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Monday, November 01, 2004
One day more A little after 1 p.m. on the day before the election, Eastern Standard Time; it's literally the eleventh hour, because in New Hampshire the polls open at midnight. On the other end of the timeline, in Hawaii, which is five time zones behind the East Coast, the polls close at 6 p.m. So polls will be open in the U.S. from 0500 GMT on Nov. 2 to 0400 GMT on Nov. 3, a total of 23 hours; and it's going to be the longest fucking day in American history. Especially since the political commentators are already champing at the bit to start calling the race at 12:01 a.m. when the first resident of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire steps out of the voting booth. (My personal goal is to vote as soon as I can—hopefully in the morning, before going to work—and then not watch any news coverage for the rest of the day. [At least not until the Daily Show's live election special at 8 p.m.] It's not that I don't want to know what happens; I just don't want to know every talking head's prediction of what the last ten minutes' exit polling could be construed as indicated is going to happen. ["With 10 percent of the precincts in Missouri now reporting, Candidate X has a 60 percent chance of winning that state, but if he doesn't he can make it up with Arkansas and Nebraska, where two percent of the vote is in, or else Oklahoma and Idaho, where we're predicting a ten-point lead as long as the barometer remains steady, or he can trade Delaware and Washington, D.C. to Candidate Y in exchange for Kentucky and one free agent to be named later..."] Also I plan to start drinking as soon as I get home from work tomorrow. If not sooner.) Some of the less-scientific indicators are already in: the Washington Redskins, whose performance in the last home game before Election Day has coincided with the defeat or victory of the incumbent in every presidential election since 1936, lost to Green Bay yesterday; and I can't read horoscopes, but if you can, here's the star chart for Dixville Notch, N.H. at 12 a.m. on Nov. 2. (Actually, I'm not sure those are less scientific than the first twenty or so hours of Election Day media predictions...) [ at 1:13 PM • by Abby • permalink • ] |
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