All Over But the Countin’

Well, I’m off to bed. I’ve been up since 4 and there’s no doubt as to the outcome, only the intensity.

Florida is too close to call but seems to be leaning Obama’s way. Virginia closed late but the networks have called the Senate race for Tim Kaine; one presumes that means Obama will carry the state, too. Either one of those makes Ohio irrelevant.

Aside from bragging rights on pre-election forecasting—and Nate Silver’s looking awfully good again—the only real question seems to be whether Obama will take the popular vote, too. He likely will. Even if he doesn’t, the impact of Sandy in Democratic strongholds New York and New Jersey should moot any criticism of legitimacy on those grounds.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. :LaMont says:

    Yep, its looking pretty good for Obama. But it ain’t over till the fat lady sings! I’ll reserve my excitment until then…

  2. mattb says:

    By all accounts the polls, math, and the new castrati are all big winners tonight. Gut beliefs about oversampling, Barone, Morris, and Will among others, not so much.

    Any bets on when Eric F. surfaces to announce that Romney lost because he wasn’t a true conservative? I’m pretty sure everyone else will blame the media and the new black panthers.

  3. Fiona says:

    And it’s over. Obama wins! And it’s before midnight on the East Coast. Woohoo!

  4. michael reynolds says:

    Good for America. Obama wins, we keep the Senate and the Tea Party screws the GOP yet again.

  5. Ron Beasley says:

    FOX just called it for Obama – the fat lady sang!

  6. Tsar Nicholas says:

    It’s as over as disco. Obama wins a 2nd term. Romney got real damn close in all three of the most crucial battlegrounds (FL, VA, OH) but couldn’t quite get over the hump.

    Really an amazing display of pure power politics by Team Obama and the Dem machines. Granted, they had every possible Machiavellian advantage, but still the bottom line is that somehow they dragged every available Democrat to the polls.

    Demographically speaking this is a catastrophe for those aged 18-25, although ironically enough not only did they vote for it (again) they won’t nearly be able to grasp the ramifications now and might not clue in until it’s far too late for them. You can’t very well pay the rent much less save for retirement with an insurance card from mom and dad. But that’s mostly a topic for another time and place.

    For the GOP it will get ugly and then it’ll get uglier. A circular firing squad is bad enough when it’s secular, when sectarianism is added to the mix, hell, look out below.

  7. JKB says:

    So nothing has changed. Obama in the White House. The Senate tangled up. The House in Republican hands. So all we got is more Obama action by regulator. That should continue the decline of the technocrat. As I said earlier, I think we’ll see a move toward state resurgence and away from DC.

  8. G.A. says:

    Any bets on when Eric F. surfaces to announce that Romney lost because he wasn’t a true conservative? I’m pretty sure everyone else will blame the media and the new black panthers.

    Well, I’ll blame it on the media, the entertainment industry, and the teachers for creating so many morons….

  9. Facebones says:

    [T]he only real question seems to be whether Obama will take the popular vote, too. He likely will. Even if he doesn’t, the impact of Sandy in Democratic strongholds New York and New Jersey should moot any criticism of legitimacy on those grounds.

    Oh James. You’re adorable if you actually believe that. Get set for a few more years of the dittoheads screaming about how Obama stole Ohio with black panthers and Acorn.