The US election for President.
Here is his victory speech.
8:21 PM
McCain is giving his speech right now, accepting defeat and congratulating Obama, as well as pledging his support to him for the good of America. It was the most decent defeat speech... I admire him for this.
And now... it does look like Obama is coming on live soon.
8:03 PM
It is only a matter of waiting for California and Alaska now -- and watch the Obama speech in Chicago, which is the place to be tonight! People there are already going crazy and fainting, I hope they have enough ambulances on standby there!
BBC finally calls it, Obama's projected lead is 297 to 145. A terrible day for McCain. I do not like his policies, I do not like his party -- but he is a decent man, he fought it to the end, and I am almost sad for him. I am also quite interested on whether he will make a speech in the end, and what he will say about the way the election went.
In the meantime, hold on to your seats, it is not over yet!
7:15 PM
I am calling it. If it is true that Obama will win Ohio, and that the abortion propositions aren't flying as much as expected (MSNBC), then I am calling this election squarely for Obama.
MSNBC gives Obama a hefty lead, with 207 to 135. Even Fox is calling New Mexico and Montana for Obama.
Might just be time to start preparing for the celebration -- but remember, the next President will have so much to deal with, that I would be surprised that the winning party today will manage to win again in 4 years.
6:43 PM
Couldn't I have internet problems at some other times?? Crap!
Anyway, MSNBC just called Ohio for Obama. However, keep cool: this is only after 18% reporting. I think they are calling this wing state too early, to be honest.
The more I think about it, the more I think that McCain was the sacrificial animal for the Republican Party in this election campaign.
P.S. Skepchick is also live-blogging tonight.
5:49 PM
While we wait, I would like to give some link love to other bloggers I know who are live-blogging this election (whether they meant to do it or not!). Check out Greg Laden, Good Math Bad Math, Respectful Insolence, Built on Facts. There must be more of you... if you are live-blogging and I did not link to you, leave a comment on this post, and I will link you up!
5:37 PM
Pennsylvania keeps going Democrat, while you need to keep your eyes on Florida, as McCain is getting closer.
In the meantime, victory is being projected in North Carolina... for the Democratic Senate seat. A 60:40 majority for Democrats in the Senate is becoming more and more likely.
For now there isn't much more to say, apart form the fact that Pennsylvania is the big news for now. We are waiting for Colorado and New Mexico... it is going to take time.
Also, NBC just called Indiana for McCain.
5:14 PM
Virginia might just go to McCain: with 22% of reporting done, the Republican candidate leads by 56.6% to 42.5% for Obama. I say, watch Florida: with 20% reporting, Obama is leading there, 54.4% to 44.9%. Mississippi is too close to call according to MSNBC. The Democrats are trying to pick up the majority in the Senate, and they are also looking at New Mexico and Colorado -- so let's see what happens there later on. All these states are way West, so right now most of this is purely speculation.
MSNBC says that Obama's dead grandmother's absentee ballot will be counted. Well, as Messier De Lapalisse would say... she was alive right before she was dead (duh).
Stay tuned!
5:04 PM
Things are still very confusing. MSNBC reports that this still looks like the status quo from Bush-Kerry 2004. On the other hand, it has been reported that Pennsylvania and New Hampshire went to Obama. However...here is the most recent update for the Electoral College count: 103 to 34 for Obama.
4:23 PM
The first results are now in, although most of the places where the polls just closed are too close or too early to call. At this point in time, Vermont went to the Democrats and Kentucky to the Republicans, with the current partial Electoral College count at 8 to 3 for John McCain. There are partial results for Maine, New Hampshire, Indiana, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. North Carolina is too close to call, and it is the same for Ohio and West Virginia.
3:28 PM
I have been setting up my Twitter account, as you might have noticed. Now you can follow me there as well, although I will not be continuously updating today, as I am already blogging. I am still not very familiar with the whole Twitter platform, but I hope I will pick it up soon, it does look like a very neat tool.
