04 November 2008

Election Night Fever

23.20 - Right, it's twenty past 11, I'm esconced on the sofa in dressing gown and duvet, and the BBC coverage is just starting. Come on Jeremy Vine, wow me with your graphics... I'm going to set my alarm for 3am in case I drop off, and then if it's all over sooner or it's looking like a landslide I'll just go to sleep.

23.30 - First polls are due to close in half an hour, so exciting! There are a couple of key ones as well - Indiana and Virginia. Not feeling too tired yet.

00.15 - First couple of poll predictions are in, one state to McCain and one to Obama, 8:3 on the electoral college votes. No surprises so far though. Starting to get a bit tired, not sure how likely 3am is looking... Need some more states to come in to keep me awake!

00.55 - God this is taking forever! Only one more state called, also for McCain but predicted to be so anyway. I thought it was quite amusing the David Dimbleby talked about North Hampshire, bless. He should really have learnt the names of the states before the show. Quite a few states haven't been called yet despite them being usual Republican strongholds. That seems to indicate the race is closer there than expected, so this might take a while. Maybe I should go to sleep for a bit if that's the case?

01.00 - Oo, bit of excitement, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire have been called for Obama. These were quite key for McCain to capture if he was going to sneak in and win. And Illinois and DC and Massachusetts and Delaware too now! That gives Obama 67 votes, McCain 16. And a few more, can't type this fast enough to keep up. It seems to have settled on 84:27 for the moment. It's a shame they are only network projections though, don't want to get too excited based on that, but the pundit guys are saying that's a few good ticks in the Obama column that he needed if he's going to win.

01.40 - Hmm, lots of states still haven't been called despite having closed a while ago. I think I may as well stay up until after 2 now, when lots more close in a block, and then see how the land lies. I might have to have a sleep after that and maybe wake up at... 5.30? They should have some definite results coming in by then.

02.00 - Two key phrases uttered on the BBC - death blow to the McCain campaign, and turning point of the evening, as Ohio is called for Obama by Fox. It's only one network, so the BBC is remaining aloof, but if he does win Ohio that would take him up to about 200 votes now, with California's 55 likely-Democratic votes to come, and loads of other states still in play. Might turn the computer off for a while now so I can doze in front of the mute TV for a while. I'll try to wake up at 5.30 to see if any of these results have been confirmed.

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