The first results are in!
McCain leads 8 to 3! Kentucky goes to McCain. Vermont goes to Obama.
Indiana is 50%-50%
Democrat Mark Warner beats the Republicans for the Senate in Virginia, picking up a seat!
11 for my map!
Mine as well! 
If yours comes to pass, I'll make you a moderator.
If McCain pulls too much more ahead, then its time to start packing for Canada.
Then again, they aren't tallying the early votes in, I dont think...
South Carolina goes to McCain!
McCain 16 - Obama 3
Just wait for two minutes ... Go Illinois!
South Carolina to McCain.
beaten!
I'm going to sleep, when I wake up, I want to see that map blue!
Connecticut and Dist of Columbia for Obama!
OMG like 10 states coming in!
Obama Wins: New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, Maine, Deleware, Maryland, DC
McCain Wins: Oklahoma, Tennessee
McCain: 34, Obama 77!
~
Florida and Indiana don't look good for McCain.
Ah shucks, I was hoping to be able to say Oklabama!
Forget my last post, seeing as how fast this is going, I think I will stay awake.
Nothing surprising yet though.
But if Obama gets Florida or Indiana, the election is OVER.
They're not coming in until 8:00 I hear.
[edit] Forget that! I'm calling Florida for Obama, you heard it here first!
We might already be looking at the same URL, but here it goes anyway...
BBC Live Text Coverage of the event (it has a video stream as well but I found it annoying).
McCain: 34, Obama 104.
North Carolina and Ohio leaning toward Obama.
It will probably not be in until after that...by yeah, I call Florida for Obama. I'll say it again...if McCain loses Ohio, it's over for him.::)
Well I am looking at this map.
MSNBC calls South Carolina for McCain
CBS calling West Virgina for McCain
It begins!
I wait until CNN calls it, as the other networks rely too heavily on exit polls.
When will the final (as in, no possible turnabout) results be? A couple of hours? A day?
It should be called within two hours ... as soon as Florida goes to Obama.
~
Give New Hampshire to Obama! 81, McCain 34.
~
Republicans are losing across the board in Senate races.
Georgia for McCain
Pennsylvania for Obama.
Obama 102 - McCain 34.
99% over.
Oh Yaah!!!
Alabama for McCain according to BBC, 103-49.
You know what would be fun? McCain getting more people vote but losing because of electors :-)
Hagan beats out Dole in North Carolina for Senator. Democrats should have majority in Senate.
More projections in five minutes.
According to BBC again (live streaming) Obama 51%, McCain 48% in Florida, with a 1% undecided 
McCain wins Alabama!
Obama 102 - McCain 43.
More results coming very soon!
~
Obama wins Rhode Island, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York.
McCain wins Wyoming, North Dakota.
Obama 174, McCain 49!
You see, you should post not only who wins, but also who was supposed to win according to state background and who according to the latest polls.
There have been no upsets yet. Everything is going according to the polls.
Democrats pick up two more seats in the Senate. 55 total so far, creeping up to the important 60.
McCain's isn't going to pick up any of the blue states.
NM for obama! The first turn-around from the 2004 election.
Georgia goes to McCain!
174-64.
Anyone looking at an interactive map, check Michigan. If votes continue as they are, exit polls will be worthless.
I wonder how many polls actually finished their voting here actually? Considering some people waited hours to get in the door, who knows how long some lines were at closing (8PM)
Fox just called Ohio for Obama! 
West Virginia goes to McCain.
Obama 174, McCain 69!
Ohio by MSNBC for Obama. That's it. 
Obama is our President.
Hank Williams playing the blues for McCain.
CNN is about to project Ohio for Obama.
GAME OVER.
Let's welcome our new Obama Overlord!!!
Ohio by MSNBC for Obama. That's it.
Goddamnit motherfucker !!!
I'm getting drunk....
How did you expect anything other than this? You should have been drinking six months ago.
Ummm, ever heard of 'denial'?
Wow. Great. Not only is Obama president, the senate and congress are overwhelmingly Democratic. Hooray for the USSA.
Too bad the damn system isn't...71% electoral from 50% popular? Um what? Why does the electoral college even need to exist anymore?
Are most of you Obama supporters? A lot of the posts were "whoo Obama."