In the meantime, while still waiting for the result for poll stations in the states mentioned above... I was looking at the distribution of campaign funding. This map is very useful to get an overview of that -- it is amazing to see how much Obama managed to raise over the course of the campaign. Possibly the very heated Democratic primaries gave him a head start with the fundraising in a way we haven't really seen before. Also, his focus on small individual donations gathered through the internet might have made a significant difference with past strategies.
2:32 PM
The first polls will start closing at around 7 PM EST. In the meantime, there isn't much to talk about... apart from more problems at the poll. So I would like to talk about something else which nobody has really been talking about.
I would just like you to stop for a moment, and wonder what the next President of the United States, no matter who he is, will have to face: two wars abroad, worsening relations with countries in the Middle East (excluding Israel), a bad rep abroad... and one of the biggest public debts I have ever seen -- about $10.5 trillion!
This means that the next President, if he wants to even stop the debt from growing at this exorbitant pace, will have to seriously tighten the US' belt in the very first months of his presidency. The Iraq War is unlikely to end, one way or another, before 2011; which means, public expenditure of other kinds will need to take a rough cut. I doubt that the new President will be able to work right away on health care and energy independence, although those are two big items on the bill.
So what I am observing is the Republican Party dumping all the mess created by the Bush administration on either a Democrat, or a relatively unknown Republican - in this way, the Republican establishment can start pointing fingers and whining very soon, and aim at winning the next election in 4 years, basically maintaining a solid control on Washington either way.
Call me pessimist, but no matter how good the intentions of the next President are, they will need to deal with those who will ultimately decide whether to pass their laws or not - the special-interest-funded Congress and Senate.
2:00 PM
Rupert Murdoch states he does not support Obama because, if he became US President, he would take the US in a "different direction". You can watch the interview here and listen for yourselves.
1:50 PM
People in America are coming out in record numbers -- 130 million people are expected to cast their ballots today. Of course, a higher turnout, and the huge variety of ballots being used, as well as the mix of paper and electronic voting techniques are creating a bit of a mess at some polling stations. This is adding to the backlog created by the high turnout, with some people reportedly lining up for up to 6 hours to cast their vote! I suggest the US get their act together and standardize their voting method, especially with propositions popping up together with federal elections at the same time and confusing people.
Moreover, the number of provisional ballots seems to be increasing as problems keep happening. It does look like things are not gonna get clear that soon, unless one of the sides wins by a landslide...
1:33 PM
Back to it -- even though my lunch isn't even fully cooked yet! Some of the polls are closing soon on the East Coast. Here are the polls that will be closing very soon: Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Connecticut, Washington DC... keep your eyes on West Virginia and North Carolina, they will be able to give us a sense of what is going on, and what could possibly happen later on. The BBC has also put up a map where they will keep count of Electoral College votes going to Obama and McCain. In the meantime, McCain is continuing his campaign in Colorado.
11:56 AM
I am going for lunch, I will be back soon! In the meantime, here is one more gadget for you -- and election result map, updated in real time, by the New York Times. You can find it here. Of course, it is not updated at this point, but you might find it useful later on.
11:54 AM
Voting "situation" in Ohio which could give trouble later on -- people who opt to vote using a paper ballot are being directed to give "provisional ballots". These ballots are not necessarily counted at the end of the election!!! Why is this being done?? And by the way, Ohio is one of the key swing states -- McCain needs to get this one, if he wants any hope of snatching the presidency.
11:43 AM
McCain in Colorado says "I will protect your Medicare", and "we will invest in any energy alternative", including "safe nuclear power, and off-shore drilling...when I am President, we will drill our shore, and we will drill now!" And of course, "drill baby drill... and we will, my friends". He is taking the old line of the maverick -- he has tried to change Washington, was not elected Miss Congeniality there for it, and he will not need to learn on the job. "I'd rather lose an election than lose a war... today [...] we are succeeding in Iraq, we will succeed in Afghanistan, and when I am president our troops will come home with honor and in victory, not in defeat".
McCain has been uninterruptedly talking for so much he is losing his voice. He says, "fight for what is right for America". Even his audience sounds tired -- the cheer him on, but they seem try to shout as much as he is. I give it to him, it is Election Day, and he is still going at it... together with his 96-year-old mother!
