Election Night Open Thread
Good evening everyone. The polls will close in about a half hour, and we’re going to do our best to moderate the blog in real time to keep the conversation going this evening. The paper today billed this as a live chat, but never fear. It’s just an old-fashioned blog chat without the bells and whistles. We hope you’ll stick with us until we know who won the presidency, or at least until we send the editorial page to the presses and pass out from exhaustion.
November 6, 2012 - 6:28 PM
Jeff Ryer, a Republican expert in strateegery, has sent out his annual election night analysis in which he underscores all of the warnings that this will be a late, late night. He notes that the national news media’s election consortium isn’t even doing full exit polling in 19 states plus Washington, D.C. Sure, that’s because those states are predictable, but it all adds up to a slow night for getting results. Hope you guys had some caffeine today.
I did, but I am pretty sure I do not need any. THIS is my “superbowl”! I have called, texted and emailed “did you vote yet?” all day too. I did my part and then some. (My son and daughter texted me when they were done- such thoughtful children!) I truly do not understand not voting. Don’t get it at all.
Screen hopping, channel flipping and map noting…CHECK
Virginia is the first state actively contested by both the Obama and Romney campaigns to close its polls and start announcing results, so we should get a great deal of national attention early on this evening.
Has anyone noticed any issues with the new voter identification requirements? There were none this morning when I voted. There was a line but nothing like what we’re seeing in other precincts today.
Here’s a spreadsheet of the 2008 election results in Virginia by city and county for comparisons as we watch the 2012 tallies roll in.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au3CQseimh99dFBRYkdpcV9jdUsxQi1SZmFhVFNFeXc#gid=0
Thanks Christina!
You’re welcome! Interestingly, I received my first mailers from Virgil Goode yesterday. Four of them! I realize he has run for the General Assembly, Congress and now president, while I have run for nothing, but that doesn’t seem like a very effective mail strategy. Some of them are clearly targeted for this part of the state.
I will be tweeting at @ctrejbal. If you have questions or comments, shoot them my way, and be sure to use #swvavotes
Ugh. The State Board of Elections won’t start reporting results until 8 p.m.
Ohio exit polls are looking promising for Obama, but close.
The Associated Press has called Robert Hurt as the winner in Virginia’s 5th District and Morgan Griffith in the 9th.
And Bob Goodlatte in the 6th has also been declared the winner.
And we continue to reward the obstructionists in Congress.
Since all Virginia incumbent members of Congress got to help draw their own districts, it’s hardly a surprise when they win.
Here’s a link to the state election board http://electionresults.virginia.gov/
Interesting that Eric Cantor’s race is fairly close.
Joe “You Lie” Wilson of South Carolina also was re-elected. I guess he drew his district, too.
As if there was ever any doubt, the bias of the RTEB is really showing tonight.
We’re the opinion section of the newspaper, Michael. We have some.
Apparently, there were a number of people still waiting to vote, which prompted the state to delay results so as not to discourage or influence those in line.
And your attendance is forced?
Chesterfield County is running 52-46 for Romney with 64 of 74 precincts in. That’s about the same as 2008. It’s a bellwether locality in Virginia. It tends to be Republican, but the GOP needs a solid win there.
Romney is doing very well in far Southwest counties. It’s likely that coal continues to drive the election results in that region.
Virgil Goode has 303 votes in Franklin County so far. Romney has 6993 to Obama’s 3669 votes so the Constitution Party candidate isn’t having much of an impact on his home turf.
Fairfax County, as usual, is off to a sluggish start. Only 12 of 244 precincts reporting.
Eric Cantor wins. How long before he bumps Boehner to be Speaker?
Romney is winning Roanoke County 61-37 with 31 of 34 precincts in. That’s slightly more Republican than the 2008 results, when it was 60-39.
Could be a photo finish in Montgomery County. With 19 of 24 precincts in, it’s 15,274 Obama and 15,158 Romney.
Elizabeth Warren….YES!!! Mourdock goes down….YES!!!
Claire McCaskill too! Did they just declare for Kaine?
The Allen-Kaine race is really close still.
It’s Allen 1,394,421 to Kaine 1,418,588.
What is up in Frederick County?
Norfolk too. Not a single precinct reporting for the entire city.
Here’s a really interesting one. Prince William is a key indicator county. With 45 of 88 precincts in, Romney has 32,071 votes to Obama’s 32,035.
Not sure, other than I heard one local TV report say there are places still voting in Va. due to the long lines
Tammy Duckworth! Great women are on a roll!
