2:00 AM: Well, it’s time to go to bed.
I have to wake up in about 6 hours to get my son to school.
I’m not sure the governor’s race will be done tonight. We might have to wait until tomorrow.
It’s 48% to 48% with Gianforte ahead by about 70 votes.
I’ll of course have complete analysis of all these races tomorrow when final votes are in.
Also, I just heard that Jesse Laslovich has conceded his Auditor’s race to Rosendale. He did it on Facebook.
Let’s move on to finances.
Looking at the Dow Futures I see they’re down about 800 points and the 5% loss stop-gap has been put in place.
The globalist bankers in charge of the Federal Reserve will now have their excuse to raise interest rates.
Expect the Dow to go down by 2,000 to 3,000 points soon as the markets adjust.
There was a bubble, with nothing propping it up but quantitative easing through the continuous printing of money.
It’s time we stop spending like drunken sailors, look at our national debt, and figure out how to get it down.
If we can do that, perhaps we’ll avoid another large crash like 2008.
I wouldn’t mind a crash, however – maybe Trump will stick it to the bankers and make them swallow their losses, unlike those losers Bush and Obama.
I want interest rates so I can put money in a savings account. Seniors want them so they can live off their retirement in a more sensible way, by earning interest on it.
The days of wine and roses when it comes to our nation’s finances are over.
Finally, I’ve written more than 4,300 words on this long post tonight.
I hope you got some enjoyment out of it.
Thanks for reading!
I have to wake up in about 6 hours to get my son to school.
I’m not sure the governor’s race will be done tonight. We might have to wait until tomorrow.
It’s 48% to 48% with Gianforte ahead by about 70 votes.
I’ll of course have complete analysis of all these races tomorrow when final votes are in.
Also, I just heard that Jesse Laslovich has conceded his Auditor’s race to Rosendale. He did it on Facebook.
Let’s move on to finances.
Looking at the Dow Futures I see they’re down about 800 points and the 5% loss stop-gap has been put in place.
The globalist bankers in charge of the Federal Reserve will now have their excuse to raise interest rates.
Expect the Dow to go down by 2,000 to 3,000 points soon as the markets adjust.
There was a bubble, with nothing propping it up but quantitative easing through the continuous printing of money.
It’s time we stop spending like drunken sailors, look at our national debt, and figure out how to get it down.
If we can do that, perhaps we’ll avoid another large crash like 2008.
I wouldn’t mind a crash, however – maybe Trump will stick it to the bankers and make them swallow their losses, unlike those losers Bush and Obama.
I want interest rates so I can put money in a savings account. Seniors want them so they can live off their retirement in a more sensible way, by earning interest on it.
The days of wine and roses when it comes to our nation’s finances are over.
Finally, I’ve written more than 4,300 words on this long post tonight.
I hope you got some enjoyment out of it.
Thanks for reading!
1:23 AM: Cascade County has 0% of their 31 precincts reporting.
No precincts in Silver Bow County are reporting.
Nothing is coming out of Lake County.
- Why is this?
- Why does this happen every two years with these places?
- Who are the Good ‘ol Boys that are in charge there?
- Why are they still in charge there?
- When will they be shown the door?
1:17 AM: Well, I guess Denise Juneau isn’t going to Washington after all.
She’ll have something like Emily’s List or Carol’s List to fall back on.
None of the Democrats are going to win their statewide races…though Bullock still might squeeze out a win.
I hope we see some serious leadership changes in the Montana Democratic Party.
It’s clearly time for some new ideas.
Oh, but the old guard won’t go quietly.
Most are Baby Boomers, a generation that was given everything and expects everything. Remember, this is the generation that became yuppies.
It’s 48% to 48% in the governor’s race.
350 votes separate them.
Aaron Flint and Greg Gianforte watch Trump's acceptance speech in Bozeman (photo by Jake Green)
1:00 AM: The Washington Post says it well.
Trump is 70, and he’ll be the 45th president of America. He is the “first person to win the presidency without having previously held public office or served in the U.S. military.”
Pretty impressive.
He’ll drain the swamp, get rid of all those losers in D.C. and their policies. That'll be easy with both houses of Congress firmly under GOP control.
Now if Gianforte can just do the same in Helena.
I sure hope Bullock loses tonight.
Currently it’s 48% to 47% with Bullock leading by 3,092 votes.
299 out of 686 precincts are in.
12:45 AM: I’m hearing that Hillary has called Trump to concede.
Fox News has Trump at 274 electoral votes.
The Washington Post has Trump at 276 electoral votes.
It’s over.
Meanwhile, it’s 48% to 47% in the governor’s race. There’s about 3,500 votes separating them.
12:40 AM: Here’s a bit of the shaming that the two Democratic mouthpiece blogs are engaging in.
Trump is 70, and he’ll be the 45th president of America. He is the “first person to win the presidency without having previously held public office or served in the U.S. military.”
Pretty impressive.
He’ll drain the swamp, get rid of all those losers in D.C. and their policies. That'll be easy with both houses of Congress firmly under GOP control.
Now if Gianforte can just do the same in Helena.
I sure hope Bullock loses tonight.
Currently it’s 48% to 47% with Bullock leading by 3,092 votes.
299 out of 686 precincts are in.
12:45 AM: I’m hearing that Hillary has called Trump to concede.
Fox News has Trump at 274 electoral votes.
The Washington Post has Trump at 276 electoral votes.
It’s over.
Meanwhile, it’s 48% to 47% in the governor’s race. There’s about 3,500 votes separating them.
12:40 AM: Here’s a bit of the shaming that the two Democratic mouthpiece blogs are engaging in.
Let's send a special thank you to Caron Cooper tonight for ensuring that all five members of the PSC will be Republicans. Great work! #mtpol
— Don Pogreba (@dpogreba) November 9, 2016
So, people were too embarrassed to admit to pollsters they like a tangerine reality show bigot, but still want him to lead the U.S. #mtpol
— Montana Cowgirl (@TheMT_Cowgirