Thursday, November 6, 2008

Election Wrap-Up

I made three predictions in my final post on the election:

1.) Obama will win 364 electoral votes and win the popular vote 52-45
2.) We'll know he's won when Virginia is called for Obama -- at, I'll say, 8:30pm Eastern
3.) The Dems will control 59 seats in the Senate when all is said and done


How'd they turn out?

1.)It looks like Obama won 364 electoral votes and won the popular vote 52-46 (though results are still being finalized) . . . not bad.

2.) We knew Obama had won when Ohio was called for him at 8:30 . . . Central. Oh well, it was still a good guess.

3.) Four races are still undecided, but the Dems will control between 56 and 60 seats -- most likely 57. Merkley (D) looks likely to win in Oregon, Coleman (R) is ahead by less than 500 votes, so will have to wait for the recount results before it's official, Chambliss (R) will probably win in Georgia but is likely to face a run-off, and Stevens (R) is somehow on the verge of victory in Alaska.

The election went pretty much as the polls had indicated, with only one big surprise . . . Ted Stevens. After being convicted on multiple felony counts last week and then being asked to resign by McCain, Palin, Mitch McConnell, and a bunch of other people he trailed by 7-22 points in the polls. Barring a decisive loss among the votes still being counted it looks like he will be reelected. And I have to say that I'm appalled. I can only hope that people were voting for him b/c they want Palin to appoint another Republican once Stevens is expelled form the Senate rather than voting for a Democrat. I can think of no other good reason for voting for a Senator who was convicted for felonies directly related to his Senatorial duties.

On another note, John McCain gave an outstanding concession speech. I was left wondering where that John McCain has been for the last 6 months. For a man who made his name doing what he thought was right instead of what other politicians wanted him to do he sure chose an odd time to do what his campaign managers wanted him to do instead of what he thought was right. We had, in my opinion, the two best candidates since I've been able to vote and it's a shame that the election had to get as nasty and divisive as it did. McCain looked genuinely dismayed at the crowd's reaction to his gracious and thoughtful concession speech but, in the end, he has himself to blame for stoking that irrational fear of his opponent -- and, ultimately, it was that fear-mongering that cost him the election.

Back to education issues tomorrow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

RE: "The two best candidates since I've been able to vote..."

As a person who once brought a dinner party at my in-laws' to a complete, dead silence by admitting that I voted for McGovern, not Nixon--all I can say is that you haven't been voting for long.

Not commenting on your age, Corey, but on the value of perspective, and what we look for in candidates at various points in our lives. Sometimes, we get candidates who inspire (McGovern inspired me, as a first-time presidential voter in 1972) and sometimes, we settle for stuffy, dull, but way-better-than-the-other-person choices (I can think of a couple of those, too--recently).

I completely agree with your assessment of McCain's gracious concession speech. What struck me more than his words was his absolute comfort in delivering them. He's been a bundle of twitches and death's-head grins in the last two months, but he seemed relaxed and genuine on Tuesday night.

I also agree Alaskans voted for Stevens so he can be replaced by a Republican. Alaska was the only place where pollsters were radically wrong. Possibly, as national results came streaming in during the early afternoon in Alaska, there was a statewide move to be contrary.

You were much closer than I was to predicting results. I thought it would be much closer, that lots of battleground states (OH & FL, especially) would fall for McCain. I'm old and cynical. It was a joyous surprise for me to have voted for winners, almost across the board. That's never happened to me before, and I have voted in 19 biennial elections.

Corey Bunje Bower said...

This was only the third election in which I was able to vote. In the first two I was forced to choose the person I disliked less; this time I chose the person I liked more.

Most of my friends hesitated to believe me when I told them that the election was pretty much over before it took place -- you're not the only one who was cynical.