Nope, I didn't vote for any Democrats. But I do like to see the country vote against the party that led us into mess after mess for the last eight years!
CNN just called Ohio for Obama.
Obama 194, McCain 69.
Let the landslide begin.
I'm pretty much impartial on presidents (partially because I can't vote) but I'd prefer McCain. Well...actually Biden, but whatever. My main problem is how everything is democratic, and as I generally lean to Republican ideas (while not actually supporting either party, I feel like that's a stupid way to vote), I won't be happy about a bunch of democrat laws etc being unchallenged.
200/70 for BBC. And I think Democrats have been having majority for some years already in the Congress, it is that now Republicans won't be able to veto their laws.
Uh... 200/124 now. It continues!
<generalization time>
I think a republican government is healthier overall than a democractic government when the citizens are capable of managing their own lives effectively. It does not seem like enough of America's citizens are educated enough to deal with their responsibilities and so society as a whole suffers.
A Democractic government will spend more effort helping those that are too stupid to help themselves by penalizing those that have already helped themselves. Hopefully the educational process in this country can be improved to the point where we won't need much governance assistance.
</generalization time>
kazzmir, wrapping stupid statements in fancy <tags> is cowardly! Don't use tags and take the flame like a man.
Why isn't CNN calling Texas, its pretty sure that McCain will win there.
Are most of you Obama supporters? A lot of the posts were "whoo Obama."
Obama is the preferred candidate of 42 percent of the people in the world, while only 12 percent would vote for McCain if they had the chance, according to a BBC survey of 2,500 people in 22 countries.
In Europe, Obama is particularly popular: more than 80 percent of Germans, French and Dutch have a favorable view of him, according to a poll sponsored by the German Marshall Fund.
By comparison, McCain's top score in Europe was in Portugal, where 35 percent liked him.
Aha, no Republican candidate has been able to become president without Ohio, and Ohio has chosen the president in every election since 1964. Now I understand!
Give Obama Iowa. He is pulling away in Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida.
206-89.
Happiness.
I am leery of the idea of Democratic pres. and Democratic filibuster-proof majority in Congress. One-party power is never a good idea. Hopefully Obama will be sane.
He can't do much worse than Bush, can he?
I think final vote will be 359-179, an embarrassing loss for McCain and the Republicans.
In 2004 they got 252, so which states would turn over? Ohio, Iowa...
Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia
Maybe Indiana. It's going to be very close there.
Colorado going to Obama, it looks like.
Which is somewhat of an important turnover (at least for the people who live there).
How much would John McCain do better by if: it was Gore who did the stuff ups instead of Bush; and if he didn't choose Palin as his running mate?
So how much was John McCain's popularity affected by other Republicans?
W/out Palin, McCain might well have won.
I think Thomas Harte may win the 2008 electoral map game...
[edit] still too soon to call though...
W/out Palin, McCain might well have won.
Name someone else McCain could've picked who would have drawn more attention to his campaign and inspired the Rep base more. You can't because the Republican party is a empty husk. I think Palin is one reason McCain did as well as he did. By all rights, this election should've been a blow out for Obama months ago.
It remains to be seen if the Republican pundits will blame the loss on Palin though. She could either be portrayed as a leader for the future or a scape goat.
Christ, now I have to listen to Dodd and Pelosi. Someone kill ME, PLEASE!!!
Arnold from California.
It is just me or Pelosi just claimed Obama to have won...
Fox calling Virginia for Obama!
Everybody's now calling Virginia.
297!
!!!!OBAMA IS PRESIDENT!!!!
Cool! BBC has it at 293/145 right now.
Congratulations America! .
I believe you've made the right choice.
I was going to go into why, but I think I'll leave it at that.
Woot! McCain got pwned!
America doesn't suck anymore!!!! YAY!!! 
McCain talking now
McCain conceded!
333/155 according to BBC. Better concede now that numbers are still not finished than to wait for them.
My map is spot on so far, btw 
Except for Montana.. But your still pretty dang close:P
that one's still up for grabs.
[edit]oh wait, yeah it's pretty wide.
Yeah...
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/election2008/2008-election-map.html#/president?view=race08
Says that Obama has a 7% lead in Montana...
