Political Games - Where the fuck’s the reset button?

My internet adaptor for my laptop is broken, so I’m out of touch except while at work, where my time is, obviously, limited. So, sorry; be back ASAP.

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Right now I’m watching Hillary Clinton make her way to the stage, to suspend her campaign and endorse the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama. Her campaign has lasted 502 days, and in the end she came just short.

I won’t lie: I’m fucking psyched. I wanted someone other than Hillary to be the nominee. Well, not Joe Biden, but you get the idea. Still, I feel for her. She really, really wanted this, and she worked really hard to win. As a Democrat, I think we can relate to this. Hell, we’ve come SO CLOSE to winning the presidency the last two elections; remember how heartbroken we were? And we were just supporters. I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t choke up a little during the speech. Her reputation as an emotionless robot was always a sexist lie.

She’s speaking now. I won’t liveblog it. Maybe some thoughts when she’s done speaking.

EDIT: Best Hillary speech ever. Perfect tone. Sounds like she told her advisers to take a hike. If I never have to see Lanny Davis or Terry McCaullife(sp). I gotta go mow the lawn. End of an absolutely historic campaign, and I am so proud to have been a part of it.

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Tonight is The End. The last two primaries of Montana and South Dakota vote today. As of right now, Obama is ~10 delegates away from winning the nomination outright; further, he’s expected to gain at least 14 pledged delegates from the two elections tonight. It’s over. This has been an historic election, and it has been awesome to be a part of it. 5 months till the general; let’s romp McCain!

I’ll be blogging the results tonight, if only to ramble about my thoughts.

8:05- CNN sez 5 delegates for Obama to win, Demconwatch/dailykos/greenpapers say 7.5. Whichever. Doesn’t matter too much. Phillies game is tied right now 1-1.

8:20- There are still areas of South Dakota with open polls. Waiting until 9 Eastern…

8:50- Less than 10 minutes now. McCain is speaking in New Orleans; pans of the audience show no people of color. I’m shocked…

8:55- Also, Phillies are winning 3-1 in the 7th. When did Adam Eaton become a good pitcher?

9:00- CNN calls the race for Obama. Psh, I called it back in 2004

9:02- Hah, according to the exit polls Obama loses South Dakota 53-47. Kinda funny…

9:15- Anything else fun going on?

9:25- Phils are up 3-2 in the 8th. I’m also watching Futurama. Can’t wait for Obama’s victory speech.

9:32- McCain’s speak was a snoozer apparently. CNN calls South Dakota for Clinton. She’s speaking now. Good opening. I really hope to see the old Hillary. As much as I dislike her policies and have been rooting against her since, well, 2004, she use to be a decent person. That got lost in this campaign. Very gracious and complimentary to Obama and his supporters. I have something I want to say to Hillary’s supporters (don’t worry, it’s good!) after she’s done speaking. I’ll wait though.

9:40- Talking about how Democrats are awesome. Something about her winning “more votes”. Well, yeah, if you include the Soviet-style Michigan election. Sigh. Compliments her voters for continuing to work hard for her after the media called her out. Dammit, that’s what I was going to say!

9:45- OK, she’s annoying me now. And a “Yes She Will” chant in the background. Hillary… pleeeease. Stop. You ran the single greatest campaign to ever finish second, and that’s something that I find incredibly impressive. But… you lost. I’m sorry, you keep talking like you won… but you didn’t. Ok, now she’s making me feel better. Talking about Democrats in general. Great, good. Keep doing that. Talks about uniting the party so “we” can take back the White House. Attacks Bush. Yes! That’s it, now hit McCain! Hit him with the chair! Talking about healthcare… ooo, I love this. She talks about those without, but also talks about the scientists working hard to solve medical crises. I like how she phrased it. Very good. Talks about those children Left Behind, and the teachers struggling to help them. Talks about how she will continue to work for the people of America. “What do I want? End war in Iraq, healthcare for everyone”, yay well done… but then bullshits about the “18 million” who voted for her. Sigh. She keeps going back and forth like this. She’s back on track now, though, talking about how this nation gave her “every opportunity” and how every American deserves it.

9:50- Oh fuck no. Her whole crowd just started chanting “Denver”. If Hillary really cares about those issues, she damn well better not take this to the convention. She just grinned, by the way.

This is like two different speeches. Part concession, part “fight them on the beaches”.

I don’t know how to read this… who wrote this speech?!

9:55- I think she’ll concede by the end of the week. If she’s not out by next Tuesday, the party leaders need to end her delusions.