MSNBC calls him "vintage John McCain" and that they could "put this among one of the top speeches in his campaign" and that he should have done this a month ago. I have my doubts -- he sounds very tired of all this, and holding on to whatever strength he has left to keep going for another day.
11:36 AM
If you are voting today, make sure you check when your polling stations are going to close, because they are closing at different times across different states! You can find more info about when the polls are going to be closing in your state here -- and of course, if you are watching, you also want to know that!
11:28 AM
Some piece of news you might not get from the mainstream media... Twitter has put up a magical voter map. You can send in your vote report via Twitter, and also let people know if you had issues at the polling station. Do you want to see the map? Check it out! You can also use the site to get updated on the highest wait time reported across the country.
This is an interesting experiment not only for Americans, because it signals a fundamental shift in the use of "non-tradtional" media in spreading ideas usually relegated to the sphere of the traditional. YouTube, blogs, and now Twitter are playing a role that, although we have never seen so prominent in the past, we can expect to play an important role for such events in the future.
Some of the traditional media are adapting, of course, broadcasting for free on the internet, or running live blogs -- check out the BBC, they are also live-blogging the election, and including messages coming from their audience. In fact... talking about that, I just found out that the BBC is also following the election on Twitter !?!
11:25 AM
I am following MSNBC right now, and they are discussing the Bradley Effect, and supporting the view that race might, after all, be less important than expected, as the major problems that the future President will have to face, most importantly the economic crisis, is shifting people's attention towards these issues (and away from race).
It might be so... but from what I have heard, America still has a long way to go to reach full equality in terms of opportunity, socially and economically, between the white majority and all other racial minorities, but especially African Americans. But let's see, it might be revealing not just for America, but also for the rest of the Western world, to see Obama become president. After all, I can dream the day when a black man will be President in any of the Southern-European countries...
Well, I got this news from some blog and I think its interesting about this post. Hope you guys enjoy reading it.
8:21 PM
McCain is giving his speech right now, accepting defeat and congratulating Obama, as well as pledging his support to him for the good of America. It was the most decent defeat speech... I admire him for this.
And now... it does look like Obama is coming on live soon.
8:03 PM
It is only a matter of waiting for California and Alaska now -- and watch the Obama speech in Chicago, which is the place to be tonight! People there are already going crazy and fainting, I hope they have enough ambulances on standby there!
BBC finally calls it, Obama's projected lead is 297 to 145. A terrible day for McCain. I do not like his policies, I do not like his party -- but he is a decent man, he fought it to the end, and I am almost sad for him. I am also quite interested on whether he will make a speech in the end, and what he will say about the way the election went.
In the meantime, hold on to your seats, it is not over yet!
7:15 PM
I am calling it. If it is true that Obama will win Ohio, and that the abortion propositions aren't flying as much as expected (MSNBC), then I am calling this election squarely for Obama.
MSNBC gives Obama a hefty lead, with 207 to 135. Even Fox is calling New Mexico and Montana for Obama.
Might just be time to start preparing for the celebration -- but remember, the next President will have so much to deal with, that I would be surprised that the winning party today will manage to win again in 4 years.
6:43 PM
Couldn't I have internet problems at some other times?? Crap!
Anyway, MSNBC just called Ohio for Obama. However, keep cool: this is only after 18% reporting. I think they are calling this wing state too early, to be honest.
The more I think about it, the more I think that McCain was the sacrificial animal for the Republican Party in this election campaign.
P.S. Skepchick is also live-blogging tonight.
5:49 PM
While we wait, I would like to give some link love to other bloggers I know who are live-blogging this election (whether they meant to do it or not!). Check out Greg Laden, Good Math Bad Math, Respectful Insolence, Built on Facts. There must be more of you... if you are live-blogging and I did not link to you, leave a comment on this post, and I will link you up!
5:37 PM
Pennsylvania keeps going Democrat, while you need to keep your eyes on Florida, as McCain is getting closer.
