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: Magic Cookie

Election night

JW is off at a party. I get to stay home to make sure the house doesn't burn down and the kid is safe. It's a good thing, actually, because K has been sick and has been having trouble sleeping. I've already been in and out of his room twice.

The problem is, since he keeps waking up, I can't turn the TV on because the noise will disturb him! Just when I think it's safe, I hear a squeak from his room.

So I've been contenting myself with election results online. The early group -- Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia -- all look like they're going for McCain. Except Vermont, which they called for Obama before any results were returned.

8:40 p.m.: My sister-in-law just called from North Carolina, rejoicing over giving Liddy Dole the boot. They really did their job over there! North Carolina, a blue state?

8:50 p.m.: Right now, CNN online is showing Obama with 49% of the popular vote and McCain with 50%, but Obama with 102 electoral votes and McCain with 34. I really hope it becomes more definitive than this. We don't need Obama v. McCain in the Supreme Court. I am pro-Obama, in case you hadn't guessed, but I think this is a prime example of why electoral votes are stupid.

9 p.m.: There's a huge difference according to gender and age, according to the CNN stats. Far more women than men are voting for Obama (55% to 48%). Out of the 19-29 voters, who comprise 24% of all voters in this election, 53% are going for Obama to McCain's 46%. But the 30-64 groups appear to be going for McCain disproportionately (about 60% for McCain, 40% for Obama). No data is currently available for seniors. How can these numbers be adding up to the popular and electoral totals?

9:15 p.m.: Never mind the statistics. They are swinging wildly each time I update. Currently they show at least 60% of every group voting for Obama.

Cousin called, very excited. So much for getting any work done tonight.

I can hear K coughing from the bedroom. Poor kid.

9:25 p.m.: I am amazed at how close the election is in some reliably red states. Sure, Alabama is going to go for McCain. But as of now, 48% of the vote is for Obama! This is a state that only EIGHT YEARS ago took its interracial marriage ban off the books. Now close to half the voters turned out for a man who self-identifies as black, whose mother is white, stepfather is Indonesian, and father is Kenyan? Wow.

9:30 p.m.: Virginia is too close to call! (I still think it will go for McCain, though.)

9:35 p.m.: Dared to turn on the TV. Numbers are totally different than online. Who to believe?

I turned on MSNBC. The old cranky guy, I forget his name, you know, the one from Hardball, just said something about how it would be amazing if Obama led VA and NC "out of the Confederacy." I'm switching to CNN until Jon Stewart comes on.

9:40 p.m.: CNN person: "I know we're not calling the race yet, but let's have a reality check here, John -- I mean, show me McCain's path to victory without Ohio." The reply: (Long pause) . . . "It's very bleak." (After giving McCain, for the sake of argument, almost every uncontested state except the west coast and Hawaii) "I can't get him to 270, even if there's a miracle [in Ohio] and that goes Republican."

9:45 p.m.: Polls currently showing Obama with 194 electoral votes, McCain with 69... but McCain is trailing by less than 300,000 popular votes! That's just not right.

9:50 p.m.: Hug break. K's coughing is worse tonight. I wish I could do something more to help him.

Must... resist... sleepiness... why does Daylight Savings have to be right before Election Day?

Slate boldly declares: "President Obama. He won Ohio. He's going to the White House."

10:10 p.m.: Indecision 2008! It's actually been kind of dumb so far, with Stephen Colbert trying all sorts of diversionary tactics to avoid the election news.

Lately I keep having these dreams that are totally mundane and so realistic that I confuse them with real life. Like, I see a certain thing in the fridge, or we got a different type of toothpaste, and then I'm surprised when I wake up and it's not true. I predict that I will fall asleep in front of the TV and dream about election results, but instead of dreaming about one of them winning or about Obama coming to my farm party dressed like a pig, I will dream that the Indiana percentages are 54% to 46% when in reality it's 49% to 51%.

I am done computing for the evening, I think. And I should probably go to bed. But I keep thinking back to that fateful day in 2000 when I went to bed happily contemplating President Gore and woke up the next morning to what would turn out to be a very different world.

On that cheery note... good night, and Happy Election Day!

10:35 p.m.: Okay, I couldn't bring myself to go to bed just yet, but I think now I can. CNN has Obama at 207 electoral votes. California isn't in yet and they have 55. Plus Oregon has 7. So I think I can sleep soundly, at least until K wakes me up again.

Full post as published by Magic Cookie on November 04, 2008 (boomark / email).