U.S. Election Night 2008

Discussions of and about the historic 2008 U.S. Presidential Election
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Teremia
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Post by Teremia »

We're going over to huddle with some friends so that we can feel comfortable screaming at the TV. Everyone I talked to today was nervous! Everyone I've talked to all week has been nervous!

We're all going to need a nice Zen retreat after this one.

:)

Good luck with the new baby, Dave!!! I'll be beaming easy delivery vibes your way (well, technically, your wife's way)!
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Túrin Turambar
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Post by Túrin Turambar »

Hart's Location, N.H., which Bush also won in 2000 and 2004, has just gone to Obama 17-10 (with two write-in votes for Ron Paul).
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WampusCat
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Post by WampusCat »

A friend and coworker of mine just returned from a Zen retreat. Good timing, I think. She's definitely ready for Election Day madness.

tinwë, I'll be sure to call you at 2:30 or so to make sure you're properly celebrating. ;)

Dave, best of luck with the delivery! Some things make even historic elections seem insignificant by comparison.
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JewelSong
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Post by JewelSong »

I'll be attending an American Ex-Pat election night party here in London. I hope I can stay late enough to hear some of the results, although I'm sure some people will stay up all night!
"Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" - Auntie Mame

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River
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Post by River »

Good god, it's not even Election Day where I live yet (27 minutes and counting, but the polls won't open until after sunrise :P) and the returns are already coming in. :help:
When you can do nothing what can you do?
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Primula Baggins
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Post by Primula Baggins »

Re: the New Hampshire early voters:

bdyeh bdyeh bdyeh bdyeh bdyeh

:shock:

They don't vote Democratic even when New Hampshire does. At least not lately.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Maria
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Post by Maria »

I voted this morning! We got to the polling place right at 7 am and there was an actual line! There were 7 or 8 people in front of us, and it took us a whole 15 minutes to go through the voting process. :shock:

:D I like living where I do. :D

In addition to the presidential race, I'm quite interested in the Missouri governor's race as well. I'm also hoping proposition "A" is rejected- it's about casino riverboat gambling and reads like a casino owners wish list. :roll: Remove the $500/day loss cap, stop checking IDs and make it so such limitations can never be proposed again! :suspicious: And yet, it's being marketed throughout the state as a very good thing for schools because the proposition will increase funding for schools. Sure it will-- one percent. And we never hear any ads opposing the measure. Guess who must be funding all those expensive TV and radio ads? I sure hope it fails. My ex sister-in-law is a compulsive gambler, and does NOT need those laws relaxed!

As to what I'll be watching this evening, I don't know. :( I don't have cable or satellite anymore. I'd like to watch The Daily Show's coverage online, but that won't be available until tomorrow, I think. :scratch: We'll probably do a Babylon 5 marathon and check the local broadcast stations in between episodes. :)

Good luck with the birthing when it happens, Dave! :)
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Post by Mrs.Underhill »

Voted this morning at about 9AM with absolutely no lines and no fuss. Walked in, went straight to the table, took a ballot and voted. Took me about 3 min. Talk about let down. :)
I think it is due to good organization in our town. We have about 30000 people total and 10 polling locations, so there's not that many voters per poll, maybe 150-200.

There were maybe a dozen people voting with me in the same room, so it's not like it was empty. But I had a look at the voter rolls, and number of lines struck out (those who already voted) - not many were struck yet. But I hope more people will vote after work - we are open till 8PM in MA.

Interesting that 2 out of 5 extra ballot questions were about deregulating marihuana, which was my pleasure to vote for. It wasn't about legalizing it, but about changing it from felony to misdemenour punishable by small fine. And another was autorizing your state senator to vote for medicinal marihuana.
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Frelga
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Post by Frelga »

I'm trying to vote now, and there is a line! There's never a line.

The voting place is called Rohan Hall. :D
"What a place! What a situation! What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter."

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WampusCat
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Post by WampusCat »

So are you writing in Éomer?
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Post by Alatar »

Don't be silly, you don't vote for Kings....
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Post by Holbytla »

Voted.
It took maybe 5 minutes, but probably less. There were 5 or 6 people in line ahead of me. I looked at the machine on the way out and 967 people had voted before me. This is one of (I think) 14 precincts in a town of 58,000. Expected turnout is 80%.

I was an inch away from writing in Hillary but I feared my ballot would have been tossed out. Not that anything is going to matter in this state, or at least in my district. Too many of the names on the ballot were unopposed or in the case of senator, nearly unopposed.
Obama and Kerry will win by landslides.

This is one of my main reasons for favoring term limits. Too often there is little or no opposition. People are so entrenched and have such large machines that it is nearly impossible to unseat them.

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Primula Baggins
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Post by Primula Baggins »

Pacing and jittering. Interspersed with editing a book on statistics whose author can't spell or punctuate.

Fighting desperate impulse to go out and buy food for tonight. Must . . . finish . . . chapter. . . .
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Ellienor
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Post by Ellienor »

We're having a neighborhood party. Tacos and beer. I'll want to kick them out at a reasonable hour so Obama better win at least one of Virginia, Florida, or Ohio. :D
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yovargas
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Post by yovargas »

Please oh please let it be Florida. :pray:
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I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
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Maria
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Post by Maria »

Almost every office from State House Representative on down was unopposed here, and that's very rare.
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Túrin Turambar
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Post by Túrin Turambar »

It’s a quarter past eight in the morning in Brisbane now, and assuming I haven’t got my daylight savings backwards, our first polls in Indiana and Kentucky will close in about forty-five minutes. It’s overcast and fairly cool (for November), and I’m all set to start following the results on CNN, the NYT, 538, Electoral-Vote, and the U.S. Election Blog at the Australian pseph website, Crikey. At about 10am the coverage will start on two TV stations as well – I’m guessing it’ll be a CNN feed like it was in 2004.
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Dave_LF
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Post by Dave_LF »

Lord_Morningstar wrote:It’s a quarter past eight in the morning in Brisbane now, and assuming I haven’t got my daylight savings backwards, our first polls in Indiana and Kentucky will close in about forty-five minutes.
You do, I'm afraid. We're sitting at T minus 1:45 right now. Virginia closes at the same time, and is the one I'm most anxious to know about.
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Primula Baggins
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Post by Primula Baggins »

The first polls do close at 6 Eastern, Dave_LF.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Túrin Turambar
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Post by Túrin Turambar »

Dave_LF wrote:
Lord_Morningstar wrote:It’s a quarter past eight in the morning in Brisbane now, and assuming I haven’t got my daylight savings backwards, our first polls in Indiana and Kentucky will close in about forty-five minutes.
You do, I'm afraid. We're sitting at T minus 1:45 right now. Virginia closes at the same time, and is the one I'm most anxious to know about.
Virginia closes at 7:00pm EST, along with the remaining polls in Kentucky and Indiana. The first polls in those two states close at 6:00pm, however.

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BTW, any news on the baby?
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