[edit] I guess we can call it though... Congrats Mark Oates:P
kazzmir, wrapping stupid statements in fancy <tags> is cowardly! Don't use tags and take the flame like a man.
Why isn't CNN calling Texas, its pretty sure that McCain will win there.
You forgot to escape with a </tags>.
Obama FTW!
Lets hope that we can one day tell our children, "Yes, we did."
Nobody noticed mccain conceded?
So Obama is in. Not with my support, but not with my dissupport either.
FWIW, I still think it's racist to be touting this as some huge accomplishment.
Yay for Obama
Alabama for McCain according to BBC, 103-49.
No Alobama either 
. You guys have no sense of humour.
FWIW, I still think it's racist to be touting this as some huge accomplishment.
Yes, especially when he is not that black.
For lack of a better definition I decided to write my own...
Racist: A person who follows or practices the belief of racism.
Racism: The practice or belief that the 'human race' can be segregated or subcategorized based on the color of ones skin or ones relegious or cultural beliefs or even the region or country one was born in.
I for one believe in 'Humanity' as a single race. Not always unified, but always one race no matter the region, no matter the religious or cultural beliefs and no matter the color (or colour) of ones skin...
So I can say that race was not, and is not a factor for me
Good night everybody..
Congrats to Obama!::) It is a great day for America that we have finally elected an African-American as President. I just hope that this great day will not come back to haunt us. I know that every politician says one thing before getting elected and then does something else, but I hope that he is sincere in his love of America. I hope that the things I've read about his past are lies and that he will be a good president. Things DO need to change, and I hope that he focuses more on this country than sticking our noses in other people's business. Here is to America and our future! I also think that it is fitting to see the first African-American President comes from the same state, at least politically, that Abraham Lincoln who freed the slaves did. To America and the great state of Illinios...my home state!8-) America has finally come full circle with the race issue!:D Now we just need a female President! I guess Palin is still an option!:-*
Edit:
And for the record, it was never a race issue for me...I feel it IS about time we have an African-American as President. I, being a former military person, would rather have a President with a military background. McCain is a good man and a great American hero...there is always next time!
As soon as the news came in that Obama won there was a lot of shouting outside, and then there were sirens...
Ok, so the shouting was just Obama supporters celebrating, there seem to be a lot of them for a state that went to McCain. And the sirens were because someone thought it would be funny to pull a fire alarm. But it gave me the opportunity to freak my friends out with predictions of rioting in the street;)s.
FWIW, I still think it's racist to be touting this as some huge accomplishment.
It's an accomplishment for America more than for Obama. Think of what so much of the rest of the world sees when they look at the US.
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/596994
We've been claiming "liberty and opportunity for all" all along. Don't tell me Obama won't stand out there.
I thought Clinton was the first black president. 
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Who won the state guessing game?
Is there a reason certain presidents weren't listed in that image?
I think the biggest accomplishment in the voting is understanding how it all works. I read the rules and historical reasoning at the BBC and lost the will to live before I finished.
Is there a reason certain presidents weren't listed in that [c-c-c-combo breaker] image?
Looking at the listed dates, the reason is probably that it's a screen capture and he didn't want to copy/ paste the rest (or make the image even larger).
Yay for you !
I hope it will be good for America. What's good for America is generally good for the rest of the world, except war and subprimes :-p
Subprimes haven't helped us much either. 
Edit: Oh and the latest war's progress hasn't been too swift.
I think anyone saying that citing the election of a black president to be an achievement is a racist move really needs to take a look at it in the context of America's history.
I think seeing a person and there achievements based on the colour of their skin is indeed unnecessary, and argueably racist. However in this case of a black man being chosen as the commander in chief of a country that in relatively recent times had such a colourful and renowned battle for basic civil rights, marks that countries evolution into a much more mature and respectable part of the world.
It's not just a quirky milestone that people are choosing to make a big deal out of. It's a revelation in the countries attitudes and ideals, and it would be silly to deny that that's something worth celebrating.
In other news. I'm in work now after getting just an hour and a half of sleep, seeing as how i stayed up to 5:30am to watch the acceptance speech . It was totally worth the sleepiness though. It was a beautiful speech.
I'd be really interested to hear how some McCain voters feel about his call for Americans from both sides of the vote to come together now that the election is over. Inspiring or Insulting?
