10.48pm. Oregon Senate race still close: Republican incumbent Gordon Smith leads Democrat Jeff Merkley 47.7 per cent to 46.7 per cent with 74 per cent of precincts reporting. Coleman now leads Franken by 676 votes (0.02 per cent) with 99.9 per cent reporting.
9.25pm. An extra 0.3 per cent of precincts in Minnesota have widened Coleman’s lead to 2591.
8.45pm. Norm Coleman back ahead of Franken in Minnesota – by 490 votes, with 98.7 per cent reporting.
7.54pm. Al Franken seizes a late lead for the Minnesota Senate (188,073 to 185,786) with 98 per cent reporting.
7.45pm. All precincts reporting from Missouri, and McCain leads 1,442,577 to 1,436,724. Possum writes in comments that there are not enough contested votes to cover the gap.
6.29pm. MSNBC calls Indiana for Obama. Only Missouri and North Carolina still outstanding.
6.26pm. Missouri has gone right back down to the wire with 0.7 per cent still to report: McCain 1,426,779, Obama 1,426,381.
6.06pm. With all precincts reporting, Obama leads in North Carolina by 12,160 votes out of over 4.2 million (0.2 per cent cent).
5.57pm. Earlier chat suggested Republican Senator Ted Stevens was dead meat in Alaska, but he leads 49.4-45.4 with 37 per cent reporting. Partial counts can be misleading though.
5.50pm. Back to lineball in Minnesota Senate. Analyst on Fox News says outstanding precincts are likely to favour Republican incumbent Norm Coleman over Al Franken.
5.16pm. McCain hanging on to his slender lead in Missouri, which is looming as my only wrong call.
5.11pm. McCain now ahead in Montana.
5.00pm. Al Franken continuing to fade in Minnesota Senate – probably gone now.
4.46pm. Obama’s lead in Montana rapidly evaporating as the count proceeds to 51 per cent.
4.36pm. Ohio still quite tight: Obama leads 50.0-48.4 with 72 per cent reporting.
4.31pm. Oregon Senate race has tightened up considerably: within 1 per cent now.
4.11pm. My reading of the Senate: Democrats to gain seven Senate seats – Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia, Oregon, North Carolina and Alaska (no actual votes yet from the latter) – or eight if Al Franken wins Minnesota, where he trails by 0.8 per cent with 53 per cent counted.
4.09pm. Norm Coleman now leads Al Franken by 0.8 per cent for Minnesota Senate.
4.07pm. Obama now with a relatively handy 0.6 per cent lead in North Carolina.
3.55pm. Obama back in front in North Carolina, but not going to win Missouri. I’ve only just noticed he’s looking a surprise winner in Montana, although with only 24 per cent counted.
3.32pm. Correct me if I’m wrong here somebody, but the Democrats stand to gain seven Senate seats – Colorado, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia, Oregon, North Carolina and Alaska – eight if Al Franken wins Minnesota.
3.17pm. McCain concedes defeat.
3.14pm. Close as close can be between Norm Coleman and Al Franken for Minnesota Senate.
3.10pm. Fox reports Roger Wicker holds Mississippi Senate seat for the Republicans, ending the chances of a Democrat supermajority.
2.59pm. CNN calls the election for Obama.
2.58pm. Obama takes the lead in Indiana.
2.54pm. McCain strengthening in North Carolina and Missouri.
2.51pm. Fox reports Virginia went 60-39 to McCain among white voters, but 92-8 among black voters.
2.42pm. McCain’s lead has vanished in Missouri: now 49.4-49.3.
2.41pm. Franken in fact leads Republican incumbent Norm Coleman 43-40.
2.40pm. Fox calls Virginia for Obama. Al Franken reportedly looking good for Minnesota Senate.
2.37pm. Obama leads in New Mexico 50.1-48.7 with less than half of dominant Bernalillo County reporting, where Obama is leading 57.3-41.5.
2.33pm. Crikey blog commenter Stuart: “Wilson and Franklin in North Carolina unreported. Wilson =44000 people total, 47% black. Franklin 2000 in total people 95% white. Looking good for O.”
2.32pm. McCain now narrowly ahead in North Carolina.
2.20pm. McCain leads by 12,839 in Indiana, but extrapolating unreported precincts from Lake County suggests Obama stands to gain over 22,000 votes.
2.18pm. Still tight in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, but Obama has a handy lead in each case with most precincts reporting. North Carolina his weakest of the three.
2.16pm. Missouri bouncing around the place, but McCain’s lead currently at 2.6 per cent.
2.12pm. McCain’s lead in Missouri reflating.
2.04pm. McCain’s lead in Missouri is narrowing.
