I thought so.
Congratulations to eft, who almost precisely nailed the final percentage of the popular vote. Eft predicted a 53-47 final margin, the actual result was 52-46. None of us (eft, tall guy, moi) called the states/electoral counts exactly right, but I will take credit for thinking big in one of my two "final" predictions, which called it 375-163 for Obama. The final electoral count will probably be 364-174, if Missouri (Red), Georgia (Red), and North Carolina (Blue) end up the way they're leaning right now.
And who really thought Indiana would turn Blue???? (Blue Indiana, for one.)
I heard a lot of griping about the polls among McCain supporters, about how they are unreliable. McCain lost by 6 points, most polls were in a 4-8 point range (favoring Obama) at the end. No Bradley effect, and as in 2004, the final polls were pretty close to the final result. Rasmussen got it exactly right, and several others were very close.
The Democrats did not pick up the number of Senate and House seats that many predicted. This was not a "wave" election like 2006, although it clearly was a very good year for the D's. So we haven't suddenly become a nation of liberals. But the last two elections suggest we are not exactly a conservative country either.
Good, let's lose the labels and get something done.
2 comments:
OMG!!! Indiana went BLUE! I am stunned, and I'm guessing I'm not the only one.
NC is still figuring out if we're blue or red. There's a difference of 14,533 votes, with the advantage to Obama. However, there are 40,000 provisional ballots which have to be verified to see if they're permissible. The ones that are will then be counted. Could be interesting...but a moot point nationally as Obama is way over 270.
BTW, any timeline for the final Coleman/Franken tally? They're less than 500 votes apart.
It could be weeks for Franken/Coleman.
That is one close race. I still expect we'll have Norm to kick around when all is said and done. OK, a moderate R Senator who knows his largely-D electorate is watching him like a hawk. That's not a bad deal for progressives.
I do think the election says something about Minnesota voters. They just aren't that crazy about partisan attack dogs. Look at Mike Hatch, he had much the same experience as Franken is having.
A blue state. A national climate that is anti-Republican and anti-incumbent. And still, the D challenger couldn't unseat the R incumbent. Why?
Maybe because voters just couldn't embrace their in-your-face, take no prisoners attitude.
We can argue if that's a fair description of Franken (we can't on Hatch). A lot of the extreme stuff was really pushed by the Coleman ads and probably don't reflect how Franken would've acted once he won the seat. But still, I used to listen to Air America from time to time. Al has some sharp elbows.
And apparently, that doesn't sit well with MN voters.
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