Just let me say:
OBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Electoral Totals:
Obama- 364
McCain- 163
Popular Vote Totals:
Obama- 65,378,128 (53%)
McCain- 57,381,014 (46%)
Exciting night it t'was.
Leave it to Hobo's home state to give us the closest Senate race though...CNN currently has that race at 1,211,556 votes for the Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman and 1,211,335 votes for Al Franken- a margin of 221 votes- however, that margin was more like 700+ votes in favor of Coleman on Wednesday morning, so his lead certainly seems to be shrinking...Anyways, they're obviously going to conduct a recount and it all may ultimately come down to the Senate somehow, but if it ever reaches that far- or perhaps
when it reaches that far- it's anybodies guess as to how they would go about deciding a winner.
In the Georgia Senate race, a state law prohibited the incumbent Republican, Saxby Chambliss from winning. He needed to win a majority of the vote and he received 50% of it to the Democrat James Martin's 47%, and an independent candidate received 3%. Under Georgia state law, that race now heads for a run-off election scheduled for December 2 pitting the top two vote-getters against each other, obviously Chambliss and Martin, so that one of them can win a majority.
Oh, Alaska... Incumbent Republican, convicted felon, and internet tubes advocate, Ted Stevens currently has about a 3,000 vote lead over Anchorage mayor Mark Begich, but they still have literally tens of thousands of absentee ballots to count. Even if Stevens' lead does hold up though, it will have been done in an extremely fishy manner. In other words, the results seem to be as corrupt as the man himself. Literally every single poll taken in the couple weeks leading up to the election had Begich leading by anywhere from 7 to 22 points. This led some analysts to come to the conclusion that perhaps there's a Bradley effect for convicted felons- that on the phone, Alaskans were ashamed to admit that they were voting for a convicted felon, but that once they were in the polling booth they couldn't resist voting for a man who had done so much for Alaska. That explanation however, still doesn't make any sense seeing as how overall voter turnout dropped statewide by 14% from the 2004 Presidential Election. A hotly contested Senate and Representative race, Sarah Palin
on the ballot, and just general excitement surrounding this years election, and turnout goes down 14%?! Also, prior to the election, polls showed McCain ahead of Obama in the state by about 15 points. The finally tally has him winning it by 26 points.
Now, there's obviously a chance that pollsters just completely dropped the ball on this one, but I think anyone with half a brain would have to admit that something not quite right happened with the results. Republicans must've overperformed for some reason. Alaska does have a history of corruption (and I'm not even making a pun about Stevens on that one), so certainly anything is possible. The Begich campaign did receive some reports of voting irregularities, so I'm sure everything will be looked into, but let's just hope that the person who
actually received the most votes winds up winning.
Elsewhere in Senate races, Democrats beat incumbent Republicans in New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Oregon and Dems also picked up seats in Virginia, Colorado, and New Mexico where Republican incumbents were retiring. This brings the new Senate totals to 55 Dems (plus the two independents who caucus with the Dems, so 57) to 40 Reps and obviously those three Senate races previously mentioned that are still too close to call. So Democrats still have an outside shot at having a filibuster-proof, 60-seat majority. An outside shot, but a shot nonetheless.
In the House, Democrats picked up at least another 19 seats with 6 races still too close to call. And right here in my home Congressional District, the Democrat won by a 52-48 margin! It'll be the first time in over 50 years that this district is represented by a Democrat in Congress...Long overdue, to say the least.
Current House Totals:
Democrats- 255
Republicans- 174
6 Races Still Undecided
Anyways, hope you enjoyed my little election wrap-up!