2.01pm. Obama narrowly ahead in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia (in ascending order of narrowness).
1.59pm. Fox calls Iowa for Obama.
1.58pm. Obama takes the lead in Virginia.
1.50pm. Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight calls the election for Obama.
1.47pm. CNN calls New Mexico for Obama.
1.33pm. Gap continues to close in Virginia, Obama now only 0.5 per cent behind.
1.25pm. McCain fairly well ahead in Missouri, but nobody’s calling it yet.
1.21pm. Discussion of Indiana on Fox: “central city plus rich suburbs” emerging as the “Obama alliance”, but rural areas holding relatively well for McCain.
1.17pm. Fox calls Ohio for Obama.
1.09pm. Nate Silver: “MSNBC and Fox call Georgia for McCain.”
1.00pm. Fox calls North Dakota for McCain.
12.46pm. Nate Silver on Virginia: “Obama is outperforming Kerry by a 12-15 point net in the Eastern half of the Virginia. In the Western half, he’s not performing much better than Kerry and is actually underperfoming him in some counties. I think that equation works out favorably for Obama on balance, though Virginia will be fairly close.”
12.28pm. Heavily populated Florida counties Orange and Polk are swinging double digits to Obama, blowing away those weaker rural results I was mentioning earlier.
12.12pm. Possum says: “PA has gone Dem, VA has gone Dem – election over”. Adam Carr says: “It’s true that the FL panhandle hasn’t reported yet, but Obama is leading in Orlando and St Petersburg, which are GOP towns. You’d think he’ll win FL from here. Note also Obama’s 75% in Broward – the Jews stuck with Obama despite Lieberman’s defection.”
12.08pm. Discussing Virginia on CNN, confirming the impression that early reporting precincts are rural and we haven’t seen any black areas in the big cities come in. I’m only seeing slight swings to the Democrats in the rural areas.
11.53am. Swings I’m seeing in Florida are also below par: 4.0 per cent in Lake, 2.4 per cent in Manatee, 4.1 per cent in Pinellas. He needs 5.0 per cent.
11.45am. Another substantially reporting Virginia county, Augusta, swinging inadequately to Obama by 5.7 per cent. However, the cities and DC outskirts might tell a different story.
11.37am. Culpeper and Amherst counties in Viriginia swinging 5.1 and 1.8 per cent, against required swing of 8.3 per cent.
11.33am. Manatee County in Florida swinging 2.4 per cent to Democrat – statewide margin is 5.0 per cent.
11.26am. Double digit swings in more counties in Indiana (Clinton, Fayette), but Obama needs 20 per cent across the state.
11.21am. Chesterfield County in Virginia swings 8.9 per cent to Democrat with 94 per cent reporting – the statewide margin in 2004 was 8.2 per cent.
11.09am. Reasonably consistent swings in rural counties in Indiana of around 10 per cent – good, but well short of what Obama would need to win the state if consistent.
10.58am. Swing in Steuben County, Indiana with 68 per cent of precincts reporting is 8.9 per cent: well short of the 20 per cent needed to win the state.
10.52am. 69 per cent of precincts reporting in Vigo County, Indiana – Obama leads by 16 per cent. Bush carried it by 6.4 per cent in 2004 (I’ll be double-posting here on special occasions).
10am. Further efforts will be concentrated above.
4am AEDT. Rain and gusty winds in North Carolina, with rain extending into Virginia. Storms through the north-west, bringing snow to Nevada and Colorado. Weather otherwise very good: fine and warm in Florida and throughout the south, fine and mild through the north-east to the mid-west. You’ll next hear from me at around 9.30am AEDT.
| Obama | McCain | Sample | D-EV | R-EV | |
| Washington | 56.4 | 39.6 | 3322 | 11 | |
| Maine | 56.5 | 40.5 | 2185 | 4 | |
| Minnesota | 56.0 | 41.9 | 3270 | 10 | |
| Michigan | 56.3 | 42.3 | 3232 | 17 | |
| New Mexico | 57.0 | 43.2 | 3305 | 5 | |
| New Hampshire | 54.9 | 41.9 | 3900 | 4 | |
| Iowa | 54.1 | 41.6 | 3052 | 7 | |
| Wisconsin | 53.3 | 42.3 | 3003 | 10 | |
| Colorado | 54.8 | 44.7 | 3248 | 9 | |
| Pennsylvania | 53.0 | 43.3 | 5479 | 21 | |
| Nevada | 51.6 | 45.4 | 3168 | 5 | |
| Virginia | 51.9 | 45.8 | 3382 | 13 | |
| Ohio | 50.5 | 46.3 | 6490 | 20 | |
| Florida | 49.9 | 46.8 | 5381 | 27 | |
| North Dakota | 47.6 | 45.9 | 1706 | 3 | |
| Montana | 48.6 | 47.6 | 3934 | 3 | |
| Missouri | 49.8 | 48.8 | 3217 | 11 | |
| North Carolina | 50.0 | 49.3 | 5582 | 15 | |
| Indiana | 48.5 | 48.9 | 3834 | 11 | |
| Georgia | 47.8 | 50.1 | 3248 | 15 | |
| West Virginia | 43.9 | 54.3 | 3328 | 5 | |
| Others | - | - | - | 175 | 137 |
| RCP/Total | 51.9 | 44.4 | - | 370 | 168 |
1,508 Comments
Pages: « 1 … 23 24 [25] 26 27 … 31 » Show All
Humphrey B Bear is a better communicator than george bush
No 1195
With a competent speechwriter she can be fantastic, as she was at the convention. She could be good at impromptu if she cured her ignorance.