In the meantime, victory is being projected in North Carolina... for the Democratic Senate seat. A 60:40 majority for Democrats in the Senate is becoming more and more likely.
For now there isn't much more to say, apart form the fact that Pennsylvania is the big news for now. We are waiting for Colorado and New Mexico... it is going to take time.
Also, NBC just called Indiana for McCain.
5:14 PM
Virginia might just go to McCain: with 22% of reporting done, the Republican candidate leads by 56.6% to 42.5% for Obama. I say, watch Florida: with 20% reporting, Obama is leading there, 54.4% to 44.9%. Mississippi is too close to call according to MSNBC. The Democrats are trying to pick up the majority in the Senate, and they are also looking at New Mexico and Colorado -- so let's see what happens there later on. All these states are way West, so right now most of this is purely speculation.
MSNBC says that Obama's dead grandmother's absentee ballot will be counted. Well, as Messier De Lapalisse would say... she was alive right before she was dead (duh).
Stay tuned!
5:04 PM
Things are still very confusing. MSNBC reports that this still looks like the status quo from Bush-Kerry 2004. On the other hand, it has been reported that Pennsylvania and New Hampshire went to Obama. However...here is the most recent update for the Electoral College count: 103 to 34 for Obama.
4:23 PM
The first results are now in, although most of the places where the polls just closed are too close or too early to call. At this point in time, Vermont went to the Democrats and Kentucky to the Republicans, with the current partial Electoral College count at 8 to 3 for John McCain. There are partial results for Maine, New Hampshire, Indiana, Virginia, Georgia and Florida. North Carolina is too close to call, and it is the same for Ohio and West Virginia.
3:28 PM
I have been setting up my Twitter account, as you might have noticed. Now you can follow me there as well, although I will not be continuously updating today, as I am already blogging. I am still not very familiar with the whole Twitter platform, but I hope I will pick it up soon, it does look like a very neat tool.
In the meantime, while still waiting for the result for poll stations in the states mentioned above... I was looking at the distribution of campaign funding. This map is very useful to get an overview of that -- it is amazing to see how much Obama managed to raise over the course of the campaign. Possibly the very heated Democratic primaries gave him a head start with the fundraising in a way we haven't really seen before. Also, his focus on small individual donations gathered through the internet might have made a significant difference with past strategies.
2:32 PM
The first polls will start closing at around 7 PM EST. In the meantime, there isn't much to talk about... apart from more problems at the poll. So I would like to talk about something else which nobody has really been talking about.
I would just like you to stop for a moment, and wonder what the next President of the United States, no matter who he is, will have to face: two wars abroad, worsening relations with countries in the Middle East (excluding Israel), a bad rep abroad... and one of the biggest public debts I have ever seen -- about $10.5 trillion!
This means that the next President, if he wants to even stop the debt from growing at this exorbitant pace, will have to seriously tighten the US' belt in the very first months of his presidency. The Iraq War is unlikely to end, one way or another, before 2011; which means, public expenditure of other kinds will need to take a rough cut. I doubt that the new President will be able to work right away on health care and energy independence, although those are two big items on the bill.
So what I am observing is the Republican Party dumping all the mess created by the Bush administration on either a Democrat, or a relatively unknown Republican - in this way, the Republican establishment can start pointing fingers and whining very soon, and aim at winning the next election in 4 years, basically maintaining a solid control on Washington either way.
Call me pessimist, but no matter how good the intentions of the next President are, they will need to deal with those who will ultimately decide whether to pass their laws or not - the special-interest-funded Congress and Senate.
2:00 PM
Rupert Murdoch states he does not support Obama because, if he became US President, he would take the US in a "different direction". You can watch the interview here and listen for yourselves.
1:50 PM
People in America are coming out in record numbers -- 130 million people are expected to cast their ballots today. Of course, a higher turnout, and the huge variety of ballots being used, as well as the mix of paper and electronic voting techniques are creating a bit of a mess at some polling stations. This is adding to the backlog created by the high turnout, with some people reportedly lining up for up to 6 hours to cast their vote! I suggest the US get their act together and standardize their voting method, especially with propositions popping up together with federal elections at the same time and confusing people.
