From their front page, Fox News does its best to sow confusion and fear about the election and what’s happening at the ballot box. Truly loathsome people.
We talk to an actual eyewitness witness on the scene in that bogus ‘black panther’ voter intimidation story Drudge and Fox are pushing.
With all the back and forth in the polls and all the theorizing, sometimes it’s good to go back and look at one of the electoral vote calculator maps. Here’s CNN’s. For everything I said below, if McCain can’t win Pennsylvania (final polls), which none of the polls suggest he is likely to do, he’s really up the creek. If he can’t win Virginia (final polls), which is closer but still less than likely according to the polls, he’s basically done.
Don’t get me wrong. My point here is not to suggest that the election is in the bag. It’s not. It’s only to focus your attention on two states that may tell us the story early.
There are a lot of ways for Obama to win; that’s the easiest and most likely.
Virginia starts reporting at 7pm, Pennsylvania at 8 pm.
The last time I was in Grant Park I was staggering across the finish line of the Chicago marathon. Things don’t look nearly so grim for Obama …
Full-size video at TPMtv.com.
We’ve set up special threads at TPM Election Central for you to share your election day experiences.
Here’s one report from Maryland …
My polling place is at the fairgrounds in Southern Maryland, about 40 minutes from Washington, D.C. This used to be tobacco country, but is slowly being developed, or other crops are grown. We waited until 10:00 to vote, to avoid the lines. When we got there a 97-year-old Black man was being wheeled out of the polls in his wheelchair. It was the first time he had ever voted in his life. When he came outside he asked if anyone could give him an Obama button. There were none left at the Democrat’s booth so I gave him mine. He was so proud and I started crying. He looked at me and said, “why are you crying? this is a day for glory.” I am still crying.
Here’s the earlier discussion thread from this morning, which had already filled up to 400+ comments.
CNN is conducting a live election day phone interview with Joe the Plumber.
It’s hard for the GOP and Fox News to give up on whipping up fears that Obama is going to set up a black dictatorship in America where sundry pimps and gangbangers will replace the civil service and institute a reign of racial terror and compulsory miscegenation. Fox and the McCain campaign are pushing hard on this story of two men outside a polling place in Philly dressed in Black Panther garb. People affiliated with the McCain campaign showed up, to photograph or possibly provoke an incident. The police were called. One of the two guys was asked to leave; and he left. The other guys turned out to be an official poll watcher. That was probably the best resolution. As near as we can tell there’s all sort of misinformation being disseminated about whites being prevented from voting, etc. We talked to an Obama campaign volunteer who saw the whole thing. And you can see her account here. This is just a kinder, gentler version of the Ashley Todd ‘Carved B’ mumbojumbo, another desperate Republican attempt to whip up racial hysteria to give them hope of winning the election.