10:00- Blitzer’s beard sez “Obama has the nomination, though you wouldn’t know it from listening to Hillary’s speech”.

Montana goes to Obama. Good. He gets the final win.

10:15- Obama speaking. “We end one historic journey to begin another… because of you.”

10:20- Well played, sir. “Our country is better because of her, I am better because of her”.

Also talks about how when we win the fight for universal healthcare, “and we will win”, it will be because of her.

10:30- He’s on top of his game tonight. My favorite line: “I respect John McCain’s accomplishments, though he denies me mine”. Hit him with the chair!

10:40- Great speech. Don’t know what else to say, really. Some more thoughts from me towards the top of the hour.

11:45- To Hillary’s supporters: You are awesome. I’m impressed, though I didn’t want to admit it until the election was over. You fought and fought and fought for your candidate, despite the nigh-impossibility of victory, and you never gave one inch. While her campaign and some of her policies have sometimes annoyed me, Hillary has always had my respect. And so do you.

It’s probably not any consolation, but you are all responsible for the best-performing campaign to ever finish in second (at least in the modern era). That is something to be proud of. I really hope you funnel that tireless work ethic towards the issues Hillary cares about by helping Barack Obama defeat John McCain. I hope we can all work together.

Yes, we can. And we will.

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Two today, North Carolina and Indiana. Most polls close in IN at 6, some close at 7, and NC closes at 7:30. Let the fun begin. My prediction is an even delegate split.

Oh, Obama won Guam by 7 votes on Saturday, and the two split the delegates 2-2.

UPDATE [6:20] - A few votes trickling in from parts of IN. Nothing much.

6:45 - Hah! CNN promo sez “the night that could change it all”. But it won’t. We know that nothing much will change. Obama maintains 130+ pledged delegate lead, but Clinton’s not officially eliminated! On to West Virginia next week! Meh, I’ll be here to keep updating though. I’m also studying for a final tomorrow morning, so updates may be sluggish.

7:00 - Polls are closed! “Too early to call” sez Wolf Blitzer’s Beard. So less than a 10 point win for either, approximately. I predicted 8 point Clinton win on another site. We’ll see.

7:05 - CNN exit poll sez 4 point Clinton win. This makes my 8 point prediction look brilliant [exit polls tend to overstate Obama’s support by 3-7 points].

7:30 - Polls are closed in NC! CNN sez… Obama wins! Interesting… 12 point Obama win?

8:45 - Ok, couldn’t get to my site. Dunno what that was about. Anyway… Clinton’s lead in IN is 8 points, with major Obama strongholds not in yet. CBS called it for her, but CNN hasn’t; waiting a bit to see what the vote in those Obama counties do. I’m sticking by my original prediction: +8 Clinton. In NC, Obama’s margin is +28 but it’s way early, only 15% is in. Not sure what it’ll be, though my original guess earlier today was +8 Obama. The NC exit polls predict a +13 Obama win. We’ll see.

9:00 - +6 Clinton in IN (67% in), +24 Obama in NC (24% in). Indiana might be pretty close… might the exit polls be right?!?

9:25 - Little change, 36% in from NC, Obama +20.

9:45 - Obama up 14, 53% in, in NC. Clinton up 4 in IN, 75% in. Still waiting on Lake and Laporte counties, Obama strongholds.

11:05 - Same margin in NC, 92% in; same in IN, with 86% in. Good night for the Obama fans.

12:05 - 2 points in IN, 20k votes, 92% in. NC is basically done, Clinton loses there by 14. Big, big night for Obama… can he pull the surprise upset??

1:30 - No he can’t. Clinton by 2 in IN, Obama by 14 in NC. I was off by 6 in both. This race is pretty much over. See you next week for West Virginia anyway. Clinton will withdraw either then or, more likely, after a loss in Oregon on the 20th.

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Liveblog will be up and running tonight around 7, if for some reason you’re on my site and not elsewhere. I’ll be watching CNN’s coverage, so you’ll also get my snarky remarks about Wolf Blitzer’s beard.

7:05: Ugh, the next hour is going to be painful. With nothing to do, the “experts” on CNN are just sitting there twiddling their thumbs and… oh here we go, exit polls!

2/3 said Clinton attacked unfairly; 1/2 said Obama did.

7:10: Stupid pundit tricks on CNN. “Hillary won Texas”. Uh, no. Obama won more delegates thanks to Texas’ bizarre system. We can argue that the system is stupid, but that’s how “winning” is determined.

Better “journalists”, please.

