Election Day blogging (8 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 12:56AM (EST)

digby (8:47 p.m. EST): Those of us who were politically radicalized in the fires of Florida 2000 have a special reason to be happy tonight. The unctuous Tom Feeney has been defeated.

This one's for you, Al.

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Glenn Greenwald (8:44 p.m. EST): HILARIOUS:

At 8:25 pm, Kathryn Jean Lopez excitedly announced that Fox News genius Michael Barone "threw cold water" on the other networks' projections that Obama won Pennsylvania.

Three minutes later -- three minutes -- she had to go back and post that even Fox has now called Pennsylvania for Obama.

Around 7:00 pm, I was hating today and wishing it were over. Now I hope it goes on for another 15 hours or so.

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Joan Walsh (8:40 pm EST): MSNBC just called the North Carolina Senate race for Democrat Kay Hagen. There is a God, and she didn't like Elizabeth Dole's "Godless" ad. North Carolina still looks good for Obama, too.

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David Talbot (8:30 p.m. EST): Oh, my God, did you all just hear what Ann Curry on MSNBC said? Even most white voters in North Carolina for whom "race was a factor" went for Obama. This isa new America.

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David Talbot (8:22 p.m. EST): Another reason to be a proud American tonight: Obama matched McCain among white voters in Pennsylvania, significantly outperforming Kerry's tally four years ago. So much for the Bradley effect. This country continues to be an inspiring social experiment.

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Paul Maslin (8:15 p.m. EST): Race is definitely over. Florida looking good for Obama, though Panhandle and Jacksonville yet to be heard from. He's winning 3 to 1 in college towns Durham and Chapel Hill -- very good chance of winning NC. Nothing in yet from suburban DC or Tidewater area (heavily black) in VA -- expect those numbers to reverse very soon. Indiana could be an incredible cliffhanger.

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Glenn Greenwald (8:13 p.m. EST): For those hungry for a nice schadenfreude orgy, it's now getting very safe to turn to Fox. Bill Kristol -- after Fox projected NH for Obama -- just said, very somberly, that it's going to be a very bad night for Republicans and that between this election and 2006, it's one of the worst two-year periods for any political party, and Fred Barnes looks like he's about to cry. And there's still plenty of bad news for them to come.

The funereal aura is starting to set in over there. Concentrate on how much destruction they've sown and it will be quite pleasurable to watch.

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Glenn Greenwald (8:09 p.m. EST): Fox just called North Carolina for Kay Hagan (good-riddance Elizabeth Dole) and called Kentucky for McConnell. That means that Democrats will probably need to win Georgia (Saxby Chambliss/Jim Martin) in order to get to the filibuster-proof 60 number.

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David Talbot (8:08 p.m. EST): This is not good for my blood pressure. I'm watching the despicable Ken Blackwell, Ohio's former secretary of state, who helped deliver his state to Bush four years ago by suppressing fellow African-American voters. He's of course predicting a big win for McCain in Ohio tonight. But he's not going to be able to sabotage democracy this time. As Pennsylvania goes, so goes the nation.

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Glenn Greenwald (8:07 p.m. EST): I wouldn't say that the race is over if McCain loses Pennsylvania -- as MSNBC is projecting he has (and John King just implied) -- but it's all but over. What's the realistic scenario for McCain to win? Assuming Obama (a) wins every other Kerry state and (b) wins NM, CO and IA (and I think everyone agrees he will), then it's over. Add to that all of the other states Obama could win but wouldn't need to (VA, FL, OH, NC, NV, GA, MO, AZ, MT, SD), and you'd have to say that McCain's chances without PA is next to zero.

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Joan Walsh (8:03 p.m. EST): MSNBC is calling Pennsylvania and New Hampshire for Obama. There is great debate here at Team Salon SF about whether it is over. I say no. I'm in the minority.

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Paul Maslin (7:52 p.m. EST): Worst case Indiana will be a very narrow loss (1-2 pts) for Obama -- Indianapolis results are coming in, but nothing yet from Lake County. Obama has also won Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) by a huge margin, which bodes well for NC and may suggest huge African-American turnout. On the other hand, rural whites in KY are going big for McCain.


By Salon Staff

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