Election

I had considered liveblogging this event, but it turns out that I was much more interested in seeing what everyone else had to say instead.

It was quite a day. Starting around 2pm when the exit polling data started to come in, I thought (so did everyone else) that Bush was toast. These numbers drove the discussion until polls began to close at 7pm. At 7pm, journalists were writing Bush's epitaph, the Fox News panel had long faces, and the CNN panel was giddy. Then the actual vote tallies started to come in, and it showed the exact opposite of all of the exit polls. I think that will be the big story for the rest of the week: how did the exit polls get it so wrong?

I watched Florida and Ohio begin to come in, and I saw how the margins there appeared larger for Bush than was predicted. I read bloggers comparing Bush's margin of victory in individual counties this year compared to 2000. He was outpacing his 2000 numbers. Finally Florida and later Ohio were called for Bush, and the outcome became obvious.

I have to say that the stand the Kerry campaign was making last night was ridiculous. Bush had a 145,000 vote margin in Ohio with 100% reporting. There were only 140,000 provisional ballots. They had no chance, but...

...when I woke up this morning, I saw a Congressional Black Caucus press conference saying there was intimidation and disenfranchisement in Ohio, not all black votes were counted, and they were going to fight. When it was suggested on one TV channel that Secy. Blackwell waive the 11 day wait to count the provisional ballots so this matter could be settled, a Democrat operative said "no, no, no...we want those 11 days..." OK, I get it now. I saw what they were trying to do, and I became concerned.

Not long afterward it was reported that Kerry called Bush to concede. My respect level for Kerry went way up after that. Kerry said no to the moveon.org types, the Congressional Black Caucus, and others who wanted him to draw this out for weeks and fight, even though Bush won the national popular vote by 3 percentage points. Kerry decided to put the good of the country first, and I appreciate that greatly.

And so Bush is re-elected. We'll see what happens in the next four years.