6:39 PM PST Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. He currently has 200 electoral votes, California, Washington and Oregon have not been counted yet, they are solid Obama states. With those states included Barack Obama would have 274 electoral votes. He is the next President. Let's see how far over the 270 mark he will go!

6:28 PST: Barack Obama takes Ohio. Wow this night is turning out fantastically!

5:04 PM PST:
Called for Obama by NBC and MSNBC! Chris Matthews just says that the McCain strategy has collapsed. Wow! Good news!

3:57 PST she just reported Elizabeth Dole (R) will loose her Senate seat, Obama will win North Carolina and they are calling it an Obama tsunami in North Carolina.

This is for my friends around the world who are not Americans, but are rooting for Barack with everything they have. I've never seen people so excited about our elections.
There are several things to watch for tomorrow, several things to keep in mind. New England will easily go for Obama. In New England the interesting races to watch will be the Chris Shay's Vs Jim Himes. Shays is a Yankee Republican, that means he believes in civil rights, pro-choice, etc, if he looses there will be no Yankee Republicans representing any New England State in the House of Representatives.  In Connecticut voting hours are 6 AM to 9 PM, my time that is 6:00 PM. This race will be interesting to watch. That will be a plus 1 for Dems is Himes wins and a -1 for the Republicans. These races are all about majorities and possibly super majorities.  The other New England race to watch is the John Sununu V Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, if Obama takes New Hampshire it is more than likely Shaheen will win, that will be a +1 for the Senate.   New Hampshire voting hours are 8 AM - 7PM.  At 7PM EST the polls close in Virginia, Virginia may be a bell weather state for Obama. Virginia has been red since 1964. We expect Mark Warner (D) to replace retiring Senator John Warner (no relation) (R). If the state is called early for Obama this may tell the way the rest of the election goes. The other interesting states to watch will be North Carolina, can Obama pull out a win there and carry a new Senator with him? Colorado seems like a sure win for Obama and a new Democratic Senator named Udall whose cousin is running in New Mexico to replace another retiriing Republican. Dem's are awash in good candidates. This is a lucky year. Watch Indiana, Watch Ohio, Watch Kentucky for a Republican Senator to lose his re-election bid.  I believe Montana and N Dakota could easily flip this year float towards Obama will very small majorities. Ron Paul is still on the ticket in Montana and Montana conservatives love him. Lastly we will watch Nevada, Arizona and Oregon, why Oregon, because we could flip Senators here with a win for the Democrat Merkley and out with Smith the Republican. Smith isn't a bad guy, it is just a bad year to be a Republican. These are the things to remember and the places to watch when you are watching the election. Go to the Main Page of TalkingPoints Memo. They are running a cool interactive map to watch the results. I will be keeping you all up to date tomorrow! I will see some of you in SF in two weeks!

This is for my friends around the world who are not Americans, but are rooting for Barack with everything they have. I've never seen people so excited about our elections.
There are several things to watch for tomorrow, several things to keep in mind. New England will easily go for Obama. In New England the interesting races to watch will be the Chris Shay's Vs Jim Himes. Shays is a Yankee Republican, that means he believes in civil rights, pro-choice, etc, if he looses there will be no Yankee Republicans representing any New England State in the House of Representatives.  In Connecticut voting hours are 6 AM to 9 PM, my time that is 6:00 PM. This race will be interesting to watch. That will be a plus 1 for Dems is Himes wins and a -1 for the Republicans. These races are all about majorities and possibly super majorities.  The other New England race to watch is the John Sununu V Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, if Obama takes New Hampshire it is more than likely Shaheen will win, that will be a +1 for the Senate.   New Hampshire voting hours are 8 AM - 7PM.  At 7PM EST the polls close in Virginia, Virginia may be a bell weather state for Obama. Virginia has been red since 1964. We expect Mark Warner (D) to replace retiring Senator John Warner (no relation) (R). If the state is called early for Obama this may tell the way the rest of the election goes. The other interesting states to watch will be North Carolina, can Obama pull out a win there and carry a new Senator with him? Colorado seems like a sure win for Obama and a new Democratic Senator named Udall whose cousin is running in New Mexico to replace another retiriing Republican. Dem's are awash in good candidates. This is a lucky year. Watch Indiana, Watch Ohio, Watch Kentucky for a Republican Senator to lose his re-election bid.  I believe Montana and N Dakota could easily flip this year float towards Obama will very small majorities. Ron Paul is still on the ticket in Montana and Montana conservatives love him. Lastly we will watch Nevada, Arizona and Oregon, why Oregon, because we could flip Senators here with a win for the Democrat Merkley and out with Smith the Republican. Smith isn't a bad guy, it is just a bad year to be a Republican. These are the things to remember and the places to watch when you are watching the election. Go to the Main Page of TalkingPoints Memo. They are running a cool interactive map to watch the results. I will be keeping you all up to date tomorrow! I will see some of you in SF in two weeks!

