CNN is still reporting the results as 254 electoral votes for Bush, and 252 for Kerry. MSNBC howevever, shows Bush with 269 and Kerry with 221. Both NBC and Fox are predicting that Bush is going to win Ohio, and thus, the election. I know CNN wanted to be extra cautious this year, but even the network’s James Carville is saying Bush has won.
Kerry’s camp will probably drag Ohio out for weeks, but it looks like Bush for now.
Looks pretty safe to say that Bush is going to win the election. He has been leading pretty comfortably all of the result counts for a number of hours now, and I have been tracking CNN, MSNBC and CBC. I just posted a special episode of Blogosphere News covering some of the news items affecting the blogosphere on election day in the United States:
In this special episode of Blogosphere News, host Mack Male takes a look at some of the blogosphere related news items surrounding the U.S. Election, complete with updates on the results as each segment is recorded.
What I did was record a segment at a time, so that I could update the election results as the show progresses. I think it is quite a unique podcast, as I haven’t seen anything similar anywhere in my travels. Anyway, check out Blogosphere News Special Report: Election Day 2004, and let me know what you think. We’ll have a couple more shows this week on the election, including a new Blogoversial episode where we’ll highlight some of the post-election reaction in the blogosphere, so stay tuned!
Just a quick personal update in the midst of all this election stuff. Took Kimmi to the orthodontist today, and afterward she “highlighted” my hair. Turned out to be more of a dying, but I rather like it. Thanks Kim! Also picked up a poppy today, make sure to donate and get yours!
Went to Starbucks tonight with Grandma, and was very pleased to see the Christmas drinks are back! That is the only part of Christmas that I don’t mind starting right after Halloween. Needless to say, I am currently enjoying my Eggnog latte and watching Jon Stewart’s LIVE Daily Show on CTV.
The polls have started coming in south of the border, and Kerry currently leads with 77 electoral votes to Bush’s 66 (CNN). Bush currently has 57% of the popular vote, however. Tons of websites are covering the election, as you might expect, and tons of them are under attack.
Aaron Bailey reported earlier today that a number of “conservative” bloggers sites have been under attack, and many are down, like VodkaPundit, Powerline and Malkin. The site I have been using, http://www.electoral-vote.com, is also down. Only its 8th mirror site seems to be working, and very, very slowly at that.
Both the candidates websites experienced larger than normal traffic on the eve of the election, with both more than doubling daily averages. Both sites remained working, however. Something needs to be done to help out the little guys. We can’t let people attack free speech and bring down entire blogs or websites.
More to come later tonight when I post a special Blogosphere News podcast on the election.
Now this is what I am talking about. Too lazy to tie your own tie? Invent a robot to do it for you!
Read: Engadget
Maybe NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is enjoying the player dissension. Seems to me that would be a more likely scenario than him being upset about it:
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman isn’t taking signs of dissension within the player ranks very seriously. “I view it as a part of the process,” Bettman told TSN in an interview broadcast Monday night.
As for the chances of hockey this season:
Bettman said it was unlikely the 2004-05 season would take place. So far, 127 games have been cancelled to date. “It’s very difficult to negotiate over solutions to problems that everybody in the world except union leadership believes exists. I think this is a union that is deadline hunting; unfortunately, I think the season may slip away without a deadline,” Bettman said.
Just bring back the hockey!
Read: CTV
Ever wonder what the origins of Halloween are? I did. So I searched Google and found a number of pages with varying descriptions. Almost all the pages say that the holiday can be traced back to the ancient religion of the Celtics. There are also some pages dedicated to taking information from the Bible to explain its origins (don’t ask me why). I like this one:
Originally, Halloween was commonly celebrated as a religious holiday meant to scare evil spirits away. People used to dress up as goblins, witches, and ghosts in order to celebrate All Saints’ Day without a visit from the evil spirits. Other customs associated with Halloween that can be traced back in time include the Jack-O-Lantern. Irish children used to carve out potatoes or turnips and light them for their Halloween gatherings. The commemorated Jack was an wicked Irish villain unwanted by either heaven or hell. Jack wondered the world endlessly looking for a place to rest. Once in America, the Irish began to use pumpkins to celebrate Halloween with a Jack-O-Lantern because pumpkins were easier to carve and could be found in abundance.
Anyway, enjoy your last day of freedom. Freedom? Well you can count on seeing Christmas everywhere starting tomorrow. You won’t be able to escape the red, green and gold decorations, holiday music, and Christmas trees. New Years won’t come soon enough!
It has been a busy weekend for BlogosphereRadio so far! On Friday I posted a new Blogosphere News episode, and tonight we posted three new shows. First is a special episode of The Vlog in which we talk about election humor. There is also a new Blogoversial episode covering the election, with a follow up show to be posted on Wednesday or Thursday next week.
Finally there is a new episode of Blogging With, in which I interview Jon Gales of mobiletracker.net. Jon is a 19 year old blogger who has made some really decent money off his blog from advertising. The interview went quite well, so definitely check it out!
I know, lots of posts on the US election recently, but I am really into it. The latest is this story on Betfair, which has been accepting bets on who will win the election. Looks good for Bush:
Although U.S. opinion polls are still finding it hard to separate President Bush from his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, customers of Betfair, an online betting exchange, have overwhelmingly backed the Republican candidate.
Betfair’s latest figures show 2.3 million pounds ($4.2 million) have been wagered on Bush, while Kerry has attracted only 680,000 pounds ($1.25 million) in bets. Bush is now at 1-5 odds to stay in office, whereas gamblers can still get odds of 2-1 on Kerry to win.
Apparently the betting patterns are quite accurate, but I guess we’ll find out. I have long said that I would vote for Kerry if American, but that I think Bush will win. So he’s ahead in the polls today, and in the bets. Looks like another four years of terror.
Read: CNET News.com
Looks like Osama bin Laden has his timing down. Just days before the U.S. election, a new video tape has appeared in which Osama says:
“Despite entering the fourth year after Sept. 11, Bush is still deceiving you and hiding the truth from you and therefore the reasons are still there to repeat what happened (with new attacks).”
You know what this means? Both Bush votes and Kerry votes lose. If you vote Bush, you’re just blind. If you vote Kerry, you’re almost listening to Osama! Unfortunately, I guess the release of this new tape means that he won’t be caught right before the election. That would have made things interesting.
Read: Reuters
