ELECTION NIGHT LIVEBLOG

I am tanned, ready and rested.  So as promised, I shall now liveblog this Election Night.  And I will be tweeting, of course.  It should be quite a spectacle . . . the Election, not me.

Oh, hell, who am I fooling?  I will surely rant, pontificate, and commit manifold and diverse sins.

So anyway, let’s go.

I will keep Fox on my TV.  Largely due to Candy Crowley’s conduct as moderator, I will boycott CNN.  And I am DVRing MSNBC in hopes of committing the sin of schadenfreude later.

For those who haven’t seen it, here is my semi-infallible election prediction which I made two weeks ago.  I stand by it.

For those who wish to be geeky about their election watching, here are 50 counties to watch tonight.  And the Campaign Spot and Battleground Ohio over at the National Review are keeping a close eye on election details.

For those less geeky, do not let the first vote totals panic you from those swing states which have early voting.  Particularly in Ohio, the Democrats are much stronger in the early vote than on Election Day voting.  And the first totals released will be the early vote.

I will keep a close eye on comments, so feel free to ask questions or add your two cents.

O. K. that’s a start.  I’ll be back.

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5:54pm CT

Oh, I should mention that I will not blog everything I tweet and visa versa.

But I will repeat my tweet and say I don’t put a lot of weight on exit polls.  I remember President Kerry.

The first results I’m seeing from Indiana have Mourdock (R) ahead of Donnelly for Senate, but badly lagging Romney.  That might be a nail-biter.  Sorry I don’t have exact numbers.

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6:42pm

I do not intend to drunkblog tonight.  But I will report that Full Sail’s Wreck the Halls Hoppy Holiday ale is quite nice and only 6.5%, which is reasonable as Winter ales go.  Oregon knows how to brew beer.

Now if Oregon would start voting right, too.

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7:12pm

You know what I find more disturbing than that Obama mural at a voting place?  That it’s at a school. 

Propagandizing school kids like that for a Dear Leader is worthy of North Korea, not America.

Sorry I’m not posting more, but I’m not yet seeing numbers that give me a good handle on this election.

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7:27pm

Bill Nelson is beating Connie Mack bad in Florida.  That should get closer with the Panhandle coming in, but it doesn’t look good.

Romney and Obama are very close in Florida.  Since the Republican Panhandle closes and reports later than the rest of the state and since the early vote tends to be heavily Democrat, this is good for Romney.

Virginia numbers so far are strong for Romney (57%-42%).  George Allen (R) is lagging Romney, but leading Kaine (52%-48%).  I do not know which precincts are in and which aren’t.  I do know Virginia has paused reporting due to voters waiting in long lines.  The lines are bi-partisan, in Obama, Romney, and swing areas.

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8:01pm

The Indiana state election results site is pitiful, but I read here that Mourdock is now down by 3 with 45% of the vote in.

Really, the numbers for Allen in Virginia are the only somewhat encouraging Senate numbers I’ve seen tonight so far.  And his winning is still no sure thing.

Just now, Fox calls Michigan for Obama.  Ugg.  That going that quickly is not encouraging.

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8:18pm

Fox calls Pennsylvania for Obama already.  Sickening and NOT a good sign.  I had a lot of hope for that state.

No, I am not happy now.  Maybe I should drunkblog, but I don’t think that would make me happy either.

So Romney HAS to take either Wisconsin or Ohio.

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8:28pm 

Fox calls Wisconsin for Obama.  So now it comes down to Ohio.

This is disturbing.

And, yes, my semi-infallible prediction looks quite mistaken.

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8:44pm

Great. Fox calls the WI Senate race for Tammy Baldwin.  She is a freaking Leftist.

Thanks Wisconsin . . . for nothing.

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8:52pm

I’m having trouble finding useful information on Ohio.  I see Obama 52.0% - Romney 46.5% with 26% in. But the gap keeps narrowing as more of the vote comes in.

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9:02pm

So here’s what it looks like to me now.  Either 1. Obama wins, or 2. Romney wins, BUT we don’t know for more than a week. 

Why?  Ohio has over 100,000 provisional votes to be counted.  And counting them will no doubt be controversial.  And I don’t see Romney winning Ohio by enough tonight to make those provisional votes moot.

This country needs neither outcome.

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9:12 pm

Ohio is now Obama 51% - Romney 48% with 51% reporting.  Romney is about 99,000 votes behind.  It keeps narrowing even as I post this, but I do not have a good handle on his chances to make that up.

Fox just called the Missouri race for McCaskill.  Thanks, stupid (Akin).

By the way, I pretty sure Romney has to take Iowa, too.

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9:27pm

A--hole, namely Alan Grayson, is back in Congress.  Oh joy! 

I really don’t understand some voters.  I really don’t.

