The breaking news came over an email from my mom this morning: My grandpa, a lifelong Republican, cast his ballot for Barack Obama today. He's a World War II veteran, a retired pharmacist, 86 years old, lives in West San Jose, and spends all his time these days reading books.

He's pretty solidly conservative, and has been part of a handful of dinner debates over the years where he's supported George W. Bush. In his own life, he's been a penny-pinching fiscal conservative, and that's generally equated to his nearly 70 years of voting. I remember him being a champion of Reagan when I was a kid, and even has signed pictures of Reagan still on his wall.

But more than that, he grew up in a time when voting for a black president seemed like an outlandish joke. He's not what I would call an out-and-out racist, but he still carries some of the prejudices that many of his generation do. Yet even that could not stop him from making what he felt was the right choice today.

So there's at least one more conservative for Obama.