Official Elections Post Open Thread
Consider this post the Oregon Commentator Elections Headquarters, where our team of crack political analysts will tell you exactly which states are still too close to call. If any other OC bloggers want to post stuff here, go for it. Also, have at it in the comment thread. And … here we go:
- For anyone interested, the ol’ Commentator crew will be heading down to Rennie’s at about 6:30 p.m. to watch the elections coverage.
- Kentucky called for McCain and Vermont for Obama, via Politico.
- OC alum Bill Beutler has this nifty application he wants us to pimp out. It’s one of those, uh, visual aggregator twitter thingies. Check it out after the jump.
- The Ol’ Dirty reports on the absolutely shocking news that UO employees donated more to Dems than Republicans. Funny, almost like I’ve read that somewhere before.
- UO alum and friend of the OC Dallas Brown is running for city council in Bend.
To go along with Vincent’s numbers bit:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27582147
Any word on what the final odds on the election were in Vegas?
OMG America’s getting a new puppy!
Seriously though, as the inevitability of this result set in (last few weeks) it became very hip among the very hip to predict Obama’s imminent assassination. Classic defense mechanism. It’s going to be very interesting to watch the possibility of disappointment slowly set in amongst these folks. Uh, he’s still a)human b)a politician and c)president elect, right?
Disappointment. Inevitable.
For what it’s worth, Vegas seems to approve of the choice. Anecdotaly, anyway.
Oh yeah, and so do I.
Well, I think Nader got more votes this time around than last (I’ve got a meeting in two minutes, so I’m too lazy to double check). He barely beat out Bob Barr, I believe, as the number one-third party candidate.
Some interesting numbers:
“In 2004, Bush beat John Kerry by winning 62.04 million votes. In 2008, Obama won 62.443 million, a gain of only 400,000. In 2004, Kerry garnered 59.028 million votes; John McCain only got 55.386 million. That means this election saw 3.24 million fewer votes than four years ago. Far from being more energized, the nation appeared to be more apathetic.”
This doesn’t take into account any 3rd party voters, though I think it’s safe to say that the numbers weren’t that huge in 2004 or yesterday.
Not sure what it all means (except that Obama, as Ed Morrissey notes, was more successful in getting his supporters out to the polls — no surprise there), but it’s interesting nonetheless.
To be fair to Republicans, there were MANY Democrats who were complicit in passing those bills early on after 9-11….when intelligent people were too paralyzed to speak. So, they all became yes-men/women out of fear and the desire to perpetuate their political careers.
Hell, even Obama went for the FISA bill even though it’s demonstrable that the bill was not needed to deal with national security issues effectively.
I would consider that a double win in mine. I’m wary of any one party controlling all of the branches of government. Just look at the early Bush administration and the crazy stuff they were able to pass through, such as the Patriot Act. I think it was necessary that Dems did not get complete control over the senate, so that our system of checks and balances does not go unhinged as it has before.
Well, if you’re like me and you prefer parity in Congress, we’re kind of close to it.
While the Democrats will have a majority they didn’t win the needed 60 seats to have total control of the Senate, and the House is mostly dominated by Democrats, even more so this year, but it’s not too bad.
It’s win in my book.
I just wanted to props to McCain for his speech after conceding, way to bow out gracefully after all your campaigns shit talking, seriously. Damn though, the old bastard did sound pretty relieved that it was all over and he could start going to bed at 5 pm. again. As crazy as it is and as much as I was wary of Obama fanaticism, I am really glad that he won (even though I lost a $20 bet). At least now Americans can travel abroad without being the laughing stock of the world.
It is being reported that Smith pulled ahead through the night. But, for some reason, votes in Lane and Multnomah Counties are coming in very slow, so Merkely is likely to win in the end.
Last I checked the news (7:30AM This morning), it was still too close to call between Smith and Merkley. I didn’t catch any numbers, but a 47/48 split sounds about right (although, last nights news had Merkley at 48 and Smith at 47).
I’m glad that Obama won, as I think he will bring a welcome change to the Bush legacy (In many ways, I’d say it was Obama that was the “maverick” candidate this election season, haha). But I am more glad that the election is over, and hopefully people will come out of their red-vs.-blue mindsets and crawl out of their political bomb-shelters to work as partisans on issues. This election made me realize how polarized the people of this country really are, and how much they see the election as an us-vs.-them competition. I can’t help but be reminded of the Nick Cohen article the OC linked to a while back:
At present, American liberals are not fighting for an Obama presidency. I suspect that most have only the haziest idea of what it would mean for their country. The slogans that move their hearts and stir their souls are directed against their enemies: Bush, the neo-cons, the religious right.
I’m looking forward to people putting this sort of thing behind them and actually working together on the issues (well, here’s to hoping).
Has anyone been following the actually interesting race between Smith and Merkley?
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/
I contend that at the time of posting Smith and Merkley are at 48/47 respectively.
Vincent: Nope. Just saying life goes on. It’s disappointing but not unexpected. I now can sit back and have content to write about for the next 4 years.
I hope that after this election it’s not a 1 party power in the congress and white house. That would be terrible. I believe there needs to be as close to an even amount of the the two main parties as possible so ridiculous things don’t get passed like the FESA (or FISA I forget) Bill.
OBAMA WINS!!!!
You offing yourself or something?
Disappointing end to the final election I’ll ever have to participate in. Life goes on.
Chocolate Jesus FTW…now for four years of disappointment.
Yup. He ran a good campaign and (thankfully) it looks like he’s won by a landslide. Now let’s hope he’s as good a President as everyone said he’d be.
Also: Stop putting your fucking “magazine” in our distro boxes, you asshole.
Well hey! Good job for Obama!
Sweet. Now we just have to wait it out for a couple more months, and all of our problems will be fixed!
You have no idea how happy I am that this election cycle is over. Now the government can get back to giving me something to write about.
Here’s a short preview to election results up here in Washington. The race for Wash. Governor could be one of the most competitive in the nation. It is a rematch from the 2004 race between incumbent Chris Gregoire (D) and Dino Rossi (R). Here is more info on the extremely close 2004 race between these two. NOTE: in her term, Gregoire made online gambling a felony. That
You guys are the best … magazine I used to write and edit that is still somehow willing to do favors for me, or should I say my clients.
The best.
god i wish i was there with you guys…we will keep you updated on how dallas is doing in his city council race here in bend….omg…here come the first closed poll numbers