Liveblogging the Election

November 4, 2008 / 6:11 pm • By Dr. Melissa Clouthier

Hey folks, I’ll be doing the normal liveblogging. There are a couple people I’ll be interested in following.

Patrick Ruffini will be following the returns by county and this is what he says:

I rely solely and purely on county returns. I’ll be analyzing the swing from 2004 in key counties and combining 2008 votes with 2004 turnout models, start to build increasingly accurate models of final results, usually well before the media will call a state. (The only place they’ll have the edge is in blowout states they’ll call based on exits.)

How accurate is this model? In 2004, I knew something was seriously wrong with the exit polls by 7:30. I knew Florida was in the bag by 9 p.m. And I knew Ohio was very likely ours by 10:30 p.m. Contemporaneous news accounts suggested that The Architect came to these conclusions at about the same time. Just sayin’.

I’ll also be following my co-blogger at RightWingNews, John Hawkins. He hasn’t got the ball rolling yet, but there’s nothing to report yet.

Right now, I’m listening to John McCain’s guy Chris Cox put a positive spin on the election. These guys are good at projecting confidence.

Just for a setting: I’m sitting here with my back facing Time’s Square. I’m out and proud wearing red. Besides Chris Cox, I’m quite sure I’m the only one pulling for McCain.

Hmmm….less new voters than in 2004?

Jeff Goldstein reports that it’s all over….Orlando Bloom urges you to vote: “And by “you,” presumably he means either geeky twenty-somethings who like to dress in pirate garb, or gay boys.” Hey! I love Orlando Bloom, as long as he’s wearing a leotard and a blond wig.

Some in the middle are feeling worried….that Obama won’t win. Oh, the horror! Wouldn’t it be loverly, though?

Rachel Lucas reports that Sarah Palin’s father said this:

“Years ago I taught Sarah how to field dress a moose. But tomorrow I want you to see her field dress a donkey.”

Indiana is going Obama in a landslide. Ugh.

Why it’s important to ignore exit polls.

Exit polling interesting:

Shocker: 62% of voters chose the economy as the #1 issue.

67% say Biden is qualified

38% say Palin is qualified

50% say Obama has the experience to be President.

Late deciders break Obama’s way in Ohio and Indiana. McCain’s way in Virginia.

Does Pennsylvania called for Obama mean that it’s over?

Hold your horses, Glynn. I don’t owe you a bottle of wine yet, but you’re welcome to start picking a brand.

A miracle needed in Florida.

Ohio for Obama. With Florida, it’s over.

Well, it’s over. President Obama.

McCain is giving a very good concession speech.

Barack Obama, “Change has come to America.”

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  • http://newlabourmypartintheirdownfall.blogspot.com/ Norman Stanley Fletcher

    I have just seen you live here in the UK on our heavily bias BBC. don’t trust them. they are all Obama supporters!

  • http://newlabourmypartintheirdownfall.blogspot.com/ Norman Stanley Fletcher

    the BBC are calling Indiana 51% for Mcain. Hmmm?

  • Judi

    I’m not seeing the IN landslide. I just got this from ABC news.

    McCain (R) 461,710 51%
    Obama (D) 426,073 48%

  • Glynn W.

    Barack got Pennsylvania.

    I think that means it’s all over. At the very least it means I’m popping the top off this bottle!

  • http://www.biggervoices.com matt

    Barack gets Ohio?

  • http://maxedoutmama.blogspot.com MaxedOutMama

    Thanks for the Patrick Ruffini link – he seems to have called it now for Obama. I’m tired – I’m going to bed!

  • Walt Jabsco

    All Americans should be proud of how far we’ve come as a nation tonight. Give Obama a chance these next four years. You must admit that republican leadership has driven us into a ditch. Be open to change and progress. Fear not.

  • Mat

    Walt,

    Sorry, but I refuse to be proud of the fact that we just elected a socialist to govern the country. As the Obamajugend sang in a Youtube video, he’s “gonna change it, and rearrange it…” The Democrats have stabbed repeatedly in the back, so no, it’s not just the Republicans who have driven this country into the ground. Personally, I’m just going to sit back and watch the fur fly. You haven’t seen anything yet. Cripes, we might as well just add a hammer and sickle to the American flag. And yes, I think the Republicans really need to get back to some serious conservatism. The only good that will come from this is that when the proverbial crap hits the fan (and it will), it’ll be all in the Democrats’ lap.

  • Stefan

    Melissa, good to see you online in New York :-)

    Good luck with everything over the next few years. I hope that Republicans and Democrats can truly put aside their differences to clean up the mess the country finds itself in.

  • Paul

    Nice to see you on the BBC coverage of the NY event.

    Having watched the whole coverage and the online action, I get the feeling that unlike ever before people of all walks of life seem more passionate then ever about delivering the opinion on were they stand.

    That in itself to me is democracy in action.

    What the result for the US and the World will be is really quite relative, prices and taxes will always rise, opposites will wage wars, and stable state economies are too boring to attract camera lights, we will always get to the truth 50 years later in a late night doc, and we will always have mixed feelings simply because, unlike irl, no matter how “informed”, we can never fathom the full intention behind the politics.

    Be well.