Ohio: 55% of the vote is in.  Romney is down by 90,000 now, and it has narrowed further as I type this, but I honestly cannot keep up.  (Hold on.  58% in.  Romney down by 80,000.)

Rove just said the Cincinnati suburbs are not in.  That’s good for Romney.

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9:37pm

Two outliers.  Obama is still ahead in Florida.  Of course, if he pulls that out, it’s over.

On the Romney side, he is ahead is Wisconsin.  I’m wondering if that state was called too early for Obama.  But only 33% of Dane County, aka the Peoples Republic of Madison, is in.  Still, something to watch.

Ohio: 62% in.  Romney down by 81,000 now.

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9:47pm

I am slightly beside myself.  Obama proved himself an incompetent, negligent tyrant.  He is driving this nation toward bankruptcy.  He doesn’t even protect our ambassadors with sensible security, etc. etc.  And yet he is at least close to being re-elected.  Is this what the American people have become? 

Ohio: 64% in.  Romney is down by 90,000 now.

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10:06pm

Amidst the gloom, I missed that George Allen has lost and conceded in Virginia.

More gloom – Roger Beckett looks at two Ohio counties that are completely in.  And Romney is barely outperforming McCain in both, with the emphasis on “barely”.

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10:10pm

FINALLY, a Republican pick up in the Senate.  Fox calls Nebraska for Deb Fischer.

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10:13pm

Well, lookie here.  With 68% of the vote in, Romney has pulled within 60,000 in Ohio.  BUT as I type this Fox calls Ohio for Obama.

I think that’s it.

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10:22pm

I’m remarkably at the point of acceptance already.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think the electorate just voted to send this county to Hell.  And I expect it to go there for a time at the very least.  But my hope is not in America, and that much less so after tonight.

I’ll stay on here a while.  Too early projections have been made before.  But too many unlikely returns have to come in for Romney to win.  I will mention that he has now pulled within 50,000 with 71% reporting in Ohio.

No. I do not intend to watch Obama’s victory speech.

I will say that if Obama is to win, it is healthier that it is decided tonight.  We do not need a repeat of 2000.

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10:30pm

On Fox, Carl Rove is saying calling Ohio for Romney is premature.  I agree.  I still think Romney will lose.  But I completely disagree with the rush to call the election.

And now with 73% reporting, Romney is down by less than 30,000 in Ohio.

Heard on Fox just now: “That’s awkward.” Dang right, it is.  Stop acting like CNN.

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10:38pm

Fox is really busy covering their rears on the Ohio call.  Yes, Ohio will probably go for Obama, but this is ridiculous.

I expected to watch clowns on MSNBC tonight.  Instead, I’m seeing them on Fox.

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10:46pm

Wisconsin update: Obama 52% Romney 47% with 53% of the vote in.  But 80% of Communist Dane County is already in.  So not many more votes from there, thank God.

Now that is a still lot for Romney to make up.  We’ll see.

Ohio update: Romney down by only 17,000 with 74% of the vote in.  Wow.

CRAP: ROMNEY DOWN BY 1,500 WITH 77% IN.

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10:52pm

AHEM.  Romney just took a 2000 vote lead in Ohio. 77% of the vote in.

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10:56pm

On Fox, I hear roughly half of Cleveland is not yet in.  That’s an old Democrat trick, to hold out voting boxes then massage them if needed.  Us Texans of long standing know about that.

However, Romney is now 20,000 ahead in Ohio.  78% of the vote in.

Rove continues to give Fox a hard time.

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11:08pm

Just to reiterate, it looks unlikely Romney will pull this out.  And I do think that if Obama is to win, it’s better for the country that it be decided by sunrise.

However, I do find it amusing that YET AGAIN the news media is playing the fool by rushing to virtually call the election.  I don’t want this country to suffer, but the news media suffering? . . . YES, PLEASE!

Having said that, Obama just retook the lead in Ohio, by 23,000 with 80% in.

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11:12pm

I think it needs to be said that Mitt Romney ran an excellent campaign, certainly beyond my expectations.  In the unhappiness to come, some will surely try to pin blame on him for tonight.  He deserves none of it.  And I salute him.

Housekeeping:  I am having some technical trouble updating this.  So if I stop blogging without a “good night” . . . 

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11:22pm

Hmmm, 84% of loathsome Cleveland is in, and Romney is closing the gap in Ohio again.  Down 11,000 with 82% in.

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11:27pm

I now notice Obama is up about 50,000 in Virginia with 89% in.  I did not expect that.  And that may make Ohio moot.

Well, I have to make some personal decisions tomorrow morning because of what has transpired tonight.  So I better try to get some sleep.

I wish I had appropriate words with which to end the evening with you, my forbearing readers.  But I really do not.

This is a dark night.  And it’s about to get darker.