No 1189
Adam, even I accept Bush was an idiot. So yes, Obama is already an improvement. But is averagely competent a good enough standard for the 60 million people who voted for him?
Norm Coleman back in front in Minnesota.
No 1175
After Corpse’s corrupt government, that should be expected.
Yes juliem, I have mostly always lived in Labor seats or seats that have turned Labor too. Federally in Cowan, Eden-Monaro and now Canberra. State/territory level Kingsley, Monaro and Molonglo.
For a brief time though I lived in Curtin. Perhaps if I’d stayed living there the seat would’ve gone Labor!
The only way Palin will be around in 2012 as a realistic candidate is if she moves to the centre.
The ‘Liberal’ voters went 88-10 for BO; Conservatives went only 78-20 for McCain (so much for Palin firing up the base…) and Moderates went for BO 60-39…
http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=USP00p1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.html
The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace
“Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.”
“Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country’s current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.”
“The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.”
Bush will be out of the White House in Janurary…show some respect, he’s not an idiot, he deserves respect just as Obama does. The man won 2 terms as President, he made some good and decisions and some bad ones but all Presidents do.
Get over it!
Good, she could start by denouncing young earth creationism.
There’s the win right there.
Where in the U.S. constitution is there a “respect the president” clause?
No Glen, Bush is an idiot. I can’t think of a single useful thing he’s done.
It demeans you that you cannot or will not see anything Bush has done as positive.
ShowsOn while it isnt written, they do deserve respect.
He dramatically increased donations for anti-HIV medication in Africa.
But of course he then undermined this by sending “abstinence only” sex education evangelists there.
shows
the patriot act?
Help get Obama elected?
Unlike in a monarchy, in a democracy respect has to be earned. I have a great deal of respect for McCain, who has served his country well in war and peace. Bush was a shirker during Vietnam while McCain was being tortured, had his daddy pay for his earlier career, and cheated his way into the White House, where he proved to be totally incompetent.
Yes on Missouri was 310, 328, 2 of 3 @ 338, 1 @ 349, 350 & all guesses greater than 353.
READ POST 1212!
You are failing to differentiate between respecting the OFFICE of President, and respecting a particular PERSON who is president.
The idea that you must respect particular PEOPLE who only temporarily hold the office is anti democratic and iliberal. It is the sort of thing that Republican government was invented to get rid of (not being able to make fun of kings and queens).
@ 1201
Was that before or after Humphrey’s drug phase?
A line from Faulty Towers comes to mind. Cybil to the dodgy builder O’Reilly: “I have seen more intelligent creatures than you lying on their backs at the bottoms of ponds. I have seen better organized creatures than you running round farmyards with their heads cut off.”
Obama’s national vote now just half a million behind Bush’s tally of 4 years ago, with 6% of precincts still to report
Wow half competent – way to set that bar low GP…
I thought he was always on drugs, hence he always forgets to put pants on.
No 1211
Glen, I can respect his achievement of becoming the president, but there is really nothing of major note that he can put to his name. Fair enough, no president since the second world war had to deal with an attack on home soil which killed thousands. But his subsequent actions have left the government coffers in tatters and defied traditional conservative principles. The US economy is also a disaster.
No 1220
Figure of speech Grog.
McCain received around 54.5 million votes, which is still astonishing
His inability to stop a major terrorist attack on home soil must be considered one of his biggest blunders.
The very first responsibility of any government is to defend its citizens.
Gotta love this from a Repub supporter from Phoenix:
Gee, now what is wrong with your party?
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24607143-23109,00.html
I heard he was a funny othello
boom boom
Has anyone seen full national presidential voting figures with all the minor candidates as well?
Bush got rid of Saddam Hussien that’s not a bad effort.