Why doesn't G.W. Bush have a painting portrait like the other presidents?
Because paint doesn't want to stay in M.Bush form. Look, you've missed something !
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/596996
But what now for The Daily Show?
FWIW, I still think it's racist to be touting this as some huge accomplishment.
I suppose it is sort of racist. He'll have to work doubly hard if he wants kids 100 years from now to know him as anything other than "the first black president."
But that's just human nature. We look for concrete evidence to support our beliefs. In this case, it's that we really mean what we say about all men being equal.
Perhaps it takes something away from his own merits and accomplishments, and that's not really fair, but I think it's a good symbol of how far we've come.
Perhaps it takes something away from his own merits and accomplishments, and that's not really fair, but I think it's a good symbol of how far we've come.
I don't think it's necessarily a zero-sum game. You can point out that the positive tone of his advertising owed a debt to Reagan or that the swell of his ground force was largely thanks to Dean or that forcing McCain onto the defensive by directly campaigning in states that McCain would otherwise not even have even needed to visit was straight from the Rove rulebook, but at the end it was Obama who decided his platform, Obama who managed to stick at it all the way through that Democratic primary season against a candidate with much better recognition and a sense of inevitability, Obama who won those debates with McCain, Obama who managed to kill the Wright issue with a single speech and Obama who has been saying what people want to hear about the economy.
Oh, you know, and Bush that shredded the Republican party image and Palin that killed McCain's appearance as a centreground not-particularly-Republican candidate.
I think the biggest accomplishment in the voting is understanding how it all works. I read the rules and historical reasoning at the BBC and lost the will to live before I finished.
Yeah, it's pretty hard to understand!
Each state is worth X electoral votes based on its population.
Win the state's popular vote and you win its electoral votes.
Win a total of 270 votes and you are the President
Final vote is 364 to 173, if you give Missouri to McCain and North Carolina to Obama. Both could swing either way depending on the absentee vote.
Losing in Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, and New Mexico (among others) coupled with the loss of Senate and House seats makes it a very rough election for Republicans. They only won in super Republican states.
There were no surprises though—all of the polls were accurate.
I don't think race makes this race any more historic than others. In fact, just as I predicted, age was more of a factor than race (if you believe exit polls). Again, not surprising to me, the race voters favored Obama over McCain.
What makes this race stand out to me is that Obama comes from nowhere to beat Clinton and McCain—two huge names in politics. Just two years ago a head to head Obama-McCain poll had Obama losing in every state except Illinois and Hawaii!
XKCD made a comic about Matthew...
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So McCain still did better than either Republican candidate during the 1990s? That has to take most of the blame off Bush W, surely?
Think it would be incorrect to say that this election may have killed Atwater/Rove/Schmidt-style negative campaigning for a few years?
EDIT: Obama v Palin for 2012? For a near re-run of 1996?
I would say this election was comparable to the ones in the 1990's. McCain did slightly better than Bush Sr. and Dole, but Obama (unlike Bill Clinton) really had no chance in the deep south.
Those rednecks will come around.
Those rednecks will come around.
Yeah, in a pick-up truck with pitchforks, shouting "sit down, boy".
Palin that killed McCain's appearance as a centreground not-particularly-Republican candidate.
I think that was McCains main weakness in this election. There was a subtext in his campaign that he really doesn't like the Republican party (particularly the base). After Bush beat him in the South Carolina primary with some especially dirty tricks there was talk he would switch parties.
McCain and Lieberman (independant) should start a new party, an indipendant party that's not full of wacko's, but for Moderates. Let the extreme left from the Democrats and extreme right from the Republicans have their own Hyperbole party.
The pundits are already saying that Obama will start back pedaling on his promises (tax cut) as Clinton did in his first term. I have to concede Obama is smart, he ran a near perfect campaign. Hopefully he'll be more center than center left like Pelosi and Dodd.
The Republicans still have a lot they can do to disrupt his administration like they did Clintons. But, all Obama has to do is keep it in his pants and his hands off the interns and he'll be way ahead of Clinton.
McCain and Lieberman (independant) should start a new party, an indipendant party that's not full of wacko's, but for Moderates. Let the extreme left from the Democrats and extreme right from the Republicans have their own Hyperbole party.
