Democracy*: It's what's for dinner.

[lagilman]

Polls closing. Parties gathering. Anticipation mounting.

I'm half-tempted to go to bed and wake up tomorrow to whatever New World Order we've got...


(that idea was hooted down. SO I guess I'll be playing drinking games with the rest of ya.)

EtA: who is drinking what? I thought I'd had enough scotch at WFC, but the bottle of Aberlour was spirited up by the peat-fairies. And so there we are.

and courtesy of cmpriest:

*okay, a representative democracy. If we can get those participation numbers up, then maybe we can call ourselves a realistic democracy with a straight face...)

Comments

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

I was going to go to bed, as well, but I got hooked on the NYTimes interactive maps, so I guess I'm stuck for at least another hour

[chibiaingeal.livejournal.com]

Actually I will just go to bed and just see what happened when I wake up tomorrow...

[aringler.livejournal.com]

Love the widget. I can't play drinking games as I'm observing a Flash class tonight. I am hoping to leave a TV on in the hall so I can sneak out and watch some the projections. Someone have a drink for me. Some good sipping Tequila might go quite nicely!

[rwglaub.livejournal.com]

I just got back from a *very* long stretch as a pollwatcher. After work was brutal. I am exhausted, but it is a good exhausted...

[arouraleona.livejournal.com]

Dude, pollwatchers are SOOO important. Thank you SO much for your service there. I'm working at the WA Seattle office, and some of our poll watchers were harassed and all sorts of things. Still, to all poll watchers out there: WE LOVE YOU!

[lagilman]

I've heard there are already gathered reports of intimidation -- but none of them are coming from observers or cops... Innneresting, as Artie might say.

[rwglaub.livejournal.com]

Not here in Maryland. And the only report I've heard is that bogus report up in Philly, where Fox was saying that there were two supposed Black Panthers trying to intimidate white voters. It's bogus, but Fox jumped right on it. One of the guys lived in the building, and the other was his buddy. The cops showed up and left, saying there was not problem.

With all the history of voter intimidation by the GOP they really have no cause to cry foul on that account...

[arouraleona.livejournal.com]

I'm doing beer, since I'm due at the official party tonight. Muy excitación. WHOO! Have fun people who sleep, dream good thoughts!

[bigferret.livejournal.com]

I'm almost half way through a 2 liter of Diet Coke.

[peggin.livejournal.com]

The current count for Obama is 200. The west coast and Hawaii will all go Obama, and that's another 77 EV. That brings us to 277. That's it. Game over. My brain is telling me I should be able to relax now... my stomach, on the other hand, refuses to listen until the polls in those states actually close. :/

[lagilman]

Depends on who you're listening to... CNN is more conservative (hah) than some others, so it ain't Ovah Yet.

Sorry.

And yeah, I'm being very dubious about calling a state with less than 50% reporting, even if it looks like a blowout.

[neko-san.livejournal.com]

drinking: honey-raspberry wine

I was going to ignore the results 'till morning, but I'm too curious. I'm really worried about Prop. 8 (I'm in California); I never thought Prop. 22 would pass those years ago, but it did. Vast anxiety.

I'm going to try to walk away from the computer, and listen to a podcast (Lime&Violet) and knit, to distract and amuse myself.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

What percentage of voters participated out of the eligible voting population? And, what percentage of registered voters actually participated? My DH was asking and I don't find that info in the Globe.

[lagilman]

The percentages aren't in yet, but despite appearances it looks as though participation was actually down -- which is probably strictly due to Republicans not being able to hold their noses in either direction, and staying home.

But I'm not sure how they're figuring all the early voting....

[lagilman]

here's a pretty decent breakdown: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/11/05/1646644.aspx

*** Highest turnout rate since '08 -- 1908: Provided the number stands, the turnout rate for yesterday's election was the highest in 100 years, according to the estimate from turnout guru Dr. Michael McDonald at George Mason University. Almost 137 million (136,631,825) went to the polls -- 64.1% of the voting-eligible population. 1960 saw 63.7% of the populace go out to vote; In 1908, 65.7% voted. It was, of course, the most people ever to go to the polls topping 2004's 122 million. That's 12% increase from 2004. For those wondering why the current total vote in the presidential adds up to approximately 117 million, note that it's going to climb. There is still a ton of vote missing on the West coast.

That site also talks about Obama's "4-legged chair" -- in addition to the 'stool' of blacks, Hispanics and the 18-29 year old bracket, he also picked up a larger percentage of college-educated whites than Kerry claimed in 2004.

Based on some of the comments I've seen posted in that forum and others, he didn't get the frightened, mean-spirited, and plain-out bigoted vote. Nice to know they're not the majority...