The Night the Lights Went On in Georgia?

I thought about blogging the presidential results tonight, but that would be pointless. With the way the 'pun-dents' are talking about it, this thing might rage on into the holidays. Well, maybe not. But tonight is going to be a LOOOOOOONG night, even if Obama has it wrapped up early. For anyone who even vaguely remember 2004 (or 2000), Ohio will drag its ass on counting and we won't find out until tomorrow morning who the president is.

This is barring the possibility that Barack Obama - a black dude - might take my home state. GEORGIA. Yeah, right, you might be saying. Sitting in your ivory tower. Well, to quote my favorite mummy Lee Corso, not so fast my friend.

Earlier last week, Real Clear Politics - one of the throngs of polling sites on the internet - showed a race within the margin of error in Georgia. McCain 49.5. Obama 45. That is ASTOUNDING, especially for a state that went, I don't know 70-30 in 2004 (with John Kerry winning only 22 percent of the white vote).

One of the other indicators of a squeaker here is the fact that nearly two million early votes were cast in this election, which is nearly 60% of the total votes cast in 2004. And the 2 million early votes is a record for the state. That benefits Obama, who, by all appearances, has been leading by a margin of nearly ten points in early ballots.

All of this is obviously early, and I have no idea if the race will be even remotely close down here, but it would be nice to see that Georgia isn't the absolute most backwards state in the Union (I'm looking at YOU, Mississippi). So far no exit polls have been released, so there is no data to support any of the claims I have made. Basically, I've just participated in the echo chamber that plagues modern media. Sorry.

GObama. GO Biden.