Moreover, the number of provisional ballots seems to be increasing as problems keep happening. It does look like things are not gonna get clear that soon, unless one of the sides wins by a landslide...
1:33 PM
Back to it -- even though my lunch isn't even fully cooked yet! Some of the polls are closing soon on the East Coast. Here are the polls that will be closing very soon: Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Connecticut, Washington DC... keep your eyes on West Virginia and North Carolina, they will be able to give us a sense of what is going on, and what could possibly happen later on. The BBC has also put up a map where they will keep count of Electoral College votes going to Obama and McCain. In the meantime, McCain is continuing his campaign in Colorado.
11:56 AM
I am going for lunch, I will be back soon! In the meantime, here is one more gadget for you -- and election result map, updated in real time, by the New York Times. You can find it here. Of course, it is not updated at this point, but you might find it useful later on.
11:54 AM
Voting "situation" in Ohio which could give trouble later on -- people who opt to vote using a paper ballot are being directed to give "provisional ballots". These ballots are not necessarily counted at the end of the election!!! Why is this being done?? And by the way, Ohio is one of the key swing states -- McCain needs to get this one, if he wants any hope of snatching the presidency.
11:43 AM
McCain in Colorado says "I will protect your Medicare", and "we will invest in any energy alternative", including "safe nuclear power, and off-shore drilling...when I am President, we will drill our shore, and we will drill now!" And of course, "drill baby drill... and we will, my friends". He is taking the old line of the maverick -- he has tried to change Washington, was not elected Miss Congeniality there for it, and he will not need to learn on the job. "I'd rather lose an election than lose a war... today [...] we are succeeding in Iraq, we will succeed in Afghanistan, and when I am president our troops will come home with honor and in victory, not in defeat".
McCain has been uninterruptedly talking for so much he is losing his voice. He says, "fight for what is right for America". Even his audience sounds tired -- the cheer him on, but they seem try to shout as much as he is. I give it to him, it is Election Day, and he is still going at it... together with his 96-year-old mother!
MSNBC calls him "vintage John McCain" and that they could "put this among one of the top speeches in his campaign" and that he should have done this a month ago. I have my doubts -- he sounds very tired of all this, and holding on to whatever strength he has left to keep going for another day.
11:36 AM
If you are voting today, make sure you check when your polling stations are going to close, because they are closing at different times across different states! You can find more info about when the polls are going to be closing in your state here -- and of course, if you are watching, you also want to know that!
11:28 AM
Some piece of news you might not get from the mainstream media... Twitter has put up a magical voter map. You can send in your vote report via Twitter, and also let people know if you had issues at the polling station. Do you want to see the map? Check it out! You can also use the site to get updated on the highest wait time reported across the country.
This is an interesting experiment not only for Americans, because it signals a fundamental shift in the use of "non-tradtional" media in spreading ideas usually relegated to the sphere of the traditional. YouTube, blogs, and now Twitter are playing a role that, although we have never seen so prominent in the past, we can expect to play an important role for such events in the future.
Some of the traditional media are adapting, of course, broadcasting for free on the internet, or running live blogs -- check out the BBC, they are also live-blogging the election, and including messages coming from their audience. In fact... talking about that, I just found out that the BBC is also following the election on Twitter !?!
11:25 AM
I am following MSNBC right now, and they are discussing the Bradley Effect, and supporting the view that race might, after all, be less important than expected, as the major problems that the future President will have to face, most importantly the economic crisis, is shifting people's attention towards these issues (and away from race).
It might be so... but from what I have heard, America still has a long way to go to reach full equality in terms of opportunity, socially and economically, between the white majority and all other racial minorities, but especially African Americans. But let's see, it might be revealing not just for America, but also for the rest of the Western world, to see Obama become president. After all, I can dream the day when a black man will be President in any of the Southern-European countries...
Well, I got this news from some blog and I think its interesting about this post. Hope you guys enjoy reading it.