I agree. People like McCain and Lieberman don't really fit into either party but are high profile enough that they might just about be able to start a third. Perot showed that there is room for a third party candidate in modern electoral politics (albeit he also proved that dropping in and out of the race apparently on a whim doesn't help).
If ever I want to remind myself of the sort of grassroots stupidity that can hold the Republican party back as it did yesterday, I just head over to Conservapedia, for quotes like:
Doctors from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons have observed that Obama uses techniques of mind control in his speeches and campaign symbols. For example, one speech declared, "a light will shine down from somewhere, it will light upon you, you will experience an epiphany, and you will say to yourself, 'I have to vote for Barack.'" The doctors observe that "Obama's logo is noteworthy. It is always there, a small one in the middle of the podium, providing a point of visual fixation ... [that] resembles a crystal ball, a favorite of hypnotists."
...
If elected, Obama would likely become the first Muslim President, and could use the Koran to be sworn into office.
I think the centre ground in most jurisdictions favours smaller government, lower taxes and greater personal liberty. The problem is that when people like Palin come along and make it sound like a culture war and inherits the "firm on security" tag, she effectively promises greater interference in people's private lives and more government snooping.
So its safe to say Obama took North Carolina and Indiana and McCain taking Missouri. This gives Obama a total of 364 electoral votes which is what my prediction was in the map game. What do I win?
You don't necessarily win anything; points are allocated for each state you correctly guessed, not according to your end tally. But maybe you got all the states right?
Since my guess only gave 303 votes to Obama, I'm confident that I will not be taking the title.
EDIT: wait, no, I gave him 337 votes and of the ones declared beyound doubt so far, I only got Florida wrong.
If you get the state right, you get the points. Winner is the person with the most points. Tie goes to the person who gets the most states.
So are some states worth more points than some others? If not then the statement that Tie goes to the person who gets the most states doesn't make sense. That is why I figured points = electoral votes.
Not that it really matters!
Here's an informative article about the Congress Obama will be inheriting:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081105/us_time/inthedemocraticsenatecouldmoderatesrule
The United States Senate is where sweeping change goes to die. That's the way the Founding Fathers planned it. In the world's greatest deliberative body, where each of 100 Senators is imbued with the power to stall legislation and where it's unusual for either party to hold a big majority, lockstep partisan unity is rarely a substitute for bipartisan consensus when the goal is getting things done. But what happens when one party skips away from Election Day holding at least 56 seats?
Thank you, Founding Fathers!
I got everything right so far except for Indiana... even Montana
McCain and Lieberman (independant) should start a new party, an indipendant party that's not full of wacko's, but for Moderates. Let the extreme left from the Democrats and extreme right from the Republicans have their own Hyperbole party.
What would their platform be? In the USA the only issues are guns, abortions, and wars.
obama v Palin for 2012?
That will probably kill what remains of the Republican party. If the GOP really want to remain relevant, they'll need to shed the crazies from the party. That means kicking out the religious nutcases and the neo-conservatives (which means Palin is out on either count).
I think you're slightly ahead of the times, but it is very hard to win when California and New York automatically gives the opponent 32% of the needed votes! The Republicans cannot afford to lose Florida or the usually conservative midwestern states like Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio.
If the Republicans were to drop those people from their demographics, some third party would pick up the Deep South, wasting around 75 electoral votes. So the Democrats or Republicans would have to pick up 270 votes out of 508.
It would be an instant win for the Democrats, unless the Republicans found a way to be competitive on the west coast and north east.
What would their platform be? In the USA the only issues are guns, abortions, and wars.
I was thinking they'd do it just because they don't particularly agree with either of the existing parties, but how about no gun control, pro-choice, willing to commit to wars only through international bodies? So, Afghanistan yes, Iraq no.
That will probably kill what remains of the Republican party. If the GOP really want to remain relevant, they'll need to shed the crazies from the party. That means kicking out the religious nutcases and the neo-conservatives (which means Palin is out on either count).
It's not unrealistic that they'll go more extreme before returning to the centre. Like the Democrats, who after failing to win with Carter went with Mondale.
think you're slightly ahead of the times, but it is very hard to win when California and New York automatically gives the opponent 32% of the needed votes!
Maybe a new party grounded on the need for electoral reform?
