Election Day blogging (9 p.m. EST thread)

Join Joan Walsh, Glenn Greenwald, David Sirota, David Talbot, Digby, Paul Maslin, Rebecca Traister and Gary Kamiya as they follow the day's events.

Published November 5, 2008 2:00AM (EST)

David Talbot (6:47 p.m. EST): "The whole world is watching!" That's what my fellow Vietnam war protestors chanted as marauding cops beat them in Chicago's Grant Park 40 years ago. And tonight, in that very same park, the whole world will be watching the celebration of a new America. It took so long -- and so many soul-crushing election nights -- for us to reach this point. But America finally got there.  

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Joan Walsh, 9:30 p.m. EST: Ohio. Wow. Well, as the designated worrier, the most cautious blogger on the team, the person who's said, "Hey, wait a minute" all day long -- actually, going back to the Democratic primary -- I don't see how Obama doesn't win this.

Carl Cameron is doing a post-mortem with Nicolle Wallace on Fox. I think it's because Brit Hume is too verklempt to anchor.

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David Talbot (9:24 p.m. EST): Priceless. A funereal Brit Hume and equally somber Karl Rove call Ohio for Obama. "No Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio," observes a deeply gloomy Rove.

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Glenn Greenwald (9:23 p.m. EST): Fox just projected Ohio for Obama -- right when Brit Hume was standing next to Karl Rove and Rove was explaining how McCain can't lose any more battleground states. "No Republican has ever been elected without winning the state of Ohio," Rove pouted.

Florida looks good for Obama, too -- would be very appropriate if the two states that put George Bush into the White House are turned blue.

It's virtually impossible to see how Obama loses now.

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Joan Walsh (9:20 p.m. EST): Back to a little bit of pins and needles: The early signs all look good for Obama in both Florida and North Carolina, which really might mean it is over for McCain. But none of the networks is calling either state. Fox has called New Mexico for Obama, but only Fox. McCain hasn't lost any red states yet, but on MSNBC, former McCain staffer Mike Murphy just told Rachel Maddow: "Well, the night is young yet." Murphy thinks Florida looks good for Obama. Virginia could stay red, however. Stay tuned.

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David Talbot (9:06 p.m. EST): You gotta love Chris Matthews, calling Tom "The Hammer" DeLay a hater to his face on MSNBC, for predicting the imminent decline and fall of American civilization. As the camera cut away from the fallen GOP strongman, he sputtered, "I don't hate." To which a chuckling Matthews replied, "How about resent, are you OK with that?"

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Joan Walsh (9 p.m. EST): Vermin Watch: Tom DeLay was just on MSNBC (why, Chris, why?) saying Nancy Pelosi, not Barack Obama, is the country's most powerful Democrat. "They'll probably double the minimum wage in the next six months. They're gonna run circles around Barack Obama! Nancy Pelosi will get her way and do whatever she wants to do!" Is somebody scared of women?

Matthews to DeLay: "I like the way you hate, sir!"

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Glenn Greenwald (8:58 pm EST): A sign of how devastated the GOP is: the Fox panel is now actively considering whether this is no longer a "center-right country," but instead is now a "center-left country" -- the topic we focused on here earlier today. They're feeling so defeated, so repudiated, that they are on the verge of relinquishing one of their most central articles of faith.


By Salon Staff

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2008 Elections