I'm going to be pulling my hair out election night

[liberalpragmatist]

Oh fuck it. I'm gonna be in a cold sweat for the last week. I am going to be so antsy election night. I'm so excited but I'm so worried. What I'm terrified of is Bush winning Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania early - which would pretty much end any hope for Kerry. PLEASE - DU'ers in those states -- PLEASE DO ALL YOU CAN!

On the other hand, if by 10:00 they've called 2 out of the 3 (Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania) he's won. The chance then of Kerry losing becomes extremely slight. That would put me in a happy mood.

It's funny - just yesterday in some free time, I was playing around with an electoral map from WSJ Opinion Journal (http://www.opinionjournal.com/ecc/calculator.htm) and I was working myself into a sweat as I was coordinating poll closing times and estimating what time states would be declared.

I need to get a life.

Anybody here having the same feelings?

[xultar]

1. I am taking 11/2 off from work. I will volunteer and drive voters

to the polls.

After that I'm coming home taking a hot bath
drinking some champagne and I'm going to sleep.

I will not watch the returns.

[okieinpain]

17. that's a good idea. grill me up some ribs. don't think I will be able

to drive anybody. sorry.

[Arkana]

37. I'm going to be at home for Election Day

Parents are going to come get me at school and bring me to vote at our polling place, and then I'm gonna stick around at home that night. I don't know if I'm going to watch the returns...I almost killed myself during Election 2000.

[LittleClarkie]

18. As this is my first election

I'm hoping that I get invited to some campaign voluteer party of some sort. I took the day before, the day of and the day after the election off. That way I can help out on Nov. 1 and 2 (which really is a tension reliever since you have a feeling of doing all you can), and collapse on Nov. 3.

I will be pulling an all nighter regardless.

How can we remind people, however, not to pay attention this time if the news people say the election is over. They were part of the great fuck up of 2000 in a big way. I'd like to put all the news channels on notice too somehow. Do NOT predict so damned early, when California isn't even done voting yet. Where's the damn fire.

Our battle cry should be "Remember 2000"

[saccheradi]

35. Any North Carolinians in the Triangle...

I want to get involved now (as much as I can) and speak out against the repuq machine. Does anyone know where someone with a head for self expression can be most useful in these parts??

[democratreformed]

34. I'm gonna do almost the same thing.

I will be taking off work and driving voters. But, then I will most likely be up all night watching as the returns come in. I may even find a watch party somewhere to go to.

[AuntPatsy]

2. Sometimes you think people are not listening to the news when

Bush speaks other than listening to the media crowing about what a great job he is doing. Tonight I had olberman on.

Well, he was playing a clip from Bush's speech today where he said that he did not know what Iraq's think and how he is here in america where he is safe, something like that..

My daughter was on the computer ignoring it for she hates talking politics, she popped up out of the chair and looked horrified and said, Omg, he is so stupid, did he really just say that?...

This from someone who is more interested in Britanny spears life at times...it's heartening to know that even if some pretend not to be listening, they are, and she may not want to talk about the elections but she has every intention of voting this year for Bush and does tell her friends to as well, even if she doesn't talk about it twenty four seven, it is making headway, think about the millions like her who accidently hear this guy talk...

It's okay, you can relax, Kerry is a shoo in..

[theorist]

4. She's "voting this year for Bush"?? Say it ain't so! n/t

[AuntPatsy]

10. lol, a misprint, she is voting Kerry, she was complaining that

she cannot get away from politics, even on MTV she says puff daddy keeps coming on telling them to vote..good job mtv...

[theorist]

3. This is democracy. It should all be a part of our lives.

I'll be just as nervous. It helps to come on here and read a balance of optimistic/cynical posts. I have a feeling that we won't know that Kerry is the 44th president for weeks after election day. Let's hope the Dem lawyers are much more competent than the buckheads of the world.

[tedoll78]

5. Yup. My early signs are here:

1) New Hampshire - as seemingly small as it is - is the first big tone-setter for the evening. If Kerry wins New Hampshire, we can at least conclude that the race will not be a Bush blowout. Hell, if he wins New Hampshire by more than 5%, I'd be willing to bet that he wins all of the Gore states.

2) Pennsylvania - While I'm using New Hampshire as a barometer for the Gore states, I'm using PA as another measure.. to compare to Ohio. Western PA and some parts of Ohio are rather similar. If Kerry does well in western PA, I'm going to have greater hope for OH overall.

