CRUEL? This is FUN! It’s the best spectator sport in the world. It’s like being at a hockey game with one minute left and your team down by a goal. It’s nerve-wracking, but in a good kind of way.
I much prefer this to the elections we have in Canada, which are typically decided in the East before they even count the votes in the west.
As I write this, Bush is sweeping the midwest. If he takes Florida, it’s all over. If he doesn’t, he’s still a big underdog but gaining ground.
Looking at the electoral map, I think it’ll be interesting if Gore wins. The political division in the U.S. stands out like crazy looking at this, because Gore’s main support comes from a handful of very populous states. Bush could win 35 out of 50 states, win the popular vote by 8 or 9 points, and still lose the election. What will that do to Gore’s ability to govern, or to political stability in general in the U.S.?
If Bush gets Florida, it isn’t a lock, but it’s close to it: he’d need CO, AZ, and NV, but those lean toward the GOP. And if he loses one of those, but gets IA, WI, or OR, same difference. So if Bush gets FL, the odds are definitely against Gore.
But if FL goes back to Gore after all, then Bush has to run the table to win, unless CA falls his way.
Meanwhile, they’re separated by about 700K votes in the popular vote, with Bush at 23M and Gore at 22.3M.
Nah, this is tougher than a Super Bowl or a World Series. In sports, if your team loses, it’s a bummer, but the world is still the same. Not here.
This may be the only thing we have in common. Want to hang the press guy who decided to call FL, and then bring it back to undecided? As I sit here waiting for it to finally settle down to one candidate, I just want to kill whoever made that decision. One of the talking heads actually said, “we may need actual votes to see who wins this race.”
duh…
Here in Canada, it would be a mini scandal if the press called provincial election while the polls were still open, but that’s what they did in Florida. They called Florida for Gore one hour before the polls closed in the earlier time zone in the state. That could well have kept many voters home.
If Florida goes one way or the other by a very small margin, it’s entirely possible that an early call by the media decided the election.
Does anyone know for a fact when they actually called Florida for Gore? People seem to be implying they called it right when the polls closed, but as of 7:15pm when I went off to yoga, NPR was saying that Florida was too close to call. It wasn’t until after 9pm after I got out of yoga that I heard it was in the Gore column. So, it all that I know is it was called somewhere between 45 min before the polls apparently closed in the western part and 1 hour after.
I will be up forever. The whole race hinges on FL right now. Then when the vote is counted, there are still 500,000 absentee ballots to count. Does anyone know if these are included in the current totals, or if they get counted tomorrow? Unless of course they reverse calls in other states. (PA, MI)
Connor
I’m sorry, but my brain is fried. I have been clicking the remote like a possesed madman. I don’t remember which head said it, and I have no link because it was on TV.
I do remember that it was a guy.
About St. Louis:
They only left polls open in the city. The state looks like it is going to Bush. However, the Senate race is a toss-up.
About FL:
I don’t think they called it at 7:10. I rushed over to a friends house because I was sure FL was going to be called within minutes of the hour. I would guess that it was called closer to 7:30-45. I don’t know if it effected FL results, but since Gore winning FL kept in the race, it may have effected west coast voters. Many west coasters may have changed their vote from Nader to Gore since the race was so tight.
The vote is all going to come down to Florida, and the sick thing is we may not be sure for several days what the absentee vote really is.
At the very least, I hope the American people can realize how close we really are, regardless of the side of the ideological fence. Hopefully, we can support whomever the new president finally turns out to be, without animosity. Unlike the last 8 years.
The way I understand it, the absentee ballots are being counted along with the poll ballots, except for the absentee ballots coming in from FL residents who are stationed (military) out of state. Those only have to be postmarked by today (well, yesterday, now). So it may be some time before it all gets sorted out. Those votes would no doubt favor Bush.
The real interesting thing about FL (and AZ) is that the senior vote went to Bush about 60-40. It doesn’t look like Gore’s demagoguing (sp?) on SS and medicare took hold.
Well, MSNBC just gave the election to Bush by projecting he’ll win Florida. With 96% of the Florida precincts reporting, Bush leads by less than 20,000 votes out of over 5.5 million cast.
No matter who eventually wins, I hope I never hear another person say, ”My vote doesn’t matter.”
And Gore is going to ask for a recount. (But from what the news says, recounts rarely make that much of a difference…) But still, I understand why Gore would want a recount.
I was hoping Al would get Florida and grab the presidency while Bush wins the popular vote. With the Republicans controlling the congress and senate, we might get to change our voting system with all the whining going on… too bad…
