11.04.2008

Election Day sputterings

  • 3:23 PM: 538.com is making me happy/nervous.
  • 2:52 PM: This is Ab. Surd. Joe the Plumber plungers as accessories for election day?!
  • 2:47 PM: Long live people like Jennifer Brunner.
  • 2:46 PM: This also sums up something that I'm worried about. Scary, but upbeat.
  • 2:39 PM: Well, this is sweet. Stolen from Roya's Facebook status.
  • 2:30 PM: Continuously updated - Voter suppression (and other problems) in action: NYTimes reports:
    "The Ohio Republican Party re-filed a lawsuit it previously dropped against the Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, claiming that she has not done enough to ensure that provisional ballots are counted properly and uniformly in all counties across the state.

    Ohio State University law professor Edward Foley, an election law specialist, said the lawsuit was a placeholder to be used by the Republicans to challenge the final results if the outcome in Ohio is close, using the Bush v. Gore decision by the Supreme Court in 2000."

  • 2:27 PM: This is really cool: the NYTimes Election wordtrain. Shows you how people are feeling.

  • 2:24 PM: More ballot problems - Soggy ballots. No problems where I voted (Watertown, MA). No electronic machines - optical scan ballots and the weather was dry and fair.
  • cnn.com: things looking grim for McCain. But who knows.
  • Here are pictures of people standing in line to vote.
  • 2:16 PM: I voted and feel good about it. There's a warm feeling of civic pride that follows finally voting in person, amidst old ladies and little kids having an election day bake sale to raise money for the fifth grade. Also, this is crazy. Tim Robbins getting arrested at his polling place? Wild.
  • 12:52 PM: This is kind of funny/scary. Hasn't happened since 1824, but what would happen if the Electoral College were tied?! Looks good for Obama.
  • 12:45 PM: I have purchased provisions for tonight and am going to vote in a few minutes. For now, though: this is amusing.
  • 10:56 AM: Andrew Sullivan is collecting good voter stories. This one and this one are particularly nice.
  • 10:44 AM: Karl Rove is calling it a landslide for Obama. (That's the first time I've ever been thankful for anything he's said.)
  • 10:33 AM: Great image from Jezebel.com See over there -->
  • 10:30 AM: A much needed admonishment about the evils of exit polls from the dudes over at fivethirtyeight.com
  • 10:28 AM: From an email from my friend the (Indiana) City Councilman:
    What a GREAT campaign...There were 45 cars at my precinct at 0600... 42 more than last Fall.
  • 10:25 AM: fivethirtyeight.com is giving McCain a whopping 1.9% chance of winning! Woo!
  • 10:19 AM: cnn.com
"Monday evening's CNN national Poll of Polls -- incorporating our new CNN survey, as well as new tracking numbers from Gallup and Hotline taken October 3-5 -- shows Obama leading McCain by 6 points -- at 49 to 43 percent.
President Bush may be part of the reason why Obama's making gains. Only 24 percent of those polled approve of Bush's job as president, an all-time low for a CNN survey.

"Bush has now tied Richard Nixon's worst rating ever, taken in a poll just before he resigned in 1974, and is only 2 points higher than the worst presidential approval rating in history, Harry Truman's 22 percent mark in February 1952," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland."

  • 10:12 AM: Great. Voting machines breaking down in VA. Maybe a delayed poll closing as a result? Also some places have switched to paper ballots - more hanging chads! Great news in a Tossup state. Oy.
  • 10:08 AM: This is kind of fun. You can make your own election map. Like an Oscar ballot. Mine came out (optimistically) with Obama at 342 electoral votes and McCain at 189.
  • 10:06 AM: A good graphic from the NYTimes: Poll closing times for Key states.10:05 AM: Awww... that's cute.
  • 6 AM: New Hampshire village Dixvile Notch (with 21 people voting) goes BLUE. CNN.com

21 comments:

Blume said...

After you vote you can go get your free coffee from Starbucks and your free ice cream from Ben and Jerry's.

Too bad you don't live in NYC or Seattle, where you could also go get your free silver bullet vibrator from Babes in Toyland.

Bribe the vote '08!

booksandcoffee said...

Re: 10.05 am
What is the pictogram behind Michelle? Wheel chair uses may not vote here?
;-)

booksandcoffee said...

Re: 10.08 am
My prediction on this map turned out 296:242 for Obama. But what do I know about America... :)

booksandcoffee said...

Re: 10.56 am
I really love the story about the first time voters wearing ties for the occasion. I remember how proud I was when I voted in my first federal election. It was in 1998, and it kicked a conservative administration of 16 years out of office! Let's hope the tie wearers of Dartmouth will have just as much to celebrate tonight!

booksandcoffee said...

Re: 2.52 pm
You sure that's the right link?

booksandcoffee said...

Re: 5.25 pm
What's for dinner?

Unknown said...

yay obama ahead in indiana!!

Anonymous said...

An unofficial exit poll from the Ben & Jerry's "free cone give-a-way" at Eastern Market in Washington, DC: Obama wins!

Darby O'Shea said...

Blume: Sadly, I didn't get free coffee or ice cream or a vibrator! DAMN Babeland for not having a store in Boston!

Booksandcoffee: You comment lots. It's good.

Liz: Let's hold our breath. Only 3% reporting and almost even numbers. I can't get too optimistic about IN, but here's hoping.

Anonymous: Not sure who you are, but I'm glad B&J customers (go figure) are blue!

Anonymous said...

Are you seeing the hologram on CNN? Jessica Yellin "beamed in" from Chicago? Like Princess Leia? As if there isn't enough real news to report? ????
????????
??
?????????????

--jlj

Darby O'Shea said...

I knooooooooooooooow. Ri-DONK-ulous.

Anonymous said...

Note that neither I nor Lucy are looking at the camera for fear it will steal our souls.

PS If McCain wins I'm out of here. Mail me my Green Card.

Blume said...

I tried to get free ice cream, but we got there to the La Jolla one and they had a sign saying the 'free cone event' didn't start until 5. We bought ice cream anyway. We are weak.

But yay for voting in MA: decriminalization of marijuana and not abolishing the income tax!

Anonymous said...

Perry County went for Obama!!!

Darby O'Shea said...

Blume: we are SO having a party if ?2 passes, right?

Anonymous sister-friend: Hooray for Perry county! Surprising, right? You know Perry better than I do. Posey's almost tied. Looking okay for Vandy and Warrick. SO NERVE WRACKING AND I WISH I WERE AT THE DEM PARTY AT THE EXEC RIGHT NOW. (They have cheap cosmos - $4 last election night I was there.)

Ilse said...

Thank you *so* much for the Babeland tip.

Darby O'Shea said...

*Phew* Thank goodness someone profited from that! Enjoy!

Ilse said...

You can still get 20% off at Babeland all week. Enter vote08 at checkout. It's not free, but it's somethin'.

Darby O'Shea said...

Oh, that's such good news. Going to order post-election goodies now.

lebrookski said...

sorry i didn't comment before, i had to pack it in early last night. time difference + my nerves = too much to handle. however, i really liked the updates...it was about the only election stuff i could really handle without feeling like i was about to trigger a panic attack.

Darby O'Shea said...

Hey lebrookski, no problem. I didn't really expect much trans-atlantic action during the election, really. So glad it's over and SO glad it went well. How's the mood in HH today? Are they tuned in?