# Best On-line Coverage of the Election? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 30, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-on-line-coverage-of-the-election/470207 "2008-10-30T03:48:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-on-line-coverage-of-the-election/470207/21 "2008-11-01T20:20:50Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > This is what I was wondering: how late will we have to stay up, here on the East Coast, to find out who won? I’m having some people over for election watching, and we all have to work the next day. Anyone able to estimate a time when it’ll be a safe bet that the result will be determined? You’d think I’d remember this from 4 years ago, but I don’t. What time do the polls on the Left Coast close? Probably somewhere around 9 or so EST. Once that happens, it’ll be the downhill run. As for when the election can be declared, that’ll be when someone picks up enough votes to have 271 EVs. Judging by the map on 538, I’d say that the election will probably be decided before it gets to the West Coast (but only just barely). If its a nailbiter, it’ll go until the wee hours of the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-on-line-coverage-of-the-election/470207/22 "2008-11-01T21:22:58Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > This is what I was wondering: how late will we have to stay up, here on the East Coast, to find out who won? I’m having some people over for election watching, and we all have to work the next day. Anyone able to estimate a time when it’ll be a safe bet that the result will be determined? You’d think I’d remember this from 4 years ago, but I don’t. Ah well, Over Here[sup]hehehe[/sup], we have paper ballots and they all have to be counted after the polls close. So we have Peter Snow and his Swingometer. Great fun, actually - even if the last election was the first one for which I stayed up despite being a foregone conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-on-line-coverage-of-the-election/470207/23 "2008-11-01T21:29:35Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I don’t know what Nate Silver of [www.fivethirtyeight.com](http://www.fivethirtyeight.com) will be doing for the election coverage, but his site is very neat with stats on the polls. And I imagine that the bloggers at MSNBC’s [First Read](http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/default.aspx) will be blogging the returns. Nate will be on Dan Rather’s online show [http://www.hd.net/danrather.html](http://www.hd.net/danrather.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-on-line-coverage-of-the-election/470207/24 "2008-11-01T21:40:00Z")
> [@Hawkeyeop](#): > > Nate will be on Dan Rather’s online show > > [http://www.hd.net/danrather.html](http://www.hd.net/danrather.html) Sweet! I can hear Dan now, “This election has gone down into the basement dungeon, put on a leather teddy, some ‘fuck me’ pumps and is standing with one hand on its hips asking us, ‘Are you man enough to handle something like this?’” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-on-line-coverage-of-the-election/470207/25 "2008-11-01T22:02:38Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > What time do the polls on the Left Coast close? Probably somewhere around 9 or so EST. Neat map of closing times [here](http://swingstateproject.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3641). As for calling the election, well, they won’t have any choice if it’s a landslide. Calling states while there’s still voting going on is another kettle of monkeyfish. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-on-line-coverage-of-the-election/470207/26 "2008-11-01T22:15:29Z")
If Obama can take Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and Indiana, then he can have 270 electoral votes before the polls even close west of the Mississippi River. Naturally they’ll still prefer to wait until the polls on the West Coast close first (though for some reason they’re never arsed about Alaska and Hawaii). It may not get to that. If it looks like a blowout, McCain may concede before that point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-on-line-coverage-of-the-election/470207.md?page=1)