Live Blogging the Election

7:35 A.M. That was a pretty good speech. Pretty, pretty good. Fantastic, really. It was a perfect ending to a long and tumultuous campaign, and singled the start of a great, fantastic next 4 (8) years. Who's excited?

6:45 A.M. So while I'm waiting for Obama to speak at "midnight eastern time," which is 7 AM here, I'm thinking about McCain's speech. It was really good. Humorous, sweet, straight-talking, personal, and sensical. If he had run his campaign in the same vein as his concession speech, it might have been a lot closer of an election.

And if he hadn't choosen Sarah Palin as his running mate.

6:14 A.M. He fucking did it. He fucking did it. Fuck yeah. America, fuck yeah. I'm ecstatic. I'm jubilant. It's fucking amazing.

Ari, Meredith and I woke up Meredith's roomies, who groggily went back to sleep. I talked to David and Alea in San Francisco, and some other classmates in J'lem. We had a champagne toast. We danced a bit, took some pictures. It's amazing. I'm amazed. I'm in total awe.

5:40 A.M. Will Joe Lieberman stay in the Democratic caucus? Will the caucus kick him out? Will he voluntarily leave? Who knows! But John King is having a ball flipping that yellow-bordered tile.

We're awaiting the closing of polls in the west, including my beloved California. Waiting. Waiting.

5:01 A.M. Fucking Iowa! Came through in January, came through again in November. I love Iowa.

4:50 A.M. So John King and his map of counties has moved to his his map states, and has basically laid out an incredibly difficult and uphill path for McCain to win the nomination. It includes a win in New Mexico, and perhaps Iowa, neither of which McCain will win. So, it's pretty amazing.

Meredith is from Ohio (Cincinnati) and has been beaming since Ohio was called. Her absentee ballot arrived today, but Ohio laws will accept it as long as it's signed and postmarked by Election Day. That's a pretty big relief.

4:35 A.M. Obama won Ohio. All three cable networks called it. That might be the ballgame.

4:08 A.M. So there's a lot going on. I'm brewing coffee in my new French Press to keep us up (Ari is out like a light). I'm facebook chatting with my brother who is in the middle of a Japanese class in Kyoto - but he's allowed to use a computer. go figure. Obama is racking up New England and the north-midwest states (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) by large margins. Lots of Senate races being called left and right, and it's all pretty much as expected, all good news (escept Saxby Chambliss' seat in Georgia) for the Dems.

Now McCain just won Georgia. That was not a surprise, but in my head it would have been nice if Bob Barr had spoiled the race for McCain there. Oh well. Hopefully many more goodies to come.

3:35 A.M. I just unpacked my bag of goodies, including a bag of freshly roasted and ground coffee, and the smell totally woke Ari from his nap and perked Meredith up.

Fox just called Pennsylvania for Obama. CNN hasn't said anything. I'm beginning to think that CNN is very conservative in making calls.

3:13 A.M. New Hampshire has been called for Obama by Fox. Fantastic.

And yet CNN hasn't said anything. This makes me nervous...

3:10 A.M. Fox News just called the North Carolina Senate race for Kay Hagen, ousting Elizabeth Dole. This is fantastic. Elizabeth Dole had no business being in the Senate to begin with, and now she's gone. And the Dems pick up one more seat.

What's weird, is MSNBC website called Pennsylvania for Obama; no one else has. I wonder what they know that nobody else knows (or isn't saying yet).

3:07 A.M. The was just a deluge of states with 8PM EST closings of polls. Everything pretty predictable. What wasn't predictable, was I started coloring in my Senate map, instead of my Presidential map. It was slightly embarrassing.

2:36 A.M. Well, It's officially election night: I jst caught my first John King and his county-by-county map of Indiana. While it's really nerdy and funky, it's kinda cool to watch. Especially when I can name the counties in Indiana Obama needs to do well in in order to win.

And now there's James Carville. The rajun Cajun. What a guy. He's really bald.

2:18 A.M. I'm sitting in Meredith's living room, and Ari, who is still half-asleep, just asked, "Who wants chocolate? Joel, you do." For the first time in my life, I refused chocolate. Either I'm too nervous or my stomach is too tight from the lack of sleep. We'll see.

Kentucky has been called; Vermont has been called. No surprises there. Indiana and Virgina are too close to call, except for the Virginia Senate race, which has gone to Mark Warner. No surprise either, but a great victory for Virginia. And all of the different Warner families in Virginia.