7:15: Watching History Channel, occasionally flipping over to see if they’re discussing actual numbers on CNN. I’ll hold off saying much more until quarter of, unless an exit poll number catches my eye.

7:35: Huh, did you know that there’s a car that can run on compressed air? Fascinating!

7:50: Aw just missed a discussion on exit polls. Sorry folks, was much more excited about History Channel. Ten minutes to go!

8:00: “Competitve. We cannot project a winner” sez CNN. That’s good news for Obama, probably…

8:05: Glancing at the exit poll on CNN.com and doing some back-of-the-napkin math, it looks like a 5 point Hillary win, roughly 52.5-47.5. These are early so we’ll see how this plays out.

8:15: Jon King sez “the polls didn’t show people cared about the bittergate stuff… BUT [blah blah]”

God, I hate the MSM. STFU, ignorant morons.

8:22: Bill Bennett babbling about bittergate and that Ayers guy. Someone please shut that gambling addict up.

No results yet, btw, which is why I’m bored and watching a rerun of Universe’ worst weather on History Channel.

8:27: God bless Donna Brazille for calling out Bennett by going after John Hagee, the anti-Catholic that McCain courted. Bennett sputters and tries to argue that Rev. Wright is worse, because… something.

Sigh. Americans don’t care about this shit. The exit polls bear this out, but then empty suits like Jon King add the qualifier “but”. I hate our media.

8:40: Rare insight from Wolf Blitzer: “When the election is over, every factor/demographic looks decisive, especially when it’s close” (paraphrased).

9:00: 53-47 5% in, Clinton. We’ll see what happens as this plays out.

9:05: CNN projects a Clinton win, as have MSNBC and FOX. We’ll hang around to find out the margin.

9:35: “Why can’t he finish her off?” Ok, 6 weeks ago he was down 25 points. In 6 weeks he cut that to less than 10. But it’s a “significant victory” for Clinton. Wut?

Better pundits, please.

9:45: “Clinton can say she’s winning the votes the party needs… the Reagan Democrats who for whatever reason won’t vote for Barack Obama.” In other words, the Democratic party doesn’t need blacks or liberals… and based on the exit polls, people who thought race was “important” voted for Clinton 59-40 [for “gender important”, the gap was 71-29, also in favor of Clinton], aka they’re racists.

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5 years.

Fuck this war.

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Just a reminder for all you kids out there that the registration date for Pennsylvania is March 24th, next Monday! If you’re going to be out of state for the election itself, as I am, you should get your absentee ballot. To do that, download the Absentee Ballot Application here. After that, you should go here to find your County Contact Info and mail them the completed application. You MUST get your ballot application to them by April 15th, and they also MUST have the filled-out ballot by April 18th (side note: that’s ridiculous). Don’t wait too long! Make sure you can VOTE in this historic election!

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I’m on the RNC’s (Republican National Committee) email list, and here’s a gem from today’s letter, from our Dear Leader:

“A Democrat [sic] victory in November would turn back the clock on all that we have accomplished to strengthen our national security, grow our economy and improve our schools.”

BWHAHAHAHA. Oh man. That man is hilarious.

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From GOP presidential nominee John McCain: “Well, again, I disagree with what the majority of the American people want.” We’ll be seeing that clip a lot in the fall.

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New Mexico still hasn’t counted. Bums. The delegate count is going to be split evenly, more than likely. So, whatever.

Three big wins for Obama yesterday. Not just that they were wins, but the margin of victory was damn impressive. Nebraska and Washington were almost 70-30%, and 57-35 in Louisiana. Maine has a caucus today, so we’ll see what happens there. There’s also the Beltway Primaries on Tuesday. So I’ll see you kids then.

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Alaska goes to Romney.

New Mexico is split about 50-50 so its delegates will be split; we’ll find out later who gets bragging rights. That’ll be the last update whenever NM gets announced. Below are my thoughts on the results.

Big, BIG night for McCain (who all but secured the nomination though Romney and Huckabee might be able to pick off enough delegates to prevent him from getting a majority) and Obama. If the delegates play out as most are projecting, Obama will actually LEAD in pledged delegates after yesterday and heading into the favorable February 9th and 10th caucuses [and one primary], followed by what will be an interesting Beltway Primary Tuesday on the 12th. He has a path to the nomination now, a very clear path, though it is by no means over.

After the 12th, we have the Wisconsin and Hawaii primaries on the 19th. There’s a two week break before we have several important states on March 4th, including Ohio and Texas. There’s Wyoming on the 8th, Mississippi on the 11th, and then… nothing for 6 weeks. And then, holy crap, my state votes in a contested presidential primary. April 22nd. There’s 5 contests in May, the 6th, 13th, and the 20th, followed by 2 contests on June 3rd. And that’s it. Gonna be a fun ride!

