Election Night Live Blog

Posted on by

Live blogging starts 7 pm eastern time. Meanwhile, here’s a video to watch —

Wish us luck.

Update:

Here we go!

* Well, we’ve got Vermont. I wish we knew about Virginia.

Update: It’s kind of exhausting to watch the MSNBC crew valiantly filling long stretches of no news with talk talk talk. I couldn’t do it.

Update: I went to the Virginia board of elections page, and it isn’t posting votes counted yet.

Update: There’s no information on the Ohio government website, either. I honestly don’t expect to hear about Ohio for awhile yet.

7:55: Lots of closing coming up at 8 pm.

8:00 PM:

The independent Angus King won the Senate race in Main.

Warren-Brown too early to call.

8:15. Right now, with called states, Romney has 67 electoral votes and the President has 65 electoral votes.

Update: With 939 of 2,588 precincts reporting, Romney is ahead in Virginia, 56 to 42 percent.

Mitt has 82 electoral votes. So far, both candidates have won states they were supposed to win. No upsets.

Connecticut — Chris Murphy has defeated the wrestling federation lady for the Senate seat.

8:55: Once we get to 9 o’clock there will be only eleven states left in which polls are still open.

* There were no lines at my polling place today, but it was busy. There was no where to park so I ended up walking to the polls, in a local elementary school. It’s not far, but it’s all uphill. By the time I got there I had to sit for a while to recover. I was grateful the walk back was all downhill. If it had been uphill both ways, I couldn’t have made it.

9:00:

We got Michigan and New Mexico, as expected.

We got New Jersey. I’m surprised we’ve got a projection already.

Update: Chuck Todd is saying that the President is way ahead in Hamilton County, Ohio. This is huge. Hamilton County is southern Ohio, very conservative, “Mean Jean” Schmidt country.

Update: We got Pennsylvania, as expected.

I’ve been watching the state government election return page from Virginia. Romney was way ahead early on, but it’s getting tighter.

Update: We got Wisconsin. Nate Silver said we would, but a lot of the pollsters were calling it a tossup state.

SHERROD BROWN WINS IN OHIO! A big relief!

President Obama is now ahead in the electoral vote count.

Elizabeth Warren wins!!!

In Indiana, Donnelly defeats Mourdock!

(Dancing) Warren wins! Warren wins! Happy happy happy!

9:51: So far there are no surprises, really. Warren and Donnelly were ahead in the polls, but it’s good to see the results.

9:55: MSNBC is reporting that the Obama campaign is feeling confident about Florida.

Update: Claire McCaskill wins!

Romney and the President are now tied n electoral college votes, 162 to 162.

I just flipped over to Fox. They’re very quiet over there.

Deb Fischer defeated Bob Kerrey for the Nebraska Senate seat.

Update: The Bangkok Post is reporting that Tammy Duckworth won her congressional race in Illinois, but I don’t think I saw anything about it on television.

Virginia. A couple of hours ago, Romney was way ahead. Now, with 81 percent of the vote counted, Obama has nearly drawn even. It could still go either way.

Why We May Not Have to Wait Up for Florida, Virginia and Ohio

If President Obama wins the following states, he gets to 272 electoral votes:

California
Colorado
Hawaii
Iowa
Nevada
Oregon
Washington

Colorado, Iowa, and Nevada are too close or too early to call, and the rest haven’t closed yet, but they are all expected to go for Obama. Those states plus the states Obama already has won add up to 272 electoral votes, by my calculation.
___________________

Kaine beats Allen in the Senate race in Virginia.

__________________

With the big enchilada, California, plus Washington and Hawaii, the President now needs 27 more electoral votes to win. Mitt needs 67 more electoral votes, even after we give him North Carolina.

We got Iowa. We need 21 more electoral votes.

We got Ohio!

That means

Obama wins!

Obama has 274 electoral votes. It’s over.

They are real, real quiet at Fox News.

Update: Looks like a great party in Chicago.

Update: With 92 percent of precincts counted, Obama has moved slightly ahead of Romney in Virginia.

BIG UPDATE: The Romney campaign is not conceding Ohio. All the media outlets are calling Ohio for Obama.

As I said somewhere tonight, the President will almost certainly get to 270 electoral votes without Ohio.

Jeff the Flake in Arizona was elected to the Senate. Boo.

Anyway — I’m looking at Virginia, and I think Virginia will be called for President Obama some time tonight.

* Some news outlets have called Colorado for Obama, but MSNBC hasn’t yet.

55 thoughts on “Election Night Live Blog”

  1. Dinner’s over, and me and my Obama-lovin’ Mama will be watching Colbert and Stewart, and then MSNBC.
    I’m hopin’ that VA goes to Obama early, so that I can go to bed at my usual bedtime, somewhere between 9 and 10 o’clock – or, on Convention and debate nights, between 10 and 11.
    I will NOT stay up past 11!
    Besides, I have enough cheap bourbon to make sure that I can’t stay up any later than that, even if I wanted to. HIC!

