Mr. Understatement

"I think it was a repudiation of Republicans. And I'm sure some people voted for Barack Obama because of me." -- Dumbya, in an interview with ABC's Charles Gibson on the election results.

Yeah, just "some."

Toot, Toot!

With North Carolina finally called for Obama, we feel it's time for a little horn-tooting: WE NAILED IT! -- meaning our prediction that Obama would get 364 electoral votes was right on the money. (We had Indiana and Missouri, both with 11 electoral votes, switched.)

Other hits: Dole and Sununu out

Near hits: Sen. Coleman awaiting recount in Minnesota; networks called the election at 11:00 EST rather than the predicted 10:30 (although they knew at roughly 10 that Obama was the winner, thanks to victories in PA and OH)

Misses: Rep. Bachmann ("The Minnesota Loon") reelected

North Carolina Won By Obama

The Associated Press is reporting that the final count in North Carolina has been completed, and that President-elect Obama carried the state by a slim margin, roughly 13,000 votes. That brings the electoral vote for him to 364. (Missouri is still out, and it's also very close there with McSame having a slight edge).

The Change We Need

Sen. Obama's election as the 44th President was history in the making. Having lived through the civil rights era and seeing racial prejudice even today, we're somewhat in disbelief this morning that America has chosen an African-American as its President, and by a healthy margin. The sheer joy of millions here and throughout the world was clearly visible in watching election night coverage. Obama spoke to at least 100,000 people in Chicago's Grant Park last night, saying:

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

While the final tallies in Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina are incomplete, Obama can count on a minimum of 338* electoral votes, winning such Rethuglican states as Ohio, Virginia and Florida in the east, and Colorado and Nevada in the West. Obama appears to have beaten McSame 52 to 46 percent in the popular vote, the first time since Carter that a Democrat has topped 50 percent.

*UPDATE: Indiana (!!) goes for Obama; make that electoral total so far 349. What's going on in North Carolina?

"I Didn't Vote For Obama Today"

It's not what you think. Let's see if you can get through this post without choking up. The majority of voters won't know the pride -- and a burden lifted -- that African-American voters feel in today's election. But we can all celebrate how far we've come.

GO VOTE

This ad began running locally here only a couple of days ago, but it's a powerful message.

Now, go vote.

Fearless Forecast!

After close consultation with our polling firms and independent analysis of our own internal numbers, Hackwhackers is ready to make this fearless forecast for tomorrow's election:

Obama/Biden: 364 electoral votes

McSleazy/You Betcha: 174 electoral votes

Newsworthy notes:

Obama carries most of the "tossup" states (VA, MO, NC, FL, OH) but misses carrying Indiana and Montana by less than 2% (BFD).

The networks will call the election by 10:30 p.m. EST.

Noted Rethugs going down: Rep. Michelle "I See Anti-Americans" Bachmann; Sen. Elizabeth "Niagara" Dole; Sen. "Norm" (Short for "Normally I'm a Republican, Except When I'm Up for Reelection") Coleman; Sen. John "Boo-Hoo" Sununu.

Fighting the Depression

There are a few reasons (new time constraints being chief among them) why this Hackwhacker has slowed down in recent weeks (fortunately, his brother Hackwhacker has been more than keeping up the struggle). As to other reasons, it would be less-than-honest (and therefore Rethuglican) if I didn't also mention my increasing gloom at the resurgence of our modern-day Know-Nothing party and the incomprehensible willingness of a large portion of the American public to give the Rethuglicans four more years to continue the damage they inflicted in the last eight. Talk about being dumber than a sack of hammers. Makes it kind of hard to get up the juice to blog.

While pondering my malaise (not the Jimmy Carter kind), I came across a short piece in Firedoglake wherein the point is made that part of the Turdblossom Rove strategy being pursued by the McBush campaign is designed to demoralize the opposition, and that it's our duty to fight back against the depression. It's not easy. (Now for some non-PC venting: It's easier fighting the dishonest and hypocritical than it is fighting the stupid, the lazy, the proudly uninformed --and yes, the racist-- who seem to make up a large chunk of the electorate. I'm speaking of those who cannot or will not connect the dots - who operate on "gut feelings" and disinformation provided by the scurrilously dishonest McBush ads and hacks. How else to explain the ease with which the Rethug team has been able to convince so many that they will bring change? Are they that easily swayed by demonstrable lies and exaggerations? So far, that would seem to be the case.)

You have to be hopeful that the current situation turns around before Election Day. Hopeful, yes. Sanguine, no.

Lipstick on a Pig? We're Offended!

TPM has a nice piece ,complete with McBush/Palin graphic, on the inept attempt by the Rethugs to feint outrage (OUTRAGE!) at Obama's use of the "lipstick on a pig" phrase to describe the McBushies claiming the Mantle of Change. Or, as Hillary Clinton put it while campaigning in Florida on Monday:

"The Republicans are trying to convince us to give them 4 more years to clean up the mess they made. Choosing a Republican to clean up this mess is like asking an iceberg to save the Titanic."

Now that's some lipstick you can believe in!

More On Why It's 50/50 (Or Worse)

Not to belabor our point earlier (ok, we will), but Adam McKay has a piece today that elaborates somewhat on the post-RNC-Palin bounce, and why we're seeing McBush riding so high when, in reality, he's just more of the same discredited, exhausted Rethug corpus, only much older.

(Oh, and this, too. Is anyone in the Obama/Biden camp reading this?)

"How Many Elections Must Democrats Lose..."

