Election Central: Obama Wins It!
November 4, 2008 at 11:46 pm by Joe Bardi
(Photo credit: Bobster1985)
This is the launchpad for all CL election coverage. The Loaf staff has fanned out across the Bay area to keep eyes and ears locked on voting sites, candidate rallies, election parties and spontaneous outpourings of joy/grief in the streets. Keep it locked here all day and night. And if you haven’t already, get out there and vote! Download and print our ballot guides here.
1:47 A.M.: Brian Blair well behind challenger Kevin Beckner as vote tabulating stalls in Hillsborough County, in a battle for better conservation and dignity for LGBT residents.
1:01 A.M.: One last thing. Just got this text message: “We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion to this campaign. All of this happened because of you. Thanks, Barack.” I’m not worthy …
1:00 A.M.: I’ve just been taking it all in for the last hour. History. Amazing. Now, I’m going to fall asleep watching the replay of Comedy Central’s Indecision ‘08, which I missed the first time around. Good night all.
12:05 P.M.: Obama speaking now.
11:46 P.M.: Wayne reporting in from the Beckner party: “Phyllis Busansky was just here and she said it’s a slow process counting the Hillsborough votes. Officials are having to bring the machines in from precincts to do the job.” Garcia characterized Beckner as “real unhappy with the situation.”
11:44 P.M.: Obama set to speak around midnight EST.
11:30 P.M.: David Warner reports the streets of Ybor resounding with cheers of “OBAMA! OBAMA!”
11:28 P.M.: McCain closes a classy concession speech. I think McCain did his best work this campaign in the last five days.
11:18 P.M.: McCain concedes!
11:16 P.M.: NBC calls Florida for Obama.
11:10 P.M.: Leilani checks in, in between parties in St. Pete.
11:07 P.M.: Results from the other big race: Calrissian vs. Palpatine.
11:06 P.M.: We’re popping a bottle of Champaign here at Election Central.
11:00 P.M.: Obama called the winner by NBC!
10:51 P.M.: NBC hints they will call the election at 11 p.m.!
10:50 P.M.: David Warner reports in from the Kevin Beckner election party in Ybor.
Plus: News from earlier in the day and that fancy MSNBC voting widget thingy we’re trying out are after the jump.
10:29 P.M.: Unconfirmed reports that CNN just called Florida for Obama.
10:28 P.M.: Wade Tatangelo covers SoHo on election night.
10:16 P.M.: Stephen Hammill reports the Waterside Marriott is rockin’ with 600 Obamaicans in attendance.
10:15 P.M.: It’s not all good news. With more than half the votes counted, Amendment 2 is at 62% yes.
9:57 P.M.: Obama’s Grant Park rally looks like a doozy. It also looks like a victory rally, as Obama seems unbeatable at this point, though no one on the networks seems to want to say that.
9:46 P.M.: Electoral College has it Obama 200-McCain 90. Florida is leaning Barack. This smells like an Obama victory …
9:28 P.M.: “The rack is packed. But no one save a few servers is offering even a cursory glance at the Fox News playing across the sushi/sports/billards bar.”
9:27 P.M.: This in from Wade Tatangelo: “SoHo shows it’s civil side. At the Dubliner a crowd of mid-20-something Hyde Park residents discuss the pros and cons of Obama and McCain. Equal number of people voted for each candidate, but a consensus is reached that everyone present is proud of the fact that young people are voting. As one McCain voter put it, ‘I would be so happy to something like 85% of the country voted in this election.’”
9:22 P.M.: MSNBC calls Ohio for OBAMA!
9:15 P.M.: Garcia reports in live on tape from the Waterside Marriott.
9:10 P.M.: From Garcia: “Just about 25% of vote in in Hillsborough and two close races worth watching, Beckner-Blair and Johnson-Busansky. Busansky tightened the race considerably on the last turn of the vote.” More: “Feeney and Keller losing GOP House seats in Orlando area in voting so far.”