3) Virginia and North Carolina - if Kerry wins one, we can conclude that the election is over. If he comes close to Bush (<3%), we can still conclude that the election will be close.

4) Ohio and Florida - we probably won't know the results until later in the evening with these two. Florida overlaps into the central Time Zone, meaning that we have to wait a full extra hour for results from this state. If Kerry wins either, it's over.

5) Iowa and Wisconsin - final confirmation of the Gore states. We can pretty much assume that the Left Coast, New Mexico, and Hawai'i will be going blue.

Bottom line? If Kerry has 190EVs by the time we reach the Mississippi River, this race is over. Done. Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona would be nice to add-on, but they would not be needed.

(of course.. this doesn't account for GOP lawsuits..) :grr:

[tritsofme]

21. Number 2 is not just a barometer, if doesn't win there, we're toast

If we don't carry PA, then we probably loose the election period, because if * gets PA its likely he also got OH, and Florida becomes an afterthought IIRC.

[T Town Jake]

29. That's an excellent "barometer"...

...check, on how the election will go as the night unfolds. Mind if I adopt it? It's excellent. :yourock:

[olddem43]

6. I'm doing what I can. Registered a couple of new voters for

Kerry and I'm urging sometime voters to be sure to get to the polls. I'm also making my car available to drive voters to the polls on Nov. 2nd. I have been talking to everyone and handing out buttons, yard signs and bumper stickers. Ohio is iffy but Fla. looks very good and so does Pa. I think if we win Fla. we will win it all.

[Aunt Anti-bush]

7. You are not alone.

I am in Pennsylvania and we are working really hard here to guarantee a Kerry victory here. I hope that eases your mind a bit, but I am going to also be a nervous wreck clear up until the time that Kerry is sworn in.

[saccheradi]

39. I think just the fact that we are nervous wrecks says something...

I have never been active in politics in any way, have even been out of the country for the past year, but now it is so important for me.

I know there are millions who are more quiet than I am and feel just as worried. It is that worry that is the motivating factor, and it is a feeling that Bush can't duplicate in his "constituency". They are persuadable, We aren't.

the more we worry, the less we have to worry about.

[secular_warrior]

8. Me too

I'm not good at keeping my nerves together during close sports matchups, much less something as important as an election. And we all know the media is going to hold back the poll results from the battleground states for last, just to keep everyone watching. Somehow I don't see a blowout one way or the other, and that is the only way they battlegrounds would be called early.

However, I do think we'll get some early poll reports. They usually leak out online somehow. We'll probably know how we stand by 9pm EST on election night.

[Clinton Crusader]

16. I can hardly STAND overtime hockey games

This is going to be a real test of my overall mettle as a human. I dont know what Ill be doing MORE, pacing, eating, smoking, drinking, praying, talking to myself, viewing all EV maps, changing channels, talking on the phone, promising god ANYTHING if only..

:kick:

[secular_warrior]

19. not to mention how much I'll be worrying about them stealing it again

Just the thought of Jeb down there in FL...

Same here with the pacing/figedting/nervousness. I'll probably have to :puke: by the time they call the election. I just can't imagine another four years of this -- a sickening thought.

[LittleClarkie]

20. You shouldn't have to promise God anything

God knows who the better man is. He should know. He's God, after all.

That said, if Bush wins, I will be convinced he's the anti-Christ. Wouldn't that be the ol' switcheroo.

[Oddman]

9. I think Kerry is going to start pulling away now that he is acting like he

has balls. This is what the public wanted - to see him fight for the Presidency not assume it was his on a platter.

I bet after driving people to the polls you'll be cheerleading in front of the TV as Florida goes blue!

[Andromeda]

11. Sometimes I wish I was a mushroom

I could sit in the dark and be fed bullshit and I wouldn't mind at all.

Unfortunately, that's what has happened to our country. People are in the dark, ignorant and believe all the media spin about Bush's "greatness." They're not particularly unhappy because they don't know any better.

Because we choose not to be ignorant about what's happening we are going to suffer all the neurosis: sweaty palms, sleeplessness and nervous twitches.

[canuckybee]

12. liberalpragmatist

You think you got it bad?

Hell, I just found out that the kidney transplant I have been waiting for might happen on Oct 25, and all I could think of was : I AM GOING TO BE IN THE HOSPITAL WHEN THE RETURNS ARE COMING IN !!!!!!!

On the other hand, if the results are bad, the drugs might help !