Maybe a new party grounded on the need for electoral reform?
They'd never get enough electoral votes...
The Republicans could use McCain (a firm Moderate) failure as a hint to go more extreme. That would suck. "We tried moderate" they'll say, "Now it's time for Palin!!!" and her freaky Downs baby mind control.
The founding fathers are probably laughing from the grave as they do every election cycle. Here we are trying to figure out WTF just happened, while the system they engineered works perfectly. Keeping power dispersed. All these goddamned checks and balances are going to be the death of us all...
All these goddamned checks and balances are going to be the death of us all...
Well Bush has done his duty to remove as many of them as he could while he was in office! You must at least congratulate him for that
What just happened? Obama soundly beat some old fart due to the perceived incompetence of Bush.
I'd like to see all elections become instant run offs so that we can actually determine the support of third parties. As it is now, they are ignored because nobody wants to root for a sure loser. (Except nonnus29 with McCain, hah.)
~
I just looked at the stats for my county. In 2004, Bush won 51% of the vote. This year, McCain won 41%. Obama got 57%. Bob Barr got 0.60%. Write-ins (Ron Paul?) got 0.35%. Heh.
There was a 12% increase here in total ballots cast. 75% of registered voters voted.
What just happened? Obama soundly beat some old fart due to the perceived incompetence of Bush.
Not just that; the US had the highest voter turnout in a century, the winning candidate's eventual victory caused people to flood onto the streets of the major cities in celebration, and both the executive and the legislative are now under the control of a single party. I've only really been politically conscious for four of them now, but this is also the first election result that's had a real, positive international impact.
None of this is necessarily attributable to Obama, but it does seem represent a sea change in US politics (especially re: the youth turnout). And given Russia's recent aggression (short-range missiles in Kaliningrad?!?), America's restoration from international pariah status couldn't have come a moment sooner.
America's back, baby!
but it does seem represent a sea change in US politics
Not really, it was a referendum on Bush, that's about it. Obama's campaign skillfully deflected blame for the economic disaster away from Democratic (democrat dirty mortgages -> should've been a campaign slogan) policy and onto the current administration.
America's back, baby!
Oh and anyone who doubts Fox News is not fair, check out the hatchet job O'rielly did on Palin tonight (edit: technically not O'reilly, but one of his pet reporters). They tore her up. Notice I said 'fair' not necessarily balanced or free of hyperbole.
I've only really been politically conscious for four of them now
The first election I paid attention to was Reagain in '84. Good times!
The first election I paid attention to was Reagain in '84. Good times!
This is the first time I've researched the whole ballot well beforehand. I watched the mayoral debates, read blogs on the different issues (one was about rewording "no insane person or idiot may vote" in the Arkansas constitution) and had all my choices ready, casting my vote early (Friday of last week).
Washington County (the county I live in) voted pretty similar to how I voted, except for the President.
It seems to me that the Republicans have headed towards a socially-conservative and fiscally-liberal position. I.E. pro-life, anti-homosexual marriage, but also pro-big government.
That strikes me as a particular stupid position to adopt, as I don't think it makes anybody happy.
but it does seem represent a sea change in US politics
Not really, it was a referendum on Bush, that's about it. Obama's campaign skillfully deflected blame for the economic disaster away from Democratic (democrat dirty mortgages -> should've been a campaign slogan) policy and onto the current administration.
I respectfully disagree. I think that the turnout and voting demographics show that the participants have changed. Irrespective of the policy or the ideology of the candidates on offer, a new generation of awareness will mean a necessary change in presentation.
America's back, baby!
In that America, much as it might pretend otherwise, cannot fufil the role it fancies for itself as leader of the democratic world, without the support of other nations. Russia's recent aggression has been predicated on the belief that the west is so disorganised that it won't meaningfully respond. With Bush in the White House, that's probably true; nobody trusts him on foreign policy and nobody has wanted to give him the pretext for another of his mindless international crusades. A new occupant of the White House (which happens to be Obama, but whatever) means a new public face means a new willingness for other nations to cooperate. America is still the preeminent Western superpower and the change in executive makes it likely, in my opinion, to regrasp the nettle in geopolitics.
