper. The trial — the prosecution of a guy accused of trying to kill a union leader and his family by pumping his house full of chlorine gas in the middle of the night — started slowly, because a family member of one of the defense lawyers had fallen ill. I filed a story and, because the trial wasn’t going to resume until the following week, agreed with my editors that I would return to Pittsburgh the next morning.

That left me in the Super 8 in downtown Erie with nothing to do but drink some beer and watch the presidential election returns. At that point I was more enthusiastic about the election prospects of Al Gore than I had been in months — The Wife and I had attended a Gore rally on the South Side a few days before, and had a ball. If Gore’s speech (much more engaging in person than you ever would have expected after watching sound bites on TV) wasn’t enough, we got some comedy from Al Franken, some glamour from Morgan Fairchild and some music from James Taylor.

At one point Gore was talking about honoring veterans, and as he ticked through the list of 20th Century conflicts, he turned to me when I raised my hand at the mention of the Gulf War (you know, the sort-of legit one?). The vice president looked me in the eye and thanked me for serving. Pretty cool, regardless of your political persuasion.

So I was distressed that night in Erie when the networks, after having projected Florida for Gore, backed off one by one, first saying that it was too close to call and, in the case of Fox, even claiming it for W. I was up until about 4 a.m., wondering just what the fuck had happened, and how that smirking moron could possibly be close to becoming president.

So tonight, after watching returns both local and national — and writing a short story about a race that wasn’t completed by my 11:30 deadline — I’m back in the same boat. Only this time it’s my home state that’s causing the consternation. Pennsylvania did its part; Kerry won here pretty handily. But in Ohio, the race is tight enough that it may come down to counting what could amount to around 400,000 provisional ballots in the next few days.

The Wife is definitely a “that glass is freakin’ half-empty” person; I am the opposite, and I still like Kerry’s chances to pull this off. But he’s gotta win Ohio, and this has all the makings of the kind of legal battle that could drag for weeks.

I need Kerry to win, if for no other reason than nearly every other race I had interest in went the wrong way. My local state rep’s race was won by the Republican, who beat a personal friend who had been prepping for the job for the last 25 years. Ohioans overwhelmingly passed a redundant constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage; the kicker with that one is the language that also bans benefits for unmarried partners, which will be nothing short of economic disaster. Even my Congressional race was disappointing, not because the guy I voted for lost, but because the Democrats once again ran a total stiff against the incumbent, leaving me little choice but to vote for the Republican.

So. Like everyone else, I’m waiting on Ohio. I’d like to think that I could go to bed, wake up in the morning and see that this all has been resolved. But after that night in Erie four years ago, I’m not holding my breath.