Thursday Briefing - Political Blog » US Elections

An Official Obama Day (in Kenya)

Tom — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:07:48 +0000

“Flurry” is a good word to describe the process of the election results. Most of last night was spent waiting for projections, then when they eventually came, they came bundled together. Well there have been a flurry of motions in the Scottish Parliament offering congratulations to Obama today, and similar from world leaders and politicians, with Gordon Brown and David Cameron ‘fighting’ over how much they congratulate him.

The President of Kenya has even declared tomorrow a national holiday, and Russia has…

Ok, perhaps Russia is the exception. It’s moved Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, to ‘counter the threat’ from the US missiles that will be stationed across eastern Europe. It would be interesting to see if Obama carries on with the defence shield.

Obama Day, Sleeping Day

Tom — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:51:36 +0000

Note to self: don’t arrange morning meetings the day after a US Presidential election. I’m not fully awake yet, but I’m certainly happy that I got out of bed and into a world that is slightly better branded than it was yesterday morning.

I’ll try to offer a more coherent post later on after I’ve had some more sleep and/or coffee.

Meta-Live-Blogging

Tom — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:10:41 +0000

The first states have been called by the BBC, results are above, and I’m going to try to blog the rest of the night on this post.

(All times are GMT)

00h16: BBC is at a loss for what to report. Interview with David Brent offers fascinating insight into the US electoral process.

00h29: 1 minute until next set of polls close.

00h33: Fox has called West Virginia for McCain, BBC refusing to call yet.

00h50: 10 minutes ’til the next set of polls close. What hope is there for some results?

00h54: South Carolina called for McCain.

01h00: Pennsylvania called for Obama.

01h01: New Hampshire and Illinois also called for Obama. Also Massachusetts, Delaware and D.C.

01h04: A flurry of results there, and Connecticut also called for Obama.

01h22: So Obama only needs 167 more electoral college votes to win.

01h25: Reports of African American voter turnout around 97%. If this election is remembered for anything, it will be the spirit participation it inspired in voters.

01h30: Arkansas and Alabama called for McCain.

01h37: Why is BBC News calling one more electoral college vote for Obama than its “affiliate”, ABC News?

01h44: Fox and NBC have called Georgia for McCain, again BBC refusing to call just yet.

01h49: Twitter seems to have momentarily collapsed, but is back up and running again.

01h56: The BBC News coverage of the results seems to be a little bit amateurish in its presentation.

02h00: And another flurry of projected results coming in.

02h05: David Dimbleby is finding it just as hard to keep up with the speed of results and BBC graphics as me.

02h14: This night has been nothing, nothing, nothing, flurry of results, nothing nothing nothing, flurry of votes.

02h25: Obama has just been projected to take Ohio.

02h27: 75 more electoral college votes needed for Obama to win.

02h30: Oprah is in “full vibrational mode”

02h39: Obama predicted to take New Mexico.

02h51: Iowa has 8 pigs for every voter, so I am informed by David Dimbleby.

02h57: Jason Calacanis predicting an Obama win will boost the stock market tomorrow.

03h02: More results in, mind addled by too many states. Obama still holding a good lead, but it looks tight in Indiana and Virginia.

03h20: Probably going to hold on ’til half-past, then go home and get some sleep.

03h25: Apparently no new results at half-past, so I’ll take this opportunity to sign off and go home.

…

Tom — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:40:58 +0000

I thought I’d join in with the general theme of the BBC News coverage of the election just now and post something just for the sake of it. I’ve arrived at the ‘election party’, and am ready for the results to come through.

If only something would happen…

Election Songs

Tom — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:45:43 +0000

If you’re looking for some good music to get you in the mood for election night (and after all, no matter what the result is, it’s good to start in a good mood), head over to Studio Brussel, and click on “Luister Live”, then “naar de radiospeler” to hear the, mostly pro-Obama, songs they’re adding to tonight’s playlist.

Update

Try streaming it from this page:

Election Night

Tom — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:43:26 +0000

You may have noticed that I’ve put a special election theme on my blog for today and tomorrow. I’m quite excited because this is the first US election where I’ve really followed what is going on, and certainly the first where I’ve had a political blog (my first blog post was in 2005).

Also, in a break from my usual election night activities (drinking cheap tea at the count), I’m spending this one at an ‘election party’ type thing.

I’ll probably be blogging a bit, later on when the results start to come through, and I’ll try to keep the results panel updated as well, which leaves me little to say just now, other than good luck Barrack.

Countries For Obama

Tom — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:03:40 +0000

Just listening to Analysis on the BBC World Service, the presenter from RIA-Novosti seems to be suggesting that Russia is for Obama. Anyway, just a short post, as I’m off to a long meeting, then to Oxford for a political weekend.

A Post About Sarah Palin From A Left-winger That Doesn’t Mock Her!

Tom — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:47:08 +0000

So Sarah Palin sat at the “news-desk” on Saturday Night Live and nodded her head along in good humour to Amy Poehler rapping through her campaign. Why doesn’t this happen in British politics? There is a lot to dislike in Palin’s politics, but just as with McCain and Obama’s recent after-dinner speeches, she’s shown that she can see the light side of the campaign and politics.

I wouldn’t suggest that all the ‘popular’ bits of American politics should be adopted, but seeing the debates, campaigning where the candidates meet ordinary activists (and sometimes even real people), and television participation, it seems that the candidates have a higher profile. Probably the voter turnout will be less that it could be, but — so long as it is backed by actual policy positions — the degree to which the campaigns communicate with the electorate seems really positive. And yes, I know that the positions they’re running for are just a tiny bit more significant than a seat in the Commons, but there’s still scope for scaled down self-deprecation and popular communication.

Two Blogospheres

Tom — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:40:28 +0000

There is a fair bit in US politics to dislike, but the adoption of the new campaign tools provided by the Web isn’t among that. I’ve been in awe of the individual campaign sites (though MyBO could do with renaming), national convention sites, and some of the more enlightened media outlets covering the election. Obama’s campaign in particular, seems to be really good at getting out bloggers and web-geeks to promote his message, as well as having a campaign site which focusses on engaging visitors.

Britain certainly has a reasonably good political blogosphere, but with the exception of Iain Dale and Guido, it doesn’t really have the same influence that the American blogosphere seems to have. Whenever the next UK general election is, it will be interesting to see if Britain is just lagging behind in following the rise of the Web in US politics.

Ready to Call

Tom — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:23:37 +0000

According to The Takeaway, John McCain is calling for a suspension of presidential election campaigning, so he can go to Washington D.C. to sort out the economy. Is it just me being cynical, or does this sound like McCain positioning himself to call out Obama for not caring about things when he inevitably wants the debate to go on?

By the way, can this really be McCain?