  3. While we’re waiting, has anybody ever heard a self-labelled Libertarian who didn’t sound like a Republican if you let him talk long enough?

  6. Yet their pocketbooks are ever so much more important to them (for their vote) than the liberty of their fellow man…

  8. “It’s kind of exhausting to watch the MSNBC crew valiantly filling long stretches of no news with talk talk talk”

    Much better graphics coverage and banter than the other two. CNN is way too much Wolf and that weird way he breaths, FAUX just plain sucks horrible graphics, cheap hussies wearing too much makeup, still whining about the over-sampled polls, give it up the election has already happened?. MSNBC wins the style and substance award for me. Love the ice rink map! Mordick and Donnelly are neck and neck here in Hoosier land, I held my nose and voted for Donnelley, it seemed too close to throw my vote away on the I, well see!

    • For a while I worked in an office a couple of blocks from Rockefeller Center, and I do like that area. It gets a bit over-Christmasy in December — sort of like tinsel diarrhea — but on a nice day the Rockefeller Center area is a nice place for a stroll.

  10. Two hour lines in some places in Fl – Four hour lines some places in OH. The polls may be open in some swing states (where the polls are officially closed) until midnight.

  11. Libertarians shy away from all the Republican social conservative stuff.

    Snark, right? Because they have no problem with government banning abortion. And they approve discrimination against women and people of color if it’s disguised conceptually as “free market” or “pro business.” I’d call that extreme social conservatism.

  13. Snark, right?

    mmm, the ones I know completely don’t care about social con issues. They roll their eyes at that stuff.

    HuffPo is saying there’s only one way at present for Romney to win.

  17. So happy about Warren! The only candidate I gave money to this year.

    Glad Mourdock got his ugly clock cleaned too.

    I haven’t heard… any word on McCaskill v Akin?

  18. Here in FL, the wingnuts in the State legislature put a bunch of ballot initiatives. They are all going down in flames. The Tea Party went after the judges who struck down a lot of the voter suppression laws. The judges are all being reelected.

    Alan Grayson will be back in the House of Representatives.

  19. NBC and CNN have called the Massachusetts race for Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren over incumbent Sen. Scott Brown.

  21. Yeehaw, we sent Sherrod Brown back to the senate. Josh Mandel just wasted a lot of dark money on an unsuccessful campaign!

  22. Briefly back to the Libertarian ultimate reality, I listened on NPR/WUNC from Chapel Hill to a UNCG prof who studies/leads an Independent group that sponsors the idea of eliminating the parties we have and instituting more California-style initiatives and Independent, grass-roots candidates. He was very careful to point out flaws of the current system ONLY in Democrat-related examples. I guess he things the TeaParty is independent. It was just a funny thing, hearing him all pure and theoretical while ignoring the elephant in the room.

  23. “I just flipped over to Fox. They’re very quiet over there”

    Caribou Barbie not looking so good these days, almost timid? Oh how the mighty have fallen.

  24. Josh Mandel just wasted a lot of dark money on an unsuccessful campaign!

    “unsuccessful campaign” = clip-on neckties and ProActiv.

  28. CNN has a cool map where they can touch a state to play what-ifs. They’ve demonstrated how Obama might even be able to do it without OH and FL. It’s worth watching. It gets the point across much more compellingly than talking of speculating serially about states.

  30. Fla reports 92 % counted 49.7 Obama/ 49.5 ….Va 87% 49.8 mittwitt 48.8 Obama…
    OBAMA WINS OHIO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!KICK THAT DIRT OFF YOUR SHOULDER BARRACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HELL YEAH!!!

  32. Fox News predicts: Obama Wins Ohio

    I was avoiding that wretched hive of scum and villainy all night, and the one second I peek in, that’s what I see.

    I think the White House is won! HOORAAAAY!!!

    • Tom — we’re going to get to 270 without Ohio. We need Nevada and New Hampshire Colorado — I’m getting tired — which should be safe for Obama. Or, we need Virginia.

  37. Heh, the Mittens juggernaut seized up about 40 minutes sooner than my earliest prediction.

    I wonder what the final popular vote will be? 2000 in reverse, minus the Florida cheating?

  43. Once again it’s eerie how precisely the map colors match those prognosticated by Nate the Great.

    Well, I’m cashing it in for tonight. Just want to say how much I appreciate you all, helping me keep the faith!

  45. “Once again it’s eerie how precisely the map colors match those prognosticated by Nate the Great.”

    Math. Don’t leave home without it!

  47. Fun to watch Rove on FAUX arguing with the network numbers people. Poor Karl how will he ever explain to his money changers that he pissed away billions? Poor Karl, go fuck yourself, your career is over, now fade into oblivion you pasty fat piece of shit!

  50. There’s some comedy afoot. The Donald tweets for revolution saying that the election is a travesty and we’re no longer a democracy. Marijuana which they say is good for post election day blues passed in WA, OR, and CO. Ole Cracy Eyes Bachmann is neck and neck with opponent. Karl Rove says it’s not over and Romney will not concede OH.

Comments are closed.