The close numbers in Prince William are good for Romney, but Obama is doing well in Loudoun County, at 51.5 percent to 47 percent. That’s with 81 of 85 precincts reporting.
Looks like Todd Akin lost.
Some media are calling the Virginia Senate race for Kaine, but AP hasn’t yet weighed in. There are several heavily Democratic localities still pending.
NPR just reported that Allen has conceded in Virginia.
Senator Kaine! I like it!
Romney is ahead of Obama in Virginia by a little over 8,000 votes. Virgil Goode, by the way, has more than 12,000 votes in the commonwealth.
Larry Sabato just predicted that Virginia will go for Obama based on the outstanding precincts.
Finally sanity begins to take over in VA by defeating Allen again!
AP calls Iowa for Obama.
Fox calls Ohio for Obama.
NPR also called Ohio for Obama bringing electoral votes to 265.
Obama is now ahead in Va.
Congratulations Mr. President!
Not for nothing, but 30% of Goodlatte’s district thought Dr. Schmookler could handle the job!
Congrats to Obama…Sandi, be gracious to some of our counterparts tomorrow…LOL!
Romney camp does not agree with Ohio call.
Congratulations Obama supporters. Enjoy your victory.
53 – Will be interesting to see the final vote tally. While it’s highly likely the correct call was made…this was a razor thin margin.
I said at the beginning that Virginia would get a lot of attention early on in the evening. Ha! We’re still an enigma at 11:53 p.m.
Curious that the same rationale is not being used to have called Virginia. Obama’s margin is greater now than in Ohio, with the outstanding precincts expecting to break his way.
Congratulations to the Obama supporters.
God bless America.
CBS is claiming some exit polling info that will assure their call. Either way how does Romney win?
CBS just called VA for Obama!
#54 It’s not just Obama supporters who should celebrate, but this whole country. Maybe this should be a wake-up call for the die-hard rightists to finally learn that their divide-and-conquer strategy has just backfired big time.
#58 Indeed, G-d certainly HAS blessed America by giving enough of its electorate the good sense to send the right man back to the White House.
This was not a partisan victory. Let’s get this country working again.
61 – Celebrate? Another four years, like the last four??? No thanks.
I’ll leave the celebrating to those of you who voted for it, and I’ll take great pride in the knowledge that I didn’t. And when the economy remains stagnant or declines further…unemployment stays high…and our nation’s world influence continues to decline…it’s not my fault.
Thank you for the congratulations and I agree in praying that God continues to Bless America!
#64 “Celebrate? Another four years, like the last four???” Well, given that the man who got sent to the White House set this country back in the right direction, heck yeah. Oh, and like I said on another thread, ending your sentences with multiple punctuation marks won’t bolster your credibility any.
“our nation’s world influence continues to decline” Well, given that our previous president insisted on waging a completely unnecessary war in Iraq and horribly bungled the one war that was worth fighting (Afghanistan), I think it’s pretty clear which political party caused said “decline”, and it sure wasn’t the Democrats.
“it’s not my fault.” And once again, you refuse to accept any responsibility for your guys’ failed policies. You Republicans really should try a little self-awareness.
66 – That’s how I write. Sorry if it offends you………Steve
BTW I write scripts and advertising copy for a living. The “…” is an occupational habit.
#68, I truly find that hard to believe. Anyway, does your post #64 mean that had Romney won and “the economy remains stagnant or declines further…unemployment stays high…and our nation’s world influence continues to decline” it would have been your fault? Do you believe we need to claim/own the economy going forward as if the TP/R Party is just going to lay down or withdraw? You know better.
As the man said, we are in recovery mode and for a recovery to be happening, there has to have been some disaster. Pretending that disaster was President Obama was faux to begin with. It is even moreso now.
“This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly”
http://www.amazon.com/This-Time-Different-Centuries-Financial/dp/0691152640
From my perspective as an avid reader, scripts and advertising copy seldom end sentences with ??? or !!! I believe that was the “multiple punctuation marks” Steven was referring to.
If you do not respect other posters, why do you keep on addressing them and deliberately baiting them, The Other Rick? You KNOW his name is Steven.
69 – Yes, if Romney had won and I voted for him, and he failed to get the job done…I would consider myself partially responsible for it and I would own up to that responsibility. Guess that’s just the conservative in me – you know, that ole “personal responsibility” thing.
What exactly do you truly find so “hard to believe”? You think I’m lying about my profession of nearly 30 years?
70 – AUDIO copy and scripts, Sandi. For voiceovers, commercials, etc. Unless you’re in the industry, you likely would not have been an avid reader of the kind of writing I do.
