(Image courtesy of Daily Kos.) I am nearly speechless with happiness, relief, and joy that our country will be headed back in the right direction after 8 years of darkness. What a marvelous night. I am thrilled that my children have shared with us the celebration of this historic election.
11:00
Networks are calling it for Obama. He has won Florida, California, and many more. The crowds in Chicago are going wild. I’ve never seen anything like it.
10:52
Obama is AHEAD in INDIANA!
10:48
Just heard that McCain will speak at 11:00. Obama now needs only California to be over 270, so mathematically it is OVER.
10:45
Obama wins Virginia!
10:30
Why in the world is it taking Lake County so long to count their votes? The margin is so close that they’ll have to wait until everything is in before they call the state. INcredible.
There are many strange-looking pundits. Lots of bald guys, and guys with strangely shiny helmet hair, and women wearing inexplicable outfits.
10:15
Looking awfully secure right now. Winning Virginia, still so close in Indiana. Maybe I’ll get some sleep tonight after all.
9:55
Hey hey hey, he’s pulled within 7,000 votes in Indiana as Lake and Marion counties come in!
9:50
Wow, fivethirtyeight.com has called the race for Obama. And Obama is up in Virginia. And still up in Florida. And North Carolina. Ohmygosh this dream could really come true…
9:40
NBC has some chick in black with high-heeled boots walking around what appears to be the Enterprise’s holodeck, as graphics and charts spring up around her. Bizarre.
9:25
Starting to feel cautiously hopeful. I’d so love to see Obama win Florida…
8:45
Daily Kos is reading my mind. I’ve been fretting about McCain’s current large lead in Virginia, and Daily Kos says “don’t fret about Virginia … everything is cool” because the large urban counties aren’t in yet. Here’s hoping. And I’m loving Obama’s lead in Florida.
8:25
Anne Northup has conceded to John Yarmuth.
8:05
I’m really confused by the way the networks keep calling states with 0% reported. Doug says it’s because they have people on the ground reporting in from precincts. But it’s confusing when, for example, the online maps are showing Obama ahead in South Carolina at this point, and yet the state has been called for McCain. It would help me if more explanation was available for why they’re making the calls.
7:55
My fingers are going to get sore from clicking between Political Dashboard‘s map, which seems to be the more accurately and quickly updated; FiveThirtyEight.com, which isn’t keeping up with things the way I expected; and Daily Kos’s map, which lets you zoom in on individual counties. Indiana is very close, with the big Obama zones not yet in.
7:25
McCain is currently up in early results in Indiana, Virginia, and Florida. My stomach hurts. If he wins all of them it will be a very long night.
7:15
I think it’s silly that everyone has called Vermont for Obama when 0% of the state’s votes have been reported. Sure, it’s a certainty, but they could at least wait for the first tallies to come in. Meanwhile, the Indiana lead is bouncing back and forth as results arrive, and it looks like it will be very close.
7:00
It’s exciting to hear Indiana repeatedly referred to as a key state; a battleground state; and even “the ground zero of this election.” After so many years of knowing my vote for president would mean nothing, this year it finally counts.
6:40
The ABC guys are writing poll-closing times on kind of a big electronic white board U.S. map, with a funky marker. It looks silly and low-tech. What, they can’t afford a computer graphic that shows all the closing times?
6:30 p.m.
Locally, Democratic Congressmen Baron Hill (IN) and John Yarmuth (KY) are showing unexpectedly strong leads against their Republican opponents in the early results. Here’s hoping it’s a sign of things to come.
6:20 p.m.
It’s finally here. My stomach is upset. I’ve been unable to focus on anything all day. And now the polls are starting to close, and there’s nothing to do but wait. A bit of good news to begin the evening: at the precinct where Doug was poll watching all day, Obama won 49% to 45.7%. For our little part of southern Indiana, that’s a big deal.