Although I doubt many on this side of the ocean are staying up all night to watch this moment in history, I’ve decided to give in to my political tendencies and monitor how this election all comes together. Who knows. Maybe four years from now this blog won’t be around. At least I’ll get to say I was there. Somewhere.
So here we go. It’s 1:58am (Amman Time). I’ve got my Arabian coffee. I’ve got the talking heads on TV. Electoral maps on all the Firefox tabs. As I scour the Internet for interesting updates, from here there.
2:11am: First states come in. McCain takes KY and Obama takes VT. Expected.
2:18am: Daoud Kuttab is live blogging from Amman as well, right on the Huffington Post of all places.
2:33am: CNN just used a hologram for the first time to beam a correspondent from a tent in Chicago to the Situation Room. CNN spent 5 minutes talking about the hologram and referencing Star Wars at least 6 times.
2:39am: CBS News is projecting that West Virginia will go to McCain
2:41am: Indiana, a key battleground state that McCain needs in his pocket, seems to be going his way. All eyes go to Virginia.
2:48am: A 92 year-old Texan woman arrived to her polling place on a gurney in an ambulance. Now that’s a determined voter.
2:51am: Voting machine failures and registration glitches in precincts in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, New Jersey and Florida
2:55am: Flipping through all the channels, both on TV and on the live Web feeds of the major stations worldwide, there seem to be virtually hundreds of pundits and experts lined up. And I’m wondering just how many of these pundits all across the world are making their living tonight. Over 5,000?
2:58am: South Carolina goes to McCain, as called by CNN. Looks like Virginia might also go to McCain. If that’s the case, he has a good chance to take this election.
3:03am: Obama wins Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. McCain has won Oklahoma and Tennessee.
3:11am: Penn. goes to Obama. That’s an obvious electoral heavyweight for democrats. Early states are going to Obama.
3:15am: Obama takes a huge lead. 103 to 34. Red states are yet to come in.
3:23am: Waiting for Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert to go live at 5am Amman time. I need some giggles tonight.
3:30am: Apparently Obama is not al-mehdi.
3:36am: More red states go to McCain including Alabama and Arkansas (according to CBS). However, Georgia is going to Obama (according to MSNBC). Fox and NBC are projecting that state will go to McCain.
I’m wondering if this will be a night where not only does Obama win but the Democrats win a filibuster-proof majority in the House. Can the whole US swing to the left tonight? Those seat races are something to watch for.
3:49am: Without Penn. McCain has to win all of Bush’s states from 2004. According to CNN, white evangelicals voted for McCain in larger margins in South Carolina than they did for Bush. Sullivan calls it a “Rove legacy” for the Republican party.
Obama supporters gather in the thousands at Grant Park, Chicao. One million are expected to show up.
4:00am: Tid-bit info…US media spends $9.6million covering Obama versus $4.4million to cover McCain.
4:07am: New York and Great Lake states go to Obama…except of course for Ohio. They better declare that damn swing state before I fall asleep on my keyboard.
4:16am: Twitter Elections site is probably one of the coolest online political and social being used on this election day. Voters tracked everything as they waited in line, and are now updating every second as the results come in.
Twitter comment of the moment… ki_lo: OBAMA TAKES AFRICA!
4:21am: Fox projects Obama will take Ohio! Looks like this will be a short night after all.
4:25am: NBC calls Ohio for Obama
Japanese women react as they watch a part of the results of the U.S. presidential election through a TV set at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo.
4:36am: Well it’s pretty much over. Obama is a hair away from being officially declared President-elect. What’s left is really to see if this will be a landslide victory as well as the house and senate races, both factors of which will determine the kind of mandate he’ll have in 77 days.
Twitter comment of the moment… droidwhisperer: At McCain headquarters, they’ve turned off the news, and are just listening to Hank Williams Jr. play
4:50am: Hawaii officials will count Obama’s grandmother’s absentee ballot.
Quote of the Moment: “There is no path I can see for a McCain victory.” – John King, CNN
5:44am: Tomorrow Today is another work day so I guess that does it for me folks, and I’ll call it a night. It’s been great staying up to watch history in the making, and thanks to all the readers who hung around.