The multiple periods are to denote pauses. The multiple question marks are to denote emphasis. Like I said, it’s an occupational habit.
Since Steven felt the need to complain and belittle me not once, but twice, about my multiple punctuation marks…I decided to give him something else to complain about.
Enough of this silliness though. I’m done with it.
#67 I notice you had nothing whatsoever to say in response to the main points I raised and instead prefer to focus on the insignificant aside about punctuation. I’ll take that to mean you decided to concede said main points. Smart move on your part….Other Rick.
#70 “From my perspective as an avid reader, scripts and advertising copy seldom end sentences with ??? or !!! I believe that was the “multiple punctuation marks” Steven was referring to.”
Indeed it was. Good call Sandy.
73 – OK here you go Steven:
“Well, given that the man who got sent to the White House set this country back in the right direction, heck yeah.”
Depends on your definition of “right direction”. 15 million more people on food stamps than when he took office, record debt and deficits, massive unemployment, uncertainty and lack of confidence about the future, high energy and food prices, Solyndra, Fast & Furious, Benghazi…heck yeah, that’s the right direction alright. Way to go!
“Well, given that our previous president insisted on waging a completely unnecessary war in Iraq and horribly bungled the one war that was worth fighting (Afghanistan), I think it’s pretty clear which political party caused said “decline”, and it sure wasn’t the Democrats.”
Bush deserves blame for that, I agree…so do all the Dems who voted to authorize it all. And 9/11/01 likely would not have happened had Clinton taken advantage of one of several opportunities to take OBL out in the ’90s.
The Middle East is erupting, radical Islam is taking over…and American exceptionalism and influence are in decline. And Obama’s policy of “leading from behind” is allowing a lot of it to happen.
““it’s not my fault.” And once again, you refuse to accept any responsibility for your guys’ failed policies. You Republicans really should try a little self-awareness.”
I voted for GWB, so while I did not necessarily agree with everything he did, I do accept responsibility for helping him win the presidency.
But I did not vote for Obama in 2008 or yesterday. So I will not bear any responsibility for any of his failures. Benghazi being a big one.
74 – by the way…isn’t her name spelled “Sandi”???
You continue to blame Obama for the economic crash that set this nation, indeed the world on its ear and expect anyone to take you seriously.
If you mean “that ole “personal responsibility” thing” you have all railed against in the health care reform mandate, then no, I do not “know” that is your stance at all.
Since you undoubtedly voted for or supported some of the members of Congress who also failed us even more miserably than you claim the President has, do you consider yourself “partially responsible for it” and when will you “own up to that responsibility”?
Sorry, I am no buying this line at all. Of course that could just be because President Obama has not failed and I did not vote for or support most of the idiots in Congress who have.
I do indeed find it hard to believe that “AUDIO copy and scripts” need to be written as you do here (do you work with verbal monkeys?), and be that as it may, when it is pointed out as being annoying and distracting in the conversation here, it would have behooved you to explain the odd style when it first was mentioned, rather than take offense.
The written word is all we have to communicate with in this type of forum and it works best when it is standard, or if not, qualified with an explanation for why it is not. The internet is a cruel place for bad typists, spellers, odd verbiage and punctuation. Believe me, I know.
Could we, as fellow human beings, Americans and the people who will bear a substantial amount of the burdens of the situations, at least man up and admit that the economic crash we suffered as a nation was the cause for so many millions more people on food stamps, much of the debt and deficits added to the already record debt and deficits, the massive unemployment, uncertainty and lack of confidence about the future, high energy and food prices? Could you see your responsible self clear to admit that truth? Forget that “Solyndra, Fast & Furious, Benghazi” and other blunders are not an historic oddity and the perils of governance. Can you do that much?
If you can fantasize that 9/11 was on Clinton, and Obama alone has caused the world’s decline, can you admit that 8 long hard years of Bush should have at least tried to stem the tsunami heading for us?
Then do not brag of how well you take responsibility.
78 – I’m sorry if my writing style does not suit you, or fit your standards as to how it should be written.
On second thought, I really don’t care what you think of my writing style.
Feel free to ignore my posts from now on. That’s certainly what I will be doing with yours.
78 – “I do indeed find it hard to believe that “AUDIO copy and scripts” need to be written as you do here (do you work with verbal monkeys?), and be that as it may, when it is pointed out as being annoying and distracting in the conversation here, it would have behooved you to explain the odd style when it first was mentioned, rather than take offense.”
Um, I think that’s what I did at #67 and #68?
“Verbal monkeys”…real nice term there. I’ll be sure to relay that to the many voiceover professionals I write for.