Not that anyone checks my blog on an hourly basis, but I thought it would be fun to run a commentary on my opinions and reactions as the poll returns come in. I’m watching Peter Jennings and his election team on ABC, for reference.
8:00pm – Early, early returns are disappointing. Bush has 39 electoral votes, Kerry has 3, and it looks like Ohio’s ban on gay marriage is going to pass by nearly a 2:1 margin. Damn, damn, damn. Why are people so… I don’t know… narrow-minded? The gay marriage referendum closed the door on civil unions, as well, through its wording. I’m not usually very vehement about political or social issues, but this is one defeat that is highly disappointing to me.
8:05pm – That’s better. Bush with 66, Kerry with 74. Give me a second for them to put up the map… Nope, neither Ohio nor Florida are tallied yet.
8:15pm – Now, at this particular moment of electoral limbo, with returns coming in and nothing yet decided, there is one thing I’m most pleased about: NO MORE POLITICAL ADS. I never thought I’d be happy to see a Chrysler commercial again.
8:35pm – The online Electoral Vote Predictor currently shows a near-tie in the presidential election: Kerry with 262, Bush with 261 electoral votes. This is, of course, speculation and statistics, and the candidates need 270 votes to clinch the Presidency. Still, though, it’s heartening.
8:40pm – Fuck. Now it’s 102 to 77, Bush. I need to stop getting worked up over each single state reporting in and being tallied. It’s a long night ahead.
9:15pm – Emerged from Photoshopping to check the returns, and was surprised by the map. There’s an awful lotta red on that map. Part of me is wishing Ohio would pop up on the map already, but part of me is daunted by the fact that the preliminary results are showing Bush besting Kerry in Ohio by about 55% to 45%. It’s still early, I know, but I’m starting to feel a little defeatist about this. I’m also feeling like I might fall asleep before the results are all announced.
9:55pm – Feeling more sleepy and more disheartened by the moment. The local news keeps reporting that Bush is currently edging out Kerry in the Ohio race, although the margin gets slimmer as more precincts report in. I’m going to try to stay up for at least another half-hour or so, in hopes of getting a better idea of who will be President when I wake up in the morning.
10:20pm – Aaron just called from work to ask how the results were looking. As I tried to explain that Bush was ahead, but that none of the Battleground States had been decided yet, it occured to me how tired I truly am. I was stumbling all over my words, and my brain felt like cotton. I think I’m going to try to stick it out until 11:00, and see what it looks like at that point, and then go to bed and see who’s President when I wake up in the morning.
10:45pm – Ralph Nader is so sad. The excerpt from his speech this evening nearly put me to sleep (which, at this point, isn’t terribly difficult). I hope he doesn’t try to run again in 2008. He might have done well in earlier years, back when more people knew his name as… well, a corporate activist, I guess one might call him. For now, though, in the year 2004, he just looks so sad and so washed-up that he doesn’t exude any sort of presidential vibe. Not to say that he doesn’t still have good ideas—it just takes a certain amount of political sleaze and schmooze to make an effective, electable candidate. And he ain’t got it.
11:05pm – OK, I’m done. As of right now, it looks like Kerry’s going to win Pennsylvania and California, so the electoral vote stands at 200 to 188, in favor of Bush. At least it’s a little closer now. I’m just too tired to justify staying up to see who the next president will be.
So, Aaron, you might leave me a note or something telling me who the President is, so I won’t have to have people at work tell me tomorrow. 🙂
Good luck, all. I hope we won’t have voted in vain.