Glen @ 1207,
Believe you me, I am SO SO SO over it
…….. no worries there at all, mate
ShowsOn, Bill Clinton also failed with respect to the 1993 bombings of the WTC.
But Since 9/11 no 9/11 style terrorist attacks on US soil have occured.
ltep, ShowsOn : go to the head of the class
…. You are smarter than Rove’s 5th graders 
…….
Did 3000 people die that day?
Glen is just upset that Howard sucked Bush’s butt and now they are going to name a sewage plant after him. Priceless!
Freudian slip?
more gems from Repub supporters in Phoenix:
Jeanette did admit she watched only Fox News, so expecting the truth was acking a bit much
Afterwards her husband admitted that he only really worked hard half the time, and the rest he spent shootin the breeze with his buddy Hank
No 1225
I don’t think that is fair.
Adam – I’m surprised that you think Palin could ever be in the running. Most women I have spoken to find her quite frighteningly ignorant. Her views are too fundamentalist.
The way she incited the crowd to yell ‘kill obama’ was appalling. She would do or say anything to get elected and that is not what we want. I think the Dems could have had a field day with her record but they chose to take the path of decency and go only after the policies. Palin would stop at nothing.
Nah, Adam, she looks terrific but she is a long way from what the majority of we womenfolk see as being Presidential material.
Thanks Julie for your terrific contribution – Perth is a beautiful city and we will look to you to help change it to Kev010 territory.
Dario,
You can move right on up there with ltep and ShowsOn
Good on ya, all 3 of you
I think it is a fundamental right in any democracy to challenge, dispute, mock or take the piss out of anything.
As soon as a government decides to curb any of those things, then they are trying to control one’s thoughts. Any government that does that is by definition despotic and corrupt.
No 1235
Nothing untoward about that comment.
Well i’ve been working th bush telegrapgh to no avail re how many of these MO provisions there ar and if (unlikely) already counted , so am now erelying on my sparring friend up in tree for th info
Now first , heard McCain speak , and for those that were naughty about him over th past month to which i defended McCain strongly as a decent & fair standards guy and not a Bush and not a Bush 111 but a least Republicon of Republicons you’d find elegible at time …perhaps listen to Mccains concession bit & reconsider your views , looking from my side of th isles : a maverick on policys , and a negotiator over Party lines is a plus in a pollie (but his republicon thoughts naturally I disagree with) but better in even some of his views than often presented here …terrible campaign though
Tink Palin could be 2012 candidate , knows how to campaign very well & get messages accross to peoples which i was assailed about when i suggested that …but as I saids many times she beat th incumbant Republicon Governor in th Republicon ‘primary’ for th right to contest th Governorship and then beat th immediate past Democrat Govenor to win th Governorship …so tink that shows she has th campaign & politcal goods there
but on policy hell to be credible at all with voters has to convert from CC skeptic to CC love in , learn FA and its nuances by travel & tutoring and somehow dustbin alot of those very consevative social idealologies otherwise no chance of winning Independents and so Obama would win easily Other queston is “politcaly is she ‘damaged’ in voters perseptions now Then Pawlenty is an option but beating an incumbant needs alot of luck including th incumant somewhat imploding
Noted for future reference.
Stevens is up by 4,000 with 96% reporting. That has to be the most ridiculous win I can ever remember in any election.
BH, what part of the greater metro Perth area are you in?
No 1237
She got dirty because she couldn’t engage in a proper policy debate. The Republicans understood that after her embarrassing Katie Couric interview. Going dirty is what you do when you can’t win policy arguments. Having said that, if she improved her ways, became a little educated in the ways of the world outside of Wasilla, she could very well be a formidable opponent in 2012.
It’s a bit extreme blaming Bush for terrorist attacks.
Blaming Bush for the killing of tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians is another matter.
So after 30 years he’s only just found out about taxation? Obama hasn’t even taken office, and he’s getting the blame for all the tax this guy paid over the last 30 years?
And btw the tax bracket they’re talking about is $250k+. Hardly struggling…
No 1242
ShowsOn, where is your evidence that Bush failed to prevent the attack? I mean come on…criticise all you want for everything he did after 9/11, but I don’t think it is fair or appropriate to blame him for the attack after being in office for less than 9 months.
What was Clinton doing all those years prior to stop the heinous mass murder?
No such thing happened. This was a media exaggeration which has now turned into permanent mythology. ONE person yelled “kill him” and he was referring to Bill Ayres, not Obama.
“Going dirty is what you do when you can’t win policy arguments”
straight out of the fibs fed election hanbook eh GP?
Pages: « 1 … 23 24 [25] 26 27 … 31 » Show All