Halloween festivities combined with election-day fervor at “Abuzz for Obama” on Friday night. Berkeley resident and artist Stacey Moss celebrates Halloween each year with a candy corn-themed fête. For this, the seventh annual get-together, she transformed candy corn cutouts into honeybees abuzz for presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Wearing an orange and black dress with a campaign slogan on the back, Moss welcomed guests – even John McCain and Sarah Palin. (To emphasize their tongue in cheek attire, McCain wore an Obama t-shirt beneath his bathrobe, and price tags hung from Palin’s suit.)

When Moss said, “I really love Halloween,” she really meant it. She has so many candy corn decorations that they require most of the backyard shed during the rest of the year.

This year the Obama paraphernalia rivaled the candy corn decorations. Slogans adorned buttons, candy and even fans. The centerpiece was the chocolate cake, nearly two feet in diameter, iced as the campaign logo.

Before cutting the cake, guest Elaine Zeiger, as the alien “Amabo” (read it backwards), said a few words and invited anyone to “add their Barackas.”

“Well actually, I think we have a word from Barack,” said Moss, as she put on a cd playing an excerpt of Obama’s ‘A More Perfect Union’ speech on race.

Trick-or-treaters got into the fun, including the Obama cheerleaders, who did a routine and stayed for cake.

Before he left, guest Joseph Lough spoke to host Michael Reich, Moss’ husband who is an economics professor at UC Berkeley. “Next time I see you we’ll be living in a new America.”

Even before the polls closed on November 4, excitement – mixed with a bit of anxiety – permeated the streets of downtown Oakland.

Shanee Primus, 27, voted at the Oakland Public Library on 14th Street in the early afternoon. It was “great, fast, easy,” she said, adding, “I’m excited to see what happens.”

In front of Underground Treasures, Haneef Sabree’s sidewalk shop on 17th Street selling Barack Obama merchandise did a brisk business.

Obama t-shirts for sale at Haneef Sabree's shop.

Erica Black, 27, bought two shirts – one for herself and the other for her husband. Black stopped to shop on her lunch break before hurrying back to work. She said she voted at 8 a.m. and waited for about half an hour. “It’s the single most important day in U.S. history,” she said, adding, however, “There’s some anxiety.”

“Colored TV, sliced bread and a black president – crazy!” Pharis Pugh, 23, remarked after buying an Obama t-shirt. “It’s my girl’s,” he said. He had concerns that his vote wouldn’t count, but said he was still excited.

After selling Obama clothing and accessories for the past six months, Sabree said he had “no complaints” about business. His inventory included t-shirts, buttons, stickers, bag and necklaces. He said he played a part in the design of the merchandise. “I try to give people things that they haven’t ordinarily seen before.”

Over at the Oakland Democratic Headquarters on Broadway, Debbie Taylor, 51, said she knew his shop well.

Debbie Taylor spreads the word about Obama.

She stood along the sidewalk with about 10 other volunteers. They held signs and chanted campaign mantras like “Fired up? Ready to go!” When drivers honked or waved, everyone cheered. A passing 72R bus honked, and Taylor said, “We got a shout out from the bus driver. That’s pretty darn good.”

Robyn Douglass, 24, held a sign that read, “Vote No on Prop. 8.” She smiled and said, “I took the day off work.”

Sprits ran high throughout downtown Oakland, but at headquarters in particular. “Folks rolled in at 5 a.m. on the dot,” Taylor said. She knew – she’d been there bright and early.

Robyn Douglass and Ken Yuribo campaign against Prop. 8.

See what’s on people’s minds in Berkeley with four days left until the election.

Presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain spent significant time in the two presidential debates discussing their potential Pakistan policies, if elected to the Oval Office. But many Pakistani-Americans see these policies as largely the same.

“Obama seems to be more upfront about what his plans for Pakistan would be, while McCain gives the impression he will be more diplomatic, while portraying Obama as more aggressive,” said Rafay Khawaja, 39, a software engineer who moved to the United States from Karachi, Pakistan, in 1990. “But I think they will be very similar in the end.”

Relations between Pakistan and the United States, allies since the 2001 Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, have been strained in recent months following reports that US military forces stationed in Afghanistan have conducted raids into Pakistan in order to strike militant targets.

During the Oct. 7 presidential debate, Obama said he would send US forces into the country to strike militant targets like Osama Bin Laden, if the Pakistani military was unable or unwilling to do so. McCain criticized Obama for “threatening to attack Pakistan,” and said he would coordinate efforts with the Pakistani government and military.

However, many Pakistani-Americans suspect that there will be little practical difference between their policies toward Pakistan, no matter who becomes president. They said the US should
respect Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty.

Shahid Khan, 57, an electrical engineer who has been in the US since 2000, said that “both candidates have the same agenda: they want to destabilize Pakistan. The reason for this is China. They want a permanent US base in Afghanistan because of its closeness to China.”

He strongly disagreed with the US policy of conducting military strikes across the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

“My question to the candidates would be, ‘What would their feeling be if US borders were violated?’” Khan said.

“Pakistanis want respect for their sovereignty. That’s the general feeling,” added Khawaja.

Laeeq Ahmed, 40 a software engineer who has lived in the US for 10 years, called for more coordination between the Pakistani and American militaries, and more communication between their governments and people.

“We need to understand the root causes of the problems [in the Pakistan-Afghan border area]. Is it an education problem, an economic problem? We need to address these issues first,” he said.

He said he hadn’t decided yet who he would vote for in the presidential election. Ahmed’s main consideration is which candidate will do more for the US economy, “because I live here now.”

Khawaja, who will be voting for the first time, said he had been going back and forth between the two candidates. Now he is currently leaning toward Obama, because he feels the Democrat is more likely to bring change to Washington.

He said the candidates’ policies towards Pakistan and the Muslim world will factor into his choice. “It matters, but it’s not everything,” he said.

Khan said he would vote for neither candidate, because he didn’t agree with their policies on Israel and towards the Muslim world.

“Maybe I’ll vote for Greenpeace,” he said.