Live from the Stone 108 Election Center, the Schultzination is proud to present the 2008 Election Liveblog. I’ll be trying to follow the election results as they come in, and see if we can make any predictions before CNN and the other networks. I will be joined by several members of the Schultzination election team, and various other guests over the course of the evening to add their input. There is CNN on the tube (and they just had a reporter appear via hologram, awesome) and beer in the fridge, and I am looking forward to a great night. Guest correspondent David Vaimberg has recently joined the program.
7:45 PM: A number of the earliest polls have begun to close, including Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia and New Hampshire. These 5 states should be pretty closely contested, so it is likely we won’t know anything about their results for a while. CNN has already called Vermont and Kentucky for Obama and McCain respectively, so currently McCain leads 8-3.
7:49 PM: We currently take a break from CNN while Aaron Nathan switches to the all-day House marathon. Based on the limited numbers that have come in so far on cnn.com, McCain leads by 15 points with 21% reporting in Kentucky (no surprise). Obama leads by 16 points in Florida with 10% reporting, McCain leads by 5 in New Hampshire with 2% reporting. Indiana looks as tight as expected so far, with McCain holding onto a 1 point lead with 24% reporting.
7:55 PM: CNN has just called South Carolina for McCain. Devastating.
8:00 PM: CNN has just gone out on a limb and called a bunch of the bluest and reddest states for Obama and McCain, giving Obama a 77-34 lead. Surprisingly, Alabama and Mississippi have not been called yet, but the Schultzination, always on the cutting edge, projects that these two states will go for McCain.
8:15 PM: Guest correspondent Raj Borsellino flipped over to NBC, and we noticed that they had already called New Hampshire and Pennsylvania for Obama. Considering that these two states were projected to be very close, they must be basing this call on some very favorable exit polls. NBC also called New Hampshire’s Senate race for Jeanne Shaheen over incumbent John Sununu. Good work by the AC Dems, who contributed to Shaheen’s victory through canvassing and phone banking throughout the fall. Fox has also called these two states for Obama, so it seems that CNN is being pretty conservative with its calls. So far no Bush or Kerry states have gone the other way.
8:30 PM: The numbers for Obama in Indiana are looking pretty good so far, although he trails by 5 points. Marion County, which contains the populous Indianapolis (which has gone 58% for Obama so far), has reported only 37% of its results. Additionally, the all-important Lake County, which is expected to favor Obama, has hardly reported any results yet (though 74% of the 17,000 votes in the county have gone for Obama).
8:47 PM: In what has been the most exciting moment of the evening so far, Romen Borsellino just assassinated David Vaimberg, who just returned from the debate suite. We have recently been joined by Ben Vincent, Goldschläger in hand, bringing our merry band up to 8. Amhpub’s Conservative Politics blogger, Sam Rudman, also briefly joined us, but so far things aren’t looking very good for him tonight. In other news, the referendum to decriminalize marijuana is currently 65% in favor of yes, though I’m sure it’s a very small response so far. Our local representative John Olver, who came to speak at the College last spring, has won easily to nobody’s surprise. CNN still seems to be about 15 minutes behind the other networks in making their calls. Weak sauce.
8:55 PM: I’m off to the Q Center to work on my lab report, so I’ll be gone for a little while. Stay strong, patriots, and I’ll be back soon.
9:33 PM: I have returned from the Q center, with no work accomplished, and found some good news waiting for me. In addition to holding down Minnesota, New York, and Wisconsin, as expected, Ohio, home of David Temin, Ben Vincent, and ‘than Hopkin, all of whom are currently present, has gone into the Obama column. At this point, all Obama has to do is hold down the rest of the Kerry states and he should be in good shape. However, I don’t think Obama is done with the former Bush states, not even close.
10:31 AM: Yes it’s the morning after, but I’m still feeling great. Sorry I stopped updating after 9:30, but things just got too exciting (not to mention our watching party got a little more lively). After the election was officially called for Obama, I took part in the boisterous revelry that ensued, rushing the freshman quad and embracing random people on the social quad, all while wrapped in the flag of the Democratic Party.