Erstellt am: 6. 11. 2012 - 21:08 Uhr

Election Blog 2012

Presidents, Puerto Rico and the U.S.'s first lesbian Senator. The more things stay the same, the more they change.

Well, it's been an interesting (and rather long) night. I've spent 9 hours listening to people from all across the planet tell me that this was a "very close election". Hours before the votes could have been counted I got to see these same talking heads declare that "it was too early to tell", just before they told me the results of some exit poll. I watched the initial lead that President Obama seemed to enjoy dwindle, watch numbers waver and go down, and stuck around long enough to enjoy the almost perfectly scripted Hollywood end.

Anyone familiar with the statistics of sitting presidents, especially those who were commanding a war machine already had a good idea how this was going to end. But, like any good kids film, we all went along for the ride anyway.

In that sense, I ask you to awaken your inner child, set aside that disbelief and take a step back in time. Remember, it was a very close race...

21:08

The polls have been open for a couple of hours now, and I'm finally getting a chance to settle into my make believe command center here in the hills of Cowtown. It's going to be a very long night for anyone who is looking to sit it out until the end, but the first highlights should start coming in at 1:00 this morning. That's when the polls in Virginia will close, a state that is being reported as a key state for Romney's campaign.

Apparently, an Obama win there could mean the show will be over a lot sooner than people are currently planning on.

The Ohio polls will close 30 minutes later, and it's the Ohio results that are probably going to have the most people on the edge of their seats.

Looking for a way to keep yourself entertained while waiting for results? Well, you could listen to endless analysis of polls, or you could skip straight to the chase and check out a rundown of the current crop of Astrologers predictions.

No, really, seriously.

darkstarastrology.com

It would seem Astrologists aren't in complete agreement on this years outcome. About twice as many star readers are predicting an Obama win as those who can see a President Romney.

I'm going to go try to find out what the psychics are saying...

22:25

Um, yeah, no. That was a mistake. I don't know what is worse. That there are people who believe in psychics, or that there are reporters who actually cover it. That idea about finding out about the psychics was supposed to be a joke. But there are a LOT of people who have done reports on it. Most of them are like the one from The Gazzette, but a few led me to some truly amazing places.

Presidential palm reading any one?

The challenger has been read as well.

The psychics almost make non-scientific polls like this collaboration between a convenience chain and The Onion look downright respectable. They let anyone buying coffee take part in the poll by choosing their coffee cup based on their presidential preference. Like the psychics, it was a completely unscientific method. Unlike the psychics, it has actually predicted the outcome of the last three national elections.

Speaking of psychics, have you met Bob?

22:59

Bob had it easy, unlike a good portion of people on the east coast. Getting out to do their civic duty is turning into a quest of nearly epic proportion for people living in areas hit by Hurricane Sandy. The New York Daily news has an article up exploring the issue.

23:21

Big Bird? Yes, well, a big bird.

Ralph Barrera

Instagram seems to be going nuts with loads of people pictifying their voting experience. Actually, all of the social media outlets are filling up:

@Liberationtech Extraordinary | RT @gov: 7M #Election2012-related Tweets since 1st polls opened, coming in at more than 11K per minute right now.

Unfortunately, some people aren't satisfied with taking pictures of their surroundings. Many are posting images of their completed ballots. Something that could be a bit of a problem...

00:03

Nothing like live video shots from the polling places. A bunch of people standing around, waiting in line..

00:12

Just heard a Democratic party operative say that Romney "dissed" 47% of the U.S: public. Strange to see someone in a suit use that term.

Speaking of Romney dissing:

00:47

Steve Crilley and Paul Brennan get to hang with the makers in DC. Yussi Pick, Stefan Bachleitner und Josef Barth get to sweat under hot studio lights with Rosa Lyon as they disect webstuff for TV and I am holed up in a back room in the wilds of Lower Austria. I must not think bad thoughts...

00:58

If I had been playing a drinking game with the election coverage, and had to take a drink every time someone said or wrote "a close election" I would have been blacked out a couple of hours ago.

1:05

5 minutes ago TV anchors across the world went on air and immediately declared that Virginia is too close to call, it's too early to tell, and Romney has to win there to have a chance. Same thing you could have read online a few weeks ago.

01:15

One of my favorite watchdog journalists is working as an expert on the Al Jazeera's election special. Glenn Greenwald is one of the few people out there who has consistently applied a very critical eye to politics and the media in the U.S. He has actually managed to drop some fairly substantive questions to typical talking head politicians. They didn't answer them, but at least someone finally asked...

01:32

Just getting results from Paul Brennan in D.C. Looks like the first projections are claiming 51% for Obama, those numbers could of course change as actual votes are counted. That's the lovely thing about projections and exit polls. They let you maintain suspense and develop a good dramatic curve while dealing with a mass of unknowns. Just what you need to keep people hanging on your every word.