Get yours today, Republicans.
9:00 P.M. UPDATE: Obama Chief Campaign Strategist David Axelrod on MSNBC right now trying to keep everyone calm. McCain wins Kansas and North Dakota, Obama takes New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. That puts the elctorial college count at Obama 175-McCain 75.
- Still no winner.
- They’re still voting at USF.
- Fox holding off calling Pennsylvania for Obama. (CNN called PA right before 9 p.m.)
- More video from the Marriott.
- Taylor Eason reports from an election party in Tampa.
- Eric and Bonnie are still married … for now.
8:36 P.M.: Some good news for the Republicans: MSNBC calls Georgia for McCain.
8:30 P.M.: Warner reports from the Marriott: “‘I will be your hostess for the evening,’ says Alex Sink at the podium, announcing victories for Obama in PA and NH, saying crowd is sparse at Marriott because Dems are so well-organized that volunteers a’re already hitting the phones calling voters in the Midwest and the West.”
Plus: MSNBC just called the North Carolina Senate race for Kay Hagen. Liddy Dole resigned to a future of servicing a heavily Viagraized Bob Dole.
8:19 P.M.: Tatangelo reports four people currently at SoHo’s MacDinton’s. Soccer on the TV!
8:15 P.M.: Behind the scenes at Tampa’s Obama victory party.
8:10 P.M.: From Garcia: “Buddy Johnson has 15% of vote posted, Deborah Clark has 69% posted. What is Buddy’s freakin’ problem?”
8:00 P.M.: MSNBC reports Obama wins Pennsylvania! (And a whole bunch of others!). Meanwhile, Garcia reports: “Blair and Beckner neck and neck after the absentee ballots, which were supposed to break heavily for GOP, and that doesn’t include the early voting. Might be a long night for Comm Blair.”
Amendment 2 up in Pinellas, but shy of 60%.
335 of 376 Precincts Reporting:
| YES |
 |
54.27% | 226,196 |
| NO |
|
45.73% | 190,611 |
7:50 P.M: Pinellas reporting in 306 of 376 locations:
| John McCain (REP) |
 |
45.29% | 185,413 |
| Barack Obama (DEM) |
|
53.28% | 218,126 |
In from Garcia: “Brickfield edging out Matton, Bostock beating Flowers. So far there is no help down ballot for the Dems in Pinellas. Early returns in Hillsborough show strong GOP voting, McCain ahead.”
And don’t miss Eric Snider’s “Scenes from a mixed marriage.”
Getting underway at the Obama victory party in Tampa. Photo by Stephen Hammill.
7:30 P.M. UPDATE: This in from Alex Pickett: “The polls have closed. There are no lines at the polling places I visited on the northeast and south portions of St. Pete. But the lines are still long at Chick fil a.” Meanwhile, Wayne Garcia reports the invite-only Obama party at the Marriott Waterside is currently “dead.”
- Florida results: 2% in, Obama up 57%-43%.
- Kentucky called for McCain; Vermont for Obama.
- Crist to make appearance at GOP party in St. Pete.
- Looking to party yourself? Leilani’s got you covered …
7:00 P.M. UPDATE: Bay area polls now closed! Stay tuned for results …
- “Let the counting begin.”
- What is the world saying about our election? A lot, actually.
- Barack hits the court … no, not the legal kind.
- Big problems in Virginia.
- Some voters are defying the stereotypes.
- Great pictures from election day, this time from Huff Post.
- Is Wall Street showing some love for an Obama victory?
- In other news: The FCC agrees to allow the use of “white space.”
6:30 P.M. UPDATE: Results starting to trickle in. MSNBC has Indiana basically tied with 1% reporting. McCain running away with Kentucky.
- East Tampa Precinct 325, “We smell victory now.”
- The sad campaign of John McCain.
- Pictures of election day from Alex Pickett.
