I don’t drink, but it’s my birthday and everyone else at this jawn will be doing so. (Apologies in advance for any slurred posting.)
Alright, folks. Go for it.
*******************************
11:26- Piling on now: Florida goes blue. Wow.
11:19- Lots of boos at the mention of Barack Obama’s name at McCain’s concession speech. Lots of cheers for Palin, though.
11:18- Jesse Jackson is on CNN with tears in his eyes.
11:14-
11:02- CNN, Fox, CBS, and NBC have all called it: Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is the 44th President of the United States. Harlem is going crazy.
11:00- Jonah Goldberg, of all people:
Look, I expect to be one of the most severe critics of the Obama administration and the Democrats generally in the years ahead (though I sincerely hope I won’t find that necessary). But Obama ran a brilliant race and he should be congratulated for it. Moreover, during the debate over the financial crisis, Obama said that a president should be able to do more than one thing at a time. Well, I think we members of the loyal opposition should be able to make distinctions simultaneously. It is a wonderful thing to have the first African-American president. It is a wonderful thing that in a country where feelings are so intense that power can be transferred so peacefully. Let us hope that the Obama his most dedicated — and most sensible! — fans see turns out to be the real Obama. Let us hope that Obama succeeds and becomes a great president, for all the right reasons. As for John McCain, he is an American hero and arguably the best candidate we could have fielded. I will in the days to come offer no small amount of criticism about his campaign. But where his campaign may have lacked qualities that would have helped it win, the candidate never lacked for honor and integrity. Thank you John McCain for your sacrifice, commitment, and honor. God bless America, and may He guide Obama to be the best president possible.
10:55- Fox called VA for Obama.
10:50- A holographic Will.i.am just did the robot on CNN. That is easily most bizarre sentence I’ve ever written.
10:25- John Lewis on ABC: “I think I’m gonna shed some more tears before the night is over.” I might join him.
10:16- via Kos:
10:10- I’m nervous about Prop 8.
10:05- Slate calls it for Obama:
With a Democratic win in Ohio, Slate is officially calling the election for Barack Obama, whose convincing performance in early returns has made it all but impossible for John McCain to win.
Even as visions of a mega-landslide victory for Democrats faded with McCain victories in dubious tossups like Georgia and North Dakota, Obama’s core strategy paid off: Win all of John Kerry’s states from 2004 and pick up a handful of moderate states that elected George W. Bush.An Obama win in Ohio preserves the state’s role as an electoral kingmaker. McCain had virtually no chance of winning the election without it, and Ohio has almost always voted for the winning candidate in recent memory.
Just how dramatic this year’s political reorganization turns out to be depends on more final results. Virginia and Indiana are both still too close to call, and many Western states are still wrapping up their voting. While it’s still entirely possible that McCain can pull out a respectable loss in this election, a win would require a miracle.
10:02- It’s official: Chris Shays has conced in Connecticut’s 4th.
10:01- We’re late on this, but everyone has called NM for Obama.
9:26- Holy shit. Fox called Ohio for Obama. Ladies and gentleman, it’s a wrap.
9:21- Jamelle is live-blogging over at his place, and he’s updating the map for the battlegrounds.
9:20- I think Obama’s gonna finish in the 360-380 range at this point.
9:12- The only Republican representative to Congress from New England is Chris Shays. A friend who is covering that race right now says he is getting crushed right now by Jim Himes. The Northeast is about to become entirely Democratic.
9:03- Ambinder:
A very senior McCain aide just told me: “At this point, we need a miracle.”
9:00- Steve Schmidt, on his last flight of the campaign, offers up a pretty telling response:
QUESTION: And the pick of Palin for you guys? Are you happy with that?
A: You know, we’ll uh, I’m not going to do, there’ll be time for all the post mortems in the race.
FOLO: But are you happy with what she’s done for the ticket?
A: I think that, you know, I think we’ll know in a few hours what the results are, you know and I, there’ll be a time for all the post mortem parts of it. That’s not this afternoon before the polls close.
8:56- Fox News feels like a wake.
8:50- Wow. That godless Kay Hagan just swiped Liddy Dole’s seat in the Senate. That augurs well for Obama’s chances in NC.
8:44- The networks keep issuing all sorts of caveats for the use of exit polls, before immediately proceeding to cite exit polls.
8:41- CNN cosigns Fox, and gives Obama Pennsylvania. 102-34.
8:32- Predictions: Obama gets NC, VA, FL, narrowly loses Ohio and Indiana, and gets CO and NM.
8:25- Fox has given Pennsylvania to Obama. Um, I think the race is essentially over.
8:20- Axelrod just said that Obama was playing ball today, which has been his pre-election superstition all campaign. Obama would be hard to guard; he’s a pretty rangy lefty. (Random aside: GWB is the only president going back to Ford who was not a southpaw.)
8:17- One of these things is not like the others.
8:05- At the top of the hour, CNN is projecting a bunch of the safe early-closing states in New England and the Deep South. By their count, Obama leads 77-34.