Of course, not everyone's votes will even be counted tonight. New Jersey voters who decided to vote by email have been facing downed servers, and the deadline has been extended until Friday.

02:00

A few people on twitter have been wondering about the term "battleground states". I have to admit, it sounded strange to me as well. It seemed like just last week that these places were called swing states. States that could still go either way, as opposed to states that were pretty well decided for one party or the other.

The more often I hear it the less I like it. I can understand why election campaigns in the U.S. would like it. It helps keep their candidate looking like a martial figure. A man bravely facing down his enemies on the field of battle. A hand fit to lead, to take on the title of Commander in Chief of the wealthiest collection of armed forces on the planet.

Personally, I think it sucks.

And I find it even worse that impartial observers, journalists from foreign countries, should take up that use of language. It's not quite as bad as calling torture "enhanced interrogation" but it's up there. Do we really need to encourage the cult of mars that exists in U.S. culture?

I'm going to stick with swing states. Because it sounds like more fun, and I like to imagine they are having the types of parties people in Ohio probably wouldn't admit to going to.

02:35

Well, the projections are coming in like music journalists at a free bar. Considering how close everyone keeps claiming this election is supposed to be, they are probably about as reliable.

I do have some updates on other aspects of the election though. Buzzfeed has some excellent photos of the situation at voting stations in Staten Island. They are still dealing with the aftermath of Sandy, and the polls are also drop points for donations.

Seth Wenig/ AP

02:53

Best tweet of the hour:
┈┈╭╱╮╮╭╮╮┈┈┈Mark┈┈
┈╭╯╯╯╰╲╰╮╲╮┈Twain┈┈
┈╱╯▃▃┊▃▃╰╮╯┈┈┈┈┈
┈╰▕┊┻▏┻┊╰╮╯#Calling┈┈
┈┈╰╭╭▔╮╮╯╱┈Connecticut
┈┈┈╭╯▔╰╮▏╯┈┈┈4┈┈┈
┈┈┈▕╲▂╱▕┈┈┈┈Obama┈

Yes, the dead are coming back for this election. It's that legendary.

02:58

Just watched an interactive chart of the current calls that all of the major networks are making go from mixed blue and red, with a majority putting Obama ahead in the number of electoral college votes, to unanimously red.

David Dempsey

It should be interesting to watch it change as the hours progress. If you're up and curious check it out at the NYTimes.

I should probably mention that those numbers don't match with what's being reported by other broadcast media right now. It's interesting to watch the spread of information, but really difficult to get a grip on what is actually current and what is or might be lagging. In other words, it's too early to tell, probably too close to call, and so on and so forth.
Prost!

03:48

Better late than never. I'm just stumbling across the news that America's favorite socialist has been re-elected. No, I've not gone Fox and decided to mislabel President Obama, I'm talking about Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. He has been in office since 1991, and it looks like he is going to be there for a little while longer.

There isn't a lot of coverage yet, and to be honest, I don't expect to see very much. He will probably remain a curiousity, or maybe a footnote. Whatever.

04:10

Interesting bit of information. The only part of the U.S. that declares election days official holidays is one of those places that have no right to vote for the President. Yes, you read that right, there are many americans who can't legally take part in the presidential election. And yes, in the States you have to find a way to vote that will not come in to conflict with your place of work. One of the reason people seem to get worried about standing in line for too long, is because they can only take a limited amount of time off in order to vote.

That probably won't change soon for the U.S., but Puerto Ricans might have a chance to change their situation. Although they won't be voting for a President today, they will be voting for a governor, and wether or not they should remain a U.S. colony.. Their alternatives? Statehood, independence, or sovereign free association. I wonder if they will have to work on election days if they decide on statehood.

It looks like they might be getting a change after all...

04:29

Twitter seems to think Obama is ahead, ORF is claiming Romney, as is Google. They have a really cool election map. Right now California is still completely open which means some huge numbers could come in, and it looks like Florida is going to be interesting again.

Speaking of Florida, Gary Johnson might be Romney's Nader. I still can't believe I have heard a third party's candidate named in the media...
I guess they really do exist.

And my home state went to the Democrats. Something they have done every time since 1972, and all but once since 1960.

That reminds me. Interesting useless twitter fact of the hour

twitter @Johl

04:40

Today is not just about the President. Gay marriage is on the ballot; as are other political postions. And that has given us another first.

Tammy Baldwin Becomes First Lesbian Senator In Historic Election

04:56

Well, my connection is beginning to fall apart. The CMS is crashing my browser, I can no longer get anything from any video feeds, YouTube doesn't want to work and standard sites are just refusing to load. The only thing that's still giving me any contact to the rest of the world is the FM4 feed.

Figures. Waiting for news from Florida (again) and now I'm cut off. I wonder if it has anything to do with clicking on a DrudgeReport link? Karma?

05:24

fox

I thought it only fair to let them tell it...