- CNN sorts through the exit poll data.
- Most-searched words of the day: “exit polls,” “black panthers.”
- Springsteen rising for Obama in Philly.
- There is no voting tomorrow, no matter what that text message you got said.
- Follow reports from voters on Twitter.
5:20 P.M. UPDATE: Exit polls any second now starting to leak out. I’ve got MSNBC on and Chuck Todd is talking about how Florida is going to go for Obama. MSNBC has changed their look for election night, with clean graphics covering a third of the screen. It’s amusing to watch all these 0% results scroll by for no reason.
- From the comments: Interstate4Jammer’s voting experience in Lakeland; Kate voting in Tampa.
- You voted yet? If so, how did it go? Let us know here …
- Wine Editor Taylor Eason is “exuberant.”
- The sad voting odyssey of Peter Henderson.
- Killing time before the polls close: Newsweek’s photo history of voting in America.
- Remember all those election freebies we told you about? Yeah, that was all illegal.
- Sticks of Fire has some election conversation going on …
- This Black Panther’s in Philly story is hilarious! Anyone else smell a staged event?
4:30 P.M. UPDATE:
- Who are those McCain sign-wavers, anyway?
- More from Franki Weddington on voting at USF.
- Despite the afternoon lull, turnout in the Bay area is still heavy.
- AP on voter turnout: “Polls are deluged.”
- Voter stories hosted by Politico.
- Ralph Nader masters the art of the sound bite.
- “Mac is back.”
- Non-Election Related: Is Jon Gruden leaving the Bucs for the University of Tennessee?
3:30 P.M. UPDATE:
- Hundreds of HIllsborough voters given only part of the ballot.
- Alex Pickett updates the scene at St. Pete’s polls: They’re empty!
- Congressional Dems ride the wave …
- Leilani voted, did you?
- Federal election observers sent to Georgia.
- Joe Biden visits Virgina.
- Obama and McCain on pins and needles.
- Long voting lines: A great chance to make new friends.
- Obama’s victory song list.
2:30 P.M. UPDATE:
- No exit polls yet, but once they show up, disregard them.
- An election day message from Brian Blair.
- Gov. Charlie may have cost McCain 100,000 votes.
- You voted yet? If so, how did it go? Let us know here …
- Update on voting at USF: It only took two and a half hours.
- They said it: Great quotes from Election Day 08.
- Obama votes in Chicago.
- McCain on a final western swing.
1:30 P.M. UPDATE:
- Eric Snider’s video journal of voting in St. Pete this morning.
- An update on irregularities in Ybor and West Tampa.
- A message from Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson.
- “Florida voters report long lines, some problems.”
- Get your free shit this election day.
- Voter suppression in Wisconsin?
- Kids voting? This seems like an irregularity.
- Guerilla Art (for Obama)
- Vote Calrissian. Can we really afford four more years of Palpatine?
- An important message …
NOON UPDATE:
- Alex Pickett reports St. Pete voting is progressing smoothly.
- Four hour wait times to vote reported at USF in Tampa.
- Irregularities in Ybor?
- Voters report on life at the polls.
- Beckner outed in last-minute robocall.
- Scenarios for the Dem’s to push their advantage in the Senate.
- States to watch today.
- The Redskins lost last night, so Obama has to win today, right?
- CL Sarasota has their own Election Central.
- Follow the election on Twitter.
- Alfred E. Neuman for president!
NEWS FROM THE 11 O’CLOCK HOUR:
- You voted yet? If so, how did it go? Let us know here …
- They said it: Great quotes from Election Day 08.
- The first votes are in: Obama wins Dixville Notch in a landslide!
- Problems reported in South Florida at the 11 o’clock hour.
- McCain’s wet dream: Voting machine failures in Philadelphia, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
- And more problems in Virginia, Michigan and Florida.
- A vote for Benson is a vote for Benson?
- Sarasota knows where to party.
