The Sala-Blog

I'm going to go with the Rockey Mountain News who are calling CO for Obama, which puts my scorecard at 221. There's still a lot of states I haven't called, including "swing states." --But, three sure things are still out there, CA, OR and WA. That puts Obama at 294, leaving FL, MS, NC, VA, IN, MO, AZ, NE ID and MT all to be called. Any would be gravy. I think we'll see at least Florida go our way. That means Barack Obama will win the Presidency with at least 321 electoral votes. I knew it was over as soon as OH was called for Obama by FOX, but now I'm certain it's going to close as a big win for the blue team.

Holding PA was huge, but we still need to see a red state turn blue before I can relax. I don't see how it's going to be GA. Some networks are already calling it for McCain. VA is not looking as good as I hoped either, but it seems some of the area's that aren't reporting are going to be deep pockets for Democrats, so it's still a possibility. On the other hand, I'm feeling really good about OH, FL, CO, NV and NM. If one red state had turned blue, I'd call the race, which I'd hoped to do by 9, but I'm not making any predictions as of yet.

I voted. It was the most exciting vote I've cast since the first I cast at 18. Disappointingly, there was no line. None. Zilch. An elderly couple came in after me. Other than that, it was just poll workers. Nice folks though.




Inspired by WORD cohort Tim, who posted a picture of him voting at 6am on his facebook, I brought my camera. It was the first time I recall ever voting the entire ticket for one party. I voted Democratic all the way down the line. I decided months ago that until the Republicans kick the neo-cons out of their party, they'll never get another one of my votes. Sorry nice Republicans running for local offices. Some of you I really like, but you have to fix your party.

Joe the contractor is banging away, installing the new window. It's a beautiful day outside. So, I stopped by Betty's and had an amazing breakfast. The day will be spent trying to distract myself until results start coming in, trying not to freak out wondering if hackers are pulling an OH2004.

I went to the polls decked in an Obama tshirt, and wearing two Obama pins. I got a very nice response from everyone I passed while walking to the polls, breakfast and back. Well, I did get one dirty look, but the guy was wearing a SWAT baseball cap, so he likely gives everyone dirty looks.

I hope you've voted. If you haven't, I hope you've planned to.



***edit at 9 pm: The folks at Huffingtonpost.com used this photo is one of their "at the polls" slide shows. Ha!

Good morning. I've been up for a while. It doesn't seem the poll numbers moved at all. Which is good, because I'm sick of combing over them. I see only a couple of scenarios where McCain could pull a win out of his ass today, and both mean something fishy happened. If there's no Bradley effect, or if the Bradley effect is canceled out by what we're calling the Obama effect, white people who've said they wouldn't vote for Obama, because they wanted to fit in better with friends and family, but will, then Obama is looking at a landslide win tonight. Not affording any points for right-wing vote suppression tactics, but affording points for young people and cell phone only adjustments to the polls, this could be around a 395 win for Obama. I think there will be a great deal of vote suppression, and downright tampering. My guess is it'll be a 310 night. If McCain steals this thing, it'll be by 5 electoral votes.

GO VOTE. The only way to combat voter suppression tactics is through voter turnout. Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE if you have any problems or encounter anything weird.

When you have some time, please familiarize yourself with why voter suppression is such a big issue, by tuning in the latest episode of Democracy Now! at
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/3/on_eve_of_election_day_is

I'll blog again after I VOTE. I've got Joe the Contractor coming over to replace a window at 9, and after I let him in, I'll walk across the street to my polling station, where hopefully there will be a gigantic line.