It is strange that when Sarah Palin and John McCain speak about energy policy and development they talk only about fossil fuels or Nuclear Power, pronounced nucular if you are a Republican, but they never ever speak about cutting edge energy technologies like focus fusion.  The question that must be posed, is why? Why all the talk of clean coal and more drilling, but never ever a discussion about new technologies?
There are many different approaches to generating energy by nuclear fusion.  Focus Fusion is the most practical and attainable. "Focus Fusion" refers to fusion reactors that use hydrogen-boron fuel and the Plasma Focus Device.When are we going to hear the so-called energy expert talk about Focus Fusion?

It has to be said, this could not have happened to a nicer guy! Good luck in your new job as Senator Mark Begich!

Moments ago Chris Matthews destroyed Nancy Puffinstuff on air while going after Sarah "the VP runs the Senate" Palin. It was beautiful and fun to watch. It is strange to see all the damage John McCain has done to his own career over this campaign. Watch the re-run or get the clip someone it was really fantastic!

Why  John McCain thinks the mother is some gimmick some talking point when it comes to abortion is Incredible. He must be kidding. He also accused Sen. Obama of being pro-abortion and supported the pro-abortion movement! What is this? I  have never heard of it before, and in fact this is something folks like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the crazies like to say, pro-abortion movement? Well John McCain you lost a bunch of women this time. Our health is important. Keeping the government out of our bodies and out of our decisions with our physicians is important, the majority of women are not going to like what you said tonight.

Reading about Christopher Buckley today, Douglas Kmiec and his on-going struggle with his priest and other conservatives who think he has abandoned his party, reminded me of the Poem first published in 1955 in a book by  Milton Meyer, titled They Thought They Were Free.  
First they came for the Communists,
- but I was not a communist so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists,
- but I was neither, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Jews,
- but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.

I imagine that is what conservatives feel right now especially if they are speaking out against John McCain and Sarah Palin.  This list is long of blacklisted conservatives Kathleen Parker, Christopher Buckley, Douglas Kmiec, Jim Leach, Susan Eisenhower, David Brooks, Matthew Dowd, oh the list goes on and on and on. They must feel as though their party has completely left them. It is a strange place we are in today, one built by the likes of Karl Rove and his ilk. A political life built on hating the other side, but not on merely intellectual and ideological differences, just built on painting the otherside as traitors, anti-American at their core and other vitriole. Will Linda Carter be next on their list, will she field threats of  mobs of angry conservatives whipped up by those so-called leaders?  So now they know the truth of the last line of that poem but do they hear it yet? But when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.

I posted this on Salon last night, so here goes:
I honestly felt bad for McCain tonight, I felt like he suddenly knew this was out of his control. It felt like McCain was truly sorry for the horrible campaign he'd been running. He's been playing to the baser side of the fringe right winger, the nut. I really felt sad, there was a glimmer of the old John McCain, the guy we used to see, even if it was a farce, but the guy that appeared to stick up for everyone. His campaign has been nothing short of a complete disappointment. He hired Bush's boys and played the game their way and here they are destroying him one more time. It is South Carolina all over again. In his face everything was apparent, they had misread the public terribly, he knew it too. This election the nation isn't prepared to play games, our economy is spiraling downward, quickly, the wars continue and all McCain's campaign offers is another scare tactic, another gimmick. Sen. McCain sold his soul. The look on his face, he was suddenly Gollum, lost without his master, knowing there was something wrong, but his longing for the ring was just to powerful to overcome so he was willing to do what ever it takes. Suddenly tonight he realized it too, he felt it, I saw it on his face. He realized he sold his soul and it is destroying him. The proof was the look on his face. He knew what they'd done was wrong. He'd allowed his campaign to step over the line. If he ever had control of his own campaign, and I am not sure he did.  Just like Gollum the power of the Ring was too much. The look on his face tonight said it all. And as he slunk off the stage all you could hear, was Precious, my precious.