Oh and anyone who doubts Fox News is not fair, check out the hatchet job O'rielly did on Palin tonight (edit: technically not O'reilly, but one of his pet reporters). They tore her up. Notice I said 'fair' not necessarily balanced or free of hyperbole.
I doubt the fairness of any of the Murdoch media outlets. I haven't checked out that report, but hats off to them.
I've only really been politically conscious for four of them now
The first election I paid attention to was Reagain in '84. Good times!
How do you feel about the press comparisons between Obama's and Reagan's political styles, owing to their positive campaigns and general skill at making speeches?
That strikes me as a particular stupid position to adopt, as I don't think it makes anybody happy.
It works for as long as shouting "terrorism" (or, previously, "communism") can win any argument. I would cite 2004 as an example, but when that election was pretty much just Kerry saying "I'm not Bush" and Bush saying "I am Bush and we've had no further attacks since 9/11" I'm not really sure you should credit anyone with actually having had an argument.
Just curious, was the "world" 4-1 for Obama vs Clinton as well? How different would the reactions be if Clinton beat McCain?
"world" 4-1
http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/597008
I obviously can't speak for everyone in my country, but those of my friends who were interested enough to pay attention to the Democratic primaries all had a very negative attitude towards Clinton.
People's opinion of her went very much downhill after the Bosnia video came out (regarding her campaing lies about being under hostile fire etc.). It was widely publicized here (we didn't really get much mainstream media coverage of the primaries otherwise).
On the other hand, Obama's campaign was pretty positive and clean right from the start, and that won him major points (especially here in Poland, where politics is practically a synonym with corruption and idiocy). I think if you'd ask around here during the Democratic primaries, 60% would be pro-Obama, 20% against (simply because of the rather prevalent anti-Black attitude older people here have), and 20% "who the hell are those people?" .
The Polish web polls I could find from that period were all around 90-92% for Obama - he was always strong on Internet polls, though, even in the US. The only exception was a 30% on a Christian anti-abortion website .
EDIT: Yeah, right, Christian pro-abortion website.
As per Jakub, all I can offer is a personal viewpoint, but all my friends were pro-Obama, anti-Clinton. Though I'm not sure why; probably mostly to do with the sense of entitlement - the most ridiculous lying wasn't until later.
EDIT: I can't watch it while at work, but see here for at least one video clip of Palin being denounced on O'Reilly's show, as nonnus mentioned.
If Clinton had won, the timeline for 24 years (at least) would be...
Bush
Clinton
Clinton
Bush
Bush
</li>
We already have a two-party system, do we really need a two-family system?
Well, it'd always be better than a single dynasty. The Bushes could even switch to the monarchy nomenclature altogether: George I, George II the Great, etc.
The Bushes could even switch to the monarchy nomenclature altogether: George I, George II the Great, etc.
And here thats what I thought they were doing.. George H, George W... Just that they got the letters for roman numerals wrong.
The Bushes could even switch to the monarchy nomenclature
They reputedly call each other '41' and '43' at family get-togethers.
They reputedly call each other '41' and '43' at family get-togethers.
Are there that many "George Bush"s?
(U.S.A. Presidents #41 and #43)
What Edgar said, and: I wouldn't be surprised if there were. I'm aware of three and I'm not really that interested.
They reputedly call each other '41' and '43' at family get-togethers.
I bet they've been unable to stifle the temptation to procede it with 'Make is so' at least a few times.
Obama wins North Carolina!
364-163.
I hear that he trails in Missouri by 6,489. But there are only 7,085 provisional ballots, so it looks like McCain will prevail there.
HA! Take that, NOBama!!! My vote DID count after all! You may have won the election, but you didn't win my state!
Obama wins NE-02! Obama 365, McCain 162.
It's been 40+ years since a Democrat won in Nebraska!
So, those are the final results?
No, Missouri (11) is too close to call due to the number of provisional ballots that were cast. Those are basically contested votes that require the voter to submit additional proof that he was voting in the proper place.
Those should be resolved this upcoming week, but McCain probably won as Obama would have to get over 90% of the provisional ballots (assuming they all counted) in order to carry the state.
I was wondering why the Republicans chose McCain for this campaign. They should have chosen Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ok, there is a law that immigrants can't become presidents, but he is the president of a country of 35 million people already (much bigger than my country). Obama is a showman, and he should have had another showman as an opponent.