Interesting side note: McCain failed to win a majority in his home state. Conservatives really, really do not like him. I have no idea why.

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Here We Go!

CNN projects Georgia to Obama, the GOP is Too Close To Call.

[7:06]: Take the following with a grain of salt. Actually, make that a mountain of salt.

If these exit poll leaks (Democratic, Republican) are at all accurate, then Obama might be able to put this away. McCain would also be in some trouble, though still the frontrunner. I’m distrustful of exit polls since they do have such a wide range of variance.

[7:45]: Going to eat. I’ll be back around 8:30. Go watch CNN or something.

[8:30]: I’m back.

CNN projects Clinton to win Oklahoma and Tennessee, Obama to win Illinois; McCain to win Jersey, Connecticut, and Illinois, Romney to win Massachusetts.

Also, Huckabee won West Virginia earlier today.

[8:40]: Via my roommate: “Am I the only one to notice that Obama is represented by a dark blue on CNN?”

[8:45]: CNN projects McCain to win Delaware

[8:55]: Forgot to mention that CNN projected Clinton and Huckabee to win Arkansas. Sorry to fail to update you on such a shocking development.

[9:00]: Hillary wins New York. Another shocker. CNN has no other projections for the recently-closed states.

[9:07]: CNN calls Delaware for Obama. Lots of races are either very close or simply don’t have a representative sample in yet. Connecticut might be the next one called, they’re around 25-35% in.

[9:34]: CNN calls Alabama for Obama. Still waiting on Connecticut…

[9:55]: CNN calls Jersey and Massachusetts for Clinton, New York for McCain.

[10:00]: CNN calls Utah for Romney. Shocking!

[10:05]: Oklahoma goes to McCain, says CNN. McCain is getting what he needs right now.

North Dakota is called for Obama.

[10:20]: Kansas goes to Obama, says CNN.

Wow AND Connecticut! Good close race there.

[10:30]: What’s left [for the Democrats] is Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, and Utah.

Clinton is leading in Missouri, while Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, and Utah are likely going to Obama [Utah is the only real guess on my part].

Arizona is going to be close, as is New Mexico, though the exit polls on CNN.com show Obama with a slight lead. I have no idea what’s going to happen in Alaska or California. We’ll start to find out at the top of the hour.

And Alabama goes to Huckabee, sez CNN.

[10:33]: Minnesota goes to Obama, projects CNN. I’m a genius!

[10:40]: While the Mittster babbles on, CNN.com finally called Arizona for McCain. Took them long enough…

[11:03]: CNN projects North Dakota for Romney, says California is Too Close To Call for either party.

A glance at the exit polls show Hillary with a narrow lead. 50-45, maybe 51-45. That’s a close race, we’ll see what the actual vote tallies show…

[11:12]: CNN projects Minnesota for Romney.

[11:30]: Four and a half hours later, Georgia goes to Huckabee. Missouri for both parties is close. Go Barack!

[11:42]: Idaho and Colorado are called for Obama.

[11:48]: Utah projected for Obama by CNN, as Obama speaks.

[11:51]: CNN.com projects Colorado for Romney.

[12:01]: Burn the midnight oil people! It’s Super Wednesday!

CNN.com calls Tennessee for Huckabee.

[12:05]: Montana goes to Romney according to CNN.com

[12:15]: Arizona gets called for Clinton. I wish I could see the maps for New Mexico and California for where those votes are coming in…

[12:26]: California called for Clinton and McCain. Hopefully the margins are slim and Obama picks up a large chunk of the delegates…

McCain eeks out win in Mizzou.

[12:45]: Obama wins Alaska, says CNN.com

Missouri and New Mexico are still open.

[1:25]: In a hugely unexpected win, Obama beats Hillary in Missouri.

[1:50]: Still waiting on New Mexico. If something happens in the next 10 minutes I’ll post it. Else, I’m done for the evening. Good day for Obama.

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No idea what’s going to happen tomorrow. Maybe I’ll liveblog the returns. I forget which state, but one finishes at 7 pm. See you then.

And if you can, VOTE!

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From 2004, Eminem’s “VOTE!” music video.

From 2008, a neat little mash-up vid.

Let’s change the direction of our country. If you can vote on Tuesday, do it!!

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With Edwards’ withdrawal from the race today, Political Games officially endorses Barack Obama for President.

P.S. If he wins, I called it.

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