Congratulations are in order to the American people and the Obama fan base.
So begins a new chapter in American history, to say nothing of world history.
Fingers crossed that it’ll be a positive one, especially for this region.
“It’s 1:58am (Amman Time). I’ve got my Arabian coffee”.. lool I love how you call it “Arabian” coffee which makes it sound so Orientalized coffee, being consumed by that oriental subject, the AY—RAB, sooooo interested in American politics 😛
anyway, i just rushed home after class to catch up on what’s happening here. I’m reading my novel, while listening to NPR live election coverage 😀
ah npr….good stuff
I hope the day will come that I can do the same. Live blog from the US about the Jordanian elections.
Nas, I’m hesitant to accept the plausibility of a victorious Obama but don’t you at least expect that news reports (especially that on the internet) will probably be pulled or changed by the minute? a bit of a conspiracy theory touch to this midget, but me humbly think linking stories will sort of be futile if events fold in unfavorable manner to one party or another!
Plus, and since you’re on it, i read a piece of news that wasn’t emphasized on Al-Jazeera int’l scroll bar claiming that some European agencies monitoring the elections (didn’t know the american elections were monitored by foreign entities) were sort of restricted and blocked to perform their full duties! have you got anything on that piece?
mab3oos: pray
Basem: post links
Ah Nas 🙂 I’m kinda wondering what I’m doing in front of the computer right now while I should probably be in Harlem… I wish I had an iPhone tonight!!
Check out http://www.columbiajournalist.org for a change from the networks 🙂 although New York is so blue there’s no suspense there!
Keep the good stuff coming 🙂
“More red states go to McCain including Alabama and Arkansas”… yes, expected. Arkansas goes red (darkkk red usually), except with ibn elbalad, Clinton 🙂
Lina…you should be in chicago! you’re becoming too much of a new yorker! come back quick!
the beauty of democracy! the game is more fascinating than the actual politics
I think most of the black iris followers would have guessed that you’d have a sleepless night! a historic day indeed.
nas, nas, wake up, wake up, Ohio went to Obama. Wake up.
Diala…i’m becoming predictable..ugh..not good 😀
mab3oos…i’m awake! i’m awake man! 😀
phew, I thought we lost you for a second!
It is over, mohanned called the elections… Keith olberman has the urge to call it, but they are calming him down.. It is over baby..
Fox news is like dar el 3aza..Karl rove looks like he is about to pass out, while bill cristol continues to look like an ass hole.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Obama elected president !
and everybody lived happily ever after, congrats everybody!
This is an amazing moment in U.S history.. I can’t believe it!
MABROOOK BARACK HUSSIEN OBAMA!
ya3teek el3afyeh, Naseem 🙂
InshAllah it will be a beneficial four years for all of us. May Allah guide him. Thank God we avoided the other choice…
Mabruuk!!!! America voted your voice 🙂
Congrats Obama and Congrats America, you finally shocked us….
I hope Obama’s journey will continue, and I hope things work out…
Nas, awesome coverage, I had a feeling that the second I arrive at my internet hub at work, I will be witnessing your detailed coverage of the election.
Cheers!
Nas, I don’t know if this is the right place for reporting technical issues, but your website seems to be black text against a black background. I can only read it if I select the text…..
Good post by the way
Please ignore my last comment – i seem to have forgotten how to use a computer
At that exact time my Son was delivered in Amman… and the world was celebrating , the real reason was my son not Obama
hey nas, you were quoting by the new york times this morning. mabruk!!!
Aba Abdellah Omar Ibno Abi Adey: Mabrook!
upyernoz: cool! thanks! that’s a nice honor.
Hey, great live blogging, but one thing: Representatives cannot filibuster in the House, only in the Senate. The House has a Rules Committee which sets time limits on debate (without Rules Committee intervention, regular House rules limit debate to 30 minutes per member but that never happens — special rules are almost always used).
The Senate has no Rules Committee, thus debate is usually not limited (only in some very special cases) and that’s what allows for the filibuster to occur. It isn’t a parliamentary tool that is invoked, rather, just what we call talking a bill to death.
Thanks!
Diego