podpolia

ELECTION NIGHT.
Sites I'm watching…
Yahoo! News – Elections
Florida Department of State
Power Line
These are the good ones. If I find more, i'll post them too.

I thought I'd post a bit about my experience voting this morning. I vote in Hopewell Township in Central Pennsylvania. It's overwhelmingly a conservative area.
I reached the township building on Three Square Hollow Road at about 8.20 this morning. Voting started at 6.00 AM, so the polls had only been open for not quite two and a half hours. I have never seen so many people in the building. I've been voting since I turned 18 in 2001, and so I've been there (counting primaries) something like 5 times. There were almost 30 people in line waiting to vote, which is probably about as many as I've ever seen at the polling place combined. I was the 177th person to vote.
If you look at the numbers, there are not even 1500 people old enough to vote in Hopewell Township, nevermind those who didn't (or couldn't) register to vote, and 177 people had voted already by 8.30 this morning. The turnout is going to be very high for this election.

Today's the day.
Weather: As predicted, rain in OH and MI, as well as western WV and PA. I don't think the rain will be enough to push the election to Bush in PA or MI, but it may help shore up Bush's lead in Ohio and West Virginia. Reports of fraud in Philly, and judicial fiddling in SD.
Besides the election, there's news on Russia's nuclear material.
I don't know how much I'll be posting today, but I intend to keep up with the news as best I can.

This is quite good. Somebody has a literary background…
Weather for election day: MI, OH, and WV get rain. (I'm not sure if the link will work or not, but worth a shot.) Democrats turn out in lower numbers when it rains.
Followed by an article from the Guardian that's worth reading.
Finally, Daschle sues Thune.

Where are Kerry's discharge papers?

More on bin Laden's statement. Quite interesting.

Powerline links to the AP wrapup on international commentary on the bin Laden tape. Generally consistant with my analysis of it, overall. Deacon also posts an account of meeting “Michael the Black Man.” I rather tend to agree with Michael's analysis on why certain segments of the Muslim population hate America.

Well.
Tommy Franks on Tora Bora (and Kerry's being full of fecal matter).
Also, bin Laden has come out against Bush (suprise, suprise. Hat tip LGF.)
Oddly enough, these remarks sound like something Kerry would say.
…and THIS is why we do not like Ed Rendell.

The true story of one of those Iraqis we're oppressing by freeing them from a murderous tyrant.

Kerry is preparing a cabinet. From what I have seen over the past few days, the Kerry camp seems eager to use the announcements about formation of a cabinet as a bludgeon to sway legal challenges to the election, if we have a repeat of the 2000 scenario. Many Democrats see Bush's appointment of a cabinet as a move by him to essentially 'seize power' by starting to lead before everything was decided. Kerry is attempting to do the same thing.
It makes you wonder… how would a fully-formed Kerry cabinet deal with a loss? It also leads to speculation on something possibly more unnerving… what if the lawsuits aren't resolved by January 20, 2005? If Bush retained the White House, Democrats would scream that he was seizing power. It does not help that major entertainment figures and others have been saying since September 11, 2001 that “Bush is going to seize power and not give it up when he should!” The same goes with Bush stepping aside (not resigning, but simply deferring power until the election results are decided, as many people hate Cheney even more than they hate Bush. True, both could step aside and yield to the President pro tempore of the Senate. However, depending on how the senate elections go, that might go to either party. If it stayed with the Republicans, Democrats would scream that Bush was out of the way, but the Republicans were seizing power. If Democrats controlled the Senate, Republicans would likewise be worried that the Democrats would not be willing to yield power back to Bush if the courts decided for him. No matter what happens, it does not look like a fun time.
Now, I do believe that any legal challenges will be solved by January 20th, provided there's no funny business with the courts. Probably the most worrying possibility would be either party doing what some of Gore's supporters wanted to do in 2000, and take the case back to the lower courts in Florida after the Supreme Court had decided against Gore. If the lower courts allowed it (which they might not — depending on how they viewed the legal issues involved) the case could theoretically have to work its way back up through the appeals process to the Supreme Court. Repeat as many times as the court system will allow it.
And this doesn't even move into the territory of a tied electoral college, a recess appointment of a replacement for Rehnquist as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, etc, etc, etc. It's interesting to speculate, but I hope none of it happens.

I am REALLY looking forward to November 2nd. I want to get this over with. I'm sick of having to care about it.