Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Liveblogging The Election

OK. Butt firmly in chair. Watching MSNBC (CNN has clearly decided to court conservatives, so fuck 'em) and getting TPM and fivethirtyeight up. Buckle up. Much beer, Scotch (Laphroiag...I don't share my damn scotch) and champagne on hand. Monitor my spelling over the evening.

5:25 CST
Talking Points Memo saying Exit Polls breaking strongly for Obama, with all the usual caveats.

5:54
Indiana is still damn close. 3% in. Not good for McCain. Dole is doing badly in NC against Hagan. I'm begining to get optimistic. One of my bellweather points is breaking Obama's way. Cautiously optimistic. 1st Sam Adams opened.

6:38
Jeez. What's with Virginia? Still only 3% reporting. Indiana still too close to call. I want my instant gratification.

7:01
MSNBC calls Pennsylvania and New Hampshire for Obama. And now, Virginia, Florida, Missouri and Indiana are too close to call. Allright. We're now close to being able to break out the Champagne.

7:17
Jeanne Shaheen takes the Senate seat from Sununu. Take that you phone bank jamming bastards. (A major Repub operative was convicted of illegal vote tampering in an election where NH went Kerry pretty hard...the jamming was almost CERTAINLY directed at keeping Shaheen from the Senate seat).

7:43
Hagan takes Dole's seat. +3 Seats for Dems. Still waiting on VA, IN, FL, MO. It may take until CA before Obama goes over 270.

8:02
Wisconsin goes Obama. Colorado too early to call. Ohio too early to call. One of these former Red States has to fall into Obama's column. Right now, it looks like NC or FL (!!) will tip earliest. Gahh. I'm increasingly certain that this will end well, but I was hoping that FL or VA would tip early and we could just do victory laps.

8:17
fivethirtyeight calls New Mexico's Senate seat for Udall (the other Udall). If this comes in at 7 or 8 I'm going to do my "Little Superior Dance" a la the Church Lady. If you guys are lucky, The LATMP will take a film of that and I can post it. (It wouldn't be lucky for you, really...acid won't be able to scrub it from your memory and you'll assuredly have PTSD).

8:23
FINALLY!! Obama just took Ohio. He just flipped a state Bush took in 2004. This is going to take longer than I'd like, but it's looking MUCH MUCH better. The LATMP just heaved a great sigh of relief.

8:33
New Mexico goes to Obama. Another Red State flips. More relief in the Pedant house.

8:46
As expected, James Inhofe (R-Crazy Town) was reelected. Expected, but depressing. The Paternal Pedant was from Oklahoma and I'm resonably sure he's happy we cremated him, so he doesn't have to spin in his grave yet again.

9:13
One restart later and I can post that Iowa went Obama. BTW, Dell laptops suck big hairy donkey balls. I'm going to guess that Indiana may well go Obama, which will please EnviroMom no end.

9:23
fivethirtyeight is showing that Obama is likely to win 353 electoral votes, out of all called, safe, likely and lean states. If both toss-ups, Indiana and Missouri, go to Obama that's another 22 electoral votes, and that puts Obama at 375...a "landslide". It might be enough for us to elect the first black President, but if he also wins by a landslide...

9:31
Half an hour and California, Oregon, and Washington polls close. At that point we should be able to formally call the election for Obama. I'm sure Hawaii and Alaska are used to voting long after the election is called. I guess its the price of either a) living in paradise or b) being fucking nuts enough to live on the set of Northern Exposure.

10:00
Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. Free at last.

10:17
Colorado, Virginia, and Florida have gone Obama. If we get Missouri and Indiana...

10:19
McCain concedes.

21 comments:

Unknown said...

You're such a junkie! I'm watching Keeping Up Appearances to avoid hearing premature results...

Julie Artz said...

I spent the whole day calling Boulder County voters and reminding them where their polling place is (and to vote Obama/Udall of course). Looks like CO will go blue at long last...We're drinking too, and have plunked the munchkins in front of bed knobs and broomsticks so that we can watch results. Great parenting, eh?

Itinerant Pedant said...

We fed the Wee Pedant in a chair in the living room. And I prefer to call myself a highly engaged amateur. Junkie, while possibly accurate, is something I tend to reserve for my coffee habit.

Unknown said...

How can they call a state with 1% in?
Not that I thought Arkansas would go to Obama, but still...

Itinerant Pedant said...

History, election models and exit polls. If the models and exit polls agree with history, they call it.

Julie Artz said...

I don't think I'm showing any great omniscience when I say that Colorado WILL go blue this year. Mark my words.

Mrs. Pedant said...

Wee Pedant is passed out in my lap. My kids voted for Obama 97.5 % - we think the little kids marked the wrong box.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I'm getting ready for bed now. Hope to wake up with a DEFINITE and Obama president-elect.

Mrs. Pedant said...

Red states stay red b/c they are full of ignorant crackers!

Julie Artz said...

Speaking of ignorant crackers, have you checked out the numbers in my home state of Indiana? Obama's within 5,000 votes. Surely the Hoosiers will not go blue?!?!

Mrs. Pedant said...

Well, as a former inhabitant of that conserv- asylum, I'm hoping it does go blue!

Renée said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Renée said...

So we weren't able to get the kids to go to sleep until they called Ohio; at that point, with New Mexico, we could reassure them that they would wake up in a new world, and they finally relented. It's a great day--we're drinking heavily, and we've opted for Comedy Central at this point!

Renée said...

BTW, yes we fucking could!

Julie Artz said...

The kids are asleep, we're drinking, and of course I have a soundtrack to share: http://chezartz.com/?p=441

Now it's time to celebrate!

Renée said...

Man, you quit early! It's like you're old or something ;) How the hell am I going to go to work tomorrow....

Anonymous said...

I Can't Fucking believe it! This morning I'm Happy--hungover--hopeful. Over the last 8 years I've only been one of those things every morning.

Anonymous said...

Question for all: If Bush could call his 2004 election a "mandate" then what was the 2008 election?

Renée said...

It's a blank check!

Anonymous said...

How about an old-fashioned, barn-burning, ass whupping.