Congrats to President-Elect OBAMA

[quarter23cd]

The election "market" shows the probablility for an Obama win at 94%, up from 90 yesterday. Better be right -- my sister has a ticket to the event in Grant Park

If the election market is wrong, will it require a congressional bailout?

[Party @ the Moontower]

$50 for an hour is damn cheap! If I ever get my tight-ass back muscles to your neck of the woods, Moontower, I might have to take advantage. Just lay off the beans, okay?

 

Kim and Kate have talked me into coming to Chicago tonight, but I'm on the verge of chickening out. I'm getting all maternal and don't want to leave the kid at home on such a big night. Damn ovaries.

I keep it low to compete with a local spa. No beans, I promise! Better get some beef soon, a cougar has killed 2 calves, and two got hit by cars. Luckily nobody was hurt or in the mood to sue.

 

Go to Chicago! I would do just about anything to go.

[ih8music]

yahoo looks kinda cool. They are projecting 318 for Obama at the moment.

 

LouieB

thanks, but that looks like it's based on regular pre-election polling data from real clear politics. i'm looking for actual exit polls.

[Sir Stewart]

thanks, but that looks like it's based on regular pre-election polling data from real clear politics. i'm looking for actual exit polls.

 

You shouldn't put any faith in exit polls, at all.

[ih8music]

You shouldn't put any faith in exit polls, at all.

oh yeah, I know... just need something to pass the time today while at work.

[Dude]

You shouldn't put any faith in exit polls, at all.

 

Except the ones that say Obama is winning, which are probably correct.

[viatroy]

anyone have a good source for exit polls online?

 

 

Nate Silver says ignore them.

[IATTBYB]

I'm sure there are stories like this happening all over the country:

 

Early voter turnout is strong in Kalamazoo's Northside neighborhood

by Julie Mack | Kalamazoo Gazette

Tuesday November 04, 2008, 1:06 PM

KALAMAZOO -- More than 1,800 people had cast ballots before noon Tuesday at precincts in Kalamazoo's Northside neighborhood, suggesting a significant jump in the neighborhood's turnout compared to November 2004.

 

The precincts based at Mount Zion Baptist Church and the Douglass Community Association drew 2,956 voters in 2004, according to election records.

 

At 11:50 a.m. today, election workers said, there had been 980 voters at the Douglass center and the count at Mount Zion was 828. Election workers said they expected their busiest time to occur after 4 p.m.

 

"We had about 70-plus voters in the first half hour" after the Mount Zion precinct opened at 7 a.m., a poll worker said.

 

The Northside is Kalamazoo's largest African-American neighborhood and voters said they felt they were participating in a historic election.

 

"It's a miracle," 58-year-old Willie McGee said of casting a ballot for a black presidential candidate. "I'm blessed to be a part of it."

 

Make me proud to by an American, just like Michelle Obama.

[viatroy]

Kim and Kate have talked me into coming to Chicago tonight, but I'm on the verge of chickening out. I'm getting all maternal and don't want to leave the kid at home on such a big night. Damn ovaries.

 

 

Fired up! Ready to go!

[EL the Famous]

my buddy sent me the following email:

 

From: mr.buddahthreehotdogs@comcast.net

Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 11:42 AM

To: ME

Subject: I wrote in Dave Pirner for my local park district supt.

 

 

[viatroy]

Make me proud to by an American, just like Michelle Obama.

 

 

Yep, I'm proud. My daughter's proud. My son is proud. My coworkers are proud.

It's good to be able to take pride in this country again, instead of feeling shame at

what Bush n Dick have wrought. I think we have a tough road ahead, but feeling

optimistic about fresh, intelligent, compassionate leadership is a good head start.

[EL the Famous]

It's good to be able to take pride in this country again...

 

you know, we have had our skirmishes...but reading that, coming from you, made me smile. for real. hopefully, w/ a black man in the highest elected office in the country, we can work on changing your mind about hip-hop.

[viatroy]

you know, we have had our skirmishes...but reading that, coming from you, made me smile. for real. hopefully, w/ a black man in the highest elected office in the country, we can work on changing your mind about hip-hop.

 

 

Results aren't in. If I see Obama bust a move, I may lean.