[AuntPatsy]

13. Omg, I hope everything goes okay, hang in there, Kerry really

does have it in the bag, too many people have youngsters that they don't wish to sacrifice to a war that is so questionable no matter where their politics lie, they might not be as vocal fearing to be branded unpatriotic but in the long run, voting is private, their they can deny their party line without anyone else aware of what some see as treasonic acts...

[cally]

14. Congrats on the new kidney!

and make sure to vote absentee beforehand ;-)

[Northern Experiment]

15. Well i'm......

Going to be up alllllllllll night long watching the news and reading this website.
Can't wait!

[Kimber Scott]

22. I'm going to have a set-up like Super Bowl Sunday.

It'll be the most exciting night in television in my lifetime.

[Borgnine]

23. My God, I'm going to age at least 10 years from the stress.

I don't see how I'm going to get through Election Night. God, I can already see them calling Florida or Pennsylvania for Kerry and then saying "Whoops, we were wrong... it's for Bush."

[richgriffin]

30. Remembering election night 2000

When the networks called Florida for Gore, I started to actually breathe - I relaxed and knew we had a new President: GORE, then they changed their minds, then FOX..., then total anxiety, only to wake up the next morning to the nightmare of a stolen election! What I want to know is how willing is Kerry to fight if it happens again?? How willing are we to fight if the nightmare scenario happens yet again? Will the U.S. Senate ignore the black congressional congress again, or will they stand up against the election thiefs this time around? My hope is that Kerry wins enough electoral college votes that none of this will matter, but I have a hard time believing that the repubs, who don't care about democracy, aren't going to find all sorts of ways to cheat and steal this time around...

[newyawker99]

32. Hi richgriffin!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Hello_Kitty]

24. Tell me about it

I'll work the polls during the day. Then I'm taking that night off (I'm a shift worker) and I plan to be rip-roaring drunk by 9 pm. Hopefully when I come to in the morning they'll be announcing a Kerry landslide. I have a feeling that we might not find out the official results for a day or two since every state should be counting all the votes and who knows what kind of dirty tricks the Pukes are going to pull if things aren't going their way.

[question everything]

25. I am worried about the West Coast

These are Kerry states - CA, OR, WA. I am concerned that some news sources - cable and the Internet - will call the results early and will discourage voters in the West Coast from even casting their votes.

[Hello_Kitty]

27. Not this Western voter! n/t.

[shivaji]

26. I have stayed up every election until the winner is declared going back to

Humphrey-Nixon! My wife thinks I am crazy to do this.
The Gore-Bush fiasco in 2000 was the first time they
had no winner by 4 or 5am and I finally decided to turn in.

[Lexingtonian]

28. take it easy, lp

I'm pretty sure we'll see one side pull away around October 20-25. Elections where this kind of money is spent and this extent of exhausting every last political resource takes place just don't end up feeling/looking close. People may pretend to it, but 'the issues' is not really what decides things this time. People are given so much information to deal with that they can't possibly deal with it all in detail. They are simply going to show up at the polling stations and determinedly vote for the candidate who reflects more of what their lives are really about and ignore all the complicated, inconclusive, data.

Most of what happens is utterly outside your (or my) control. You can decide not to suffer it all as much as you seem to, really. Remember that even if Kerry gets elected, it will take most or all of a year to change the public condition in a significant way. So your anxiety (and that of many of us) is driven by an indulgence of a kind, by a parched- and mildly craven- need of the imagination. It's not wrong, but you see that feeding it isn't doing you very much good either. Maybe you can spend that evening watching some videotaped movies and having some good white wine or doing something else that is pleasant and perfectly distracting with people who don't like to talk politics, and you arrange with some knowledgeable good friend to call you up when the TV coverage says that there's a decision.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

31. Serequel sweet Seroquel

First I'm going to make sure everyone has voted though.

[AmerDem]

33. Just imagine if you used all that energy

to register voters. Instead of living your doom and gloom scenario you would have had a more positive outlook seeing all the new people that would be voting for Kerry.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

36. Should I go to Reno?

I'm about 3 hrs away in California. I'd be willing to drive folks to the polls, etc. Anyone know whom to contact up there?

[demokatgurrl]

38. Fortunately, I will be in a bar- counting votes (informally

Our local Dem committee counts our township votes in a bar every election night. I will be among friends, and around booze, so I will stay there watching, praying, drinking- no sleep, no work the next day.

Election day I will be at a poll all day. I am taking off work the day before too, to do whatever I can. Can't possibly sit still for this.