I’ve been watching the Virginia numbers since the polls closed. And I’m not just watching them. I have a list of the 2004 county and city election results up on a tab and am referring back to it as results come in. I know which regions went for Bush, and which for Kerry, in 2004. I know which counties are more conservative or liberal by virtue of having lived here for six years. And I’m not basing my judgments on initial results. If I did that, I would have called Loudon County for Obama, because initial results had him up significantly. However, Loudon County went strongly for Bush four years ago, so I waited. Sure enough, it’s now trending for McCain, but it’s tight.
That’s how I’m reading the votes tonight. I don’t care who calls what for whom, with the exception of the states we all know were going one way or the other, such as the west coast all going for Obama. The toss-up states are the ones to watch carefully for every vote. If I have any Florida readers, I’d love to have them watch Florida and put up reports from time to time in the comments here. Go to Hot Air and click on your state on the map. Pay close attention to the percentage of votes counted, and which precincts are reporting in. And pay attention to the vote total. McCain was up by 118,000 at one point. That’s now 73,000. It’s significant, but not a killer—yet. Depends on how Loudon, Fairfax, and Prince William break.
Don’t fall for the hype. Watch the numbers.