After seeing the latest polls, it's difficult not to be somewhat affected by how successful the Rethugs have been in marketing their "mavericky" ticket. Reading Hullabaloo today, we find a reflection of our own frustration with the curious tendency of Democrats to not want to mix it up with Rethugs. As we've been saying for over a month, we need a gut fighter -- a Harry Truman, not an Adlai Stevenson -- to give the Rethugs the hell they richly deserve. This election is too important to let it become Kerry Campaign, Part II. After all, they're not "mavericks," they're Republicans!

Polling Demographics

Looking at the recent polls have given at least one Hackwhacker the "freakies". However, our Tokyo Bureau Chief Brian has some additional polling demographics that it behooves us to study.

The Ticket: Obama/ ?

W. Hackwhacker is pleased to announce his waaaay- out- on- a- limb, contrary- to- Village- Think pick for Obama's running mate: Joe Biden... no. Evan Bayh... no. Tim Kaine... no. Wesley Clark... maybe, but no. Kathleen Sebelius... getting warmer, but no. W. Hackwhacker (the younger, smarter and more attractive Hackwhacker, by the way) says... Hillary.

You saw it here first. Unless it's someone else, and then, as with the post immediately following, this will automatically self-destruct.

UPDATE: The estimable fivethirtyeight says what we're thinking.

Hit By GOP Stupid Stick, Public Responds

(This post will self-destruct in the event of an Obama rebound in the polls.)

Well, it looks like the smear campaign waged all summer by St. John McBush, combined with a Kerryesque refusal to respond in kind, has led to Sen. Obama falling behind in the polls. Buttressing this, Reuters/Zogby has a poll showing McBush leading nationally by 5%. Robert Arena over at Americablog has a fine analysis.

Here's my abbreviated "analysis": Although the Obama campaign has been saying all summer they would not let McBush's campaign define their candidate in the same way Turdblossom and the (not-so) Swift Boaters defined President Kerry in 2004, they've let it happen anyway. To them, it's been all about running a "different kind of campaign" that appeals to the intelligence and desire for change in the American public. Well, after 2 months of "celebrity- Britney- Paris- presumptuous- elitist- tax- unpatriotic- he's a secret Muslim" nonsense, the same American public that's just started tuning into the campaign has absorbed what the Rethugs wanted them to absorb (with a major assist by the "mainstream media"). Meanwhile, Adlai... er Barack's high-toned, front-runner campaign has responded all-too-late, and still not at the emotional, personal level it will take to bring this phony plutocrat and his hypocritical party down.

Come on!! We need a gut-fighter to take on these SOBs, for God's sake! Give us one!


(Image: Average low-information voter Cletus Spuckler, siding with a man the teevee ads say he can relate to: that would be mega-millionaire, tax breaks for Big Oil, 4 more years of economic war on the middle class, etc., McBush!!)

McBush Saddleback Roundup

Crooks and Liars has a good roundup of this weekend's "cone of silence" kerfuffle at Rick Warren's Brokeback -- er, wrong apse -- Saddleback Church event featuring separate, but supposedly equal, questioning of Sen. Obama and St. John Cross in the Sand. What really puts the cherry on this is Chinless Wonder Rick Davis (McBush's campaign manager and mega-lobbyist) putting the heat on NBC for daring to suggest the old fart wasn't in the "cone of silence" during Obama's questioning - thereby giving McBush a preview of the questions he'd be asked. Why that would be cheating, and we all know Rethugs don't cheat!

(Photo: visual proof that St. John Cross in the Sand was in the "cone of silence.")

"Whiplash"

"Daily Kos" reflects today on a recent Pew (P.U.?) poll showing about 48% of Americans feel they're hearing too much about Sen. Obama. (The poll, of course, doesn't break this down as to if people are tired of hearing the negative attacks on Obama vs. general information overload). Hackwhackers wonders, too, how this comports with the earlier thirst (perhaps media-driven) to find out more about "Sen. Obama, Man of Mystery." Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

(Photo: One of the Pew Poll's sample voters.)

How True

Sen. Barack Obama today on Republicans:

"They're very good at negative campaigning. They're not so good at governing."

Of course, with the ever-willing "main stream media" available to keep its thumb on the scale for the Rethugs.

Dem Registration Up, Rethugs... Not So Much

Karl "Turdblossom" Rove's grand dream (nightmare?) of a permanent Rethug majority is slipping away fast. According to recent statistics, Democratic registration is up nationwide, and Rethug registration is down significantly. Now, if we can just get those new Democrats to the polls in November...

"Presumptuous" And All That Crapper

The concerted effort by the graduates of the Karl Rove Camp for Rethug Politics, now working for Mavericky McBush, to paint Obama as an elitist, "celebrity," presumptuous (read: "uppity") pretender is well underway. Will it be eaten up by the voting public? Sadly, No! seems to think so. Given the eagerness of the "moran" media to aid and abet Mavericky McBush and his Rovian accolytes in this effort, we're too starting to think, sadly, yes.

(h/t's to Sadly, No! and Rising Hegemon)

(Photo: ABC's Jake "Crapper" Tapper, looks "uppity" his ass to discover he has no soul)

"Liberal" Media, Indeed

George Mason University's Center for Media and Public Affairs, which has tracked election coverage for several decades, has issued a study proving what we already knew: the "main stream" broadcast media (NBC, CBS, and ABC) has been much more negative in its reporting on Barack Obama than St. John McBarbecue in the 6 weeks since the head-to-head- match up began. Fox (aka GOP-TV) was not included in the study since it's not a credible news organization. The results? Reporting on Obama was 78% negative , while reporting on St. John was 57% negative.

So, the next time we hear how biased the "liberal" media is, we have a steaming cup to offer you.

(h/t to Crooks and Liars)