[mountain bed]

Fired up! Ready to go!

HELL YEAH!

 

I'm wearing the Gonzo Power shirt to the polls. HST, Toot, this one is for YOU.

[EL the Famous]

Results aren't in. If I see Obama bust a move, I may lean.

 

'Said my niggaz dont dance,

We just pull up our pants and,

Do da Roc-away.

Now lean back, lean back, lean back, lean back.'

 

HOPE!

[ction]

[OOO]

If I don't make it back from the Grant Park rally, please tell Jeff that I liked his new song.

[EL the Famous]

so ction, you really do read my blog? love, poptodd

[NightOfJoy]

agreed... I can't believe anyone would consider heading down there. History or not.

 

Bah!

 

You worry too much, man.

 

I predict the biggest issue to be the Metra ride home.

[mfwahl]

Chicago Tribune:

Extreme measures are being taken to ensure that early information from exit polls does not leak out, as it did in 2004, when the first wave of surveys showing John Kerry in the lead rocketed through cyberspace.

 

For much of the day, only a small group will have access to the exit polling, which is being conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for the National Election Pool, a consortium of the networks and The Associated Press.

[Analogman]

Joe Leiberman is still standing behind McCain - amazing.

[Lammycat]

Joe Leiberman is still standing behind McCain - amazing.

He's still got time before the results are in to change support, though.....

[Gobias Industries]

He's still got time before the results are in to change support, though.....

 

Lieberman will support Bob Barr, I bet.

[Good Old Neon]

I thought this was sort of cool - a link from Andrew Sullivan's site:

 

I Didn't Vote For Obama Today

 

November 4, 2008, 9:37AM

 

I have a confession to make.

 

I did not vote for Barack Obama today.

 

I've openly supported Obama since March. But I didn't vote for him today.

 

I wanted to vote for Ronald Woods. He was my algebra teacher at Clark Junior High in East St. Louis, IL. He died 15 years ago when his truck skidded head-first into a utility pole. He spent many a day teaching us many things besides the Pythagorean Theorem. He taught us about Medgar Evers, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis and many other civil rights figures who get lost in the shadow cast by Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

But I didn't vote for Mr. Woods.

 

I wanted to vote for Willie Mae Cross. She owned and operated Crossroads Preparatory Academy for almost 30 years, educating and empowering thousands of kids before her death in 2003. I was her first student. She gave me my first job, teaching chess and math concepts to kids in grades K-4 in her summer program. She was always there for advice, cheer and consolation. Ms. Cross, in her own way, taught me more about walking in faith than anyone else I ever knew.

 

But I didn't vote for Ms. Cross.

 

I wanted to vote for Arthur Mells Jackson, Sr. and Jr. Jackson Senior was a Latin professor. He has a gifted school named for him in my hometown. Jackson Junior was the pre-eminent physician in my hometown for over 30 years. He has a heliport named for him at a hospital in my hometown. They were my great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively.

 

But I didn't vote for Prof. Jackson or Dr. Jackson.

 

I wanted to vote for A.B. Palmer. She was a leading civil rights figure in Shreveport, Louisiana, where my mother grew up and where I still have dozens of family members. She was a strong-willed woman who earned the grudging respect of the town's leaders because she never, ever backed down from anyone and always gave better than she got. She lived to the ripe old age of 99, and has a community center named for her in Shreveport.

 

But I didn't vote for Mrs. Palmer.

 

I wanted to vote for these people, who did not live to see a day where a Black man would appear on their ballots on a crisp November morning.

 

In the end, though, I realized that I could not vote for them any more than I could vote for Obama himself.

 

So who did I vote for?

 

No one.

 

I didn't vote. Not for President, anyway.

 

Oh, I went to the voting booth. I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine. I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.

 

I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly. But I didn't vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.

 

When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for - and then decided to let him vote for me. I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama's name on the screen and touch it.

 

And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

 

Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine. But I didn't cast it.

 

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red "vote" button was the person I was really voting for all along.

 

It made the months of donating, phonebanking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter.

 

So, no, I didn't vote for Barack Obama. I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants...even President.

[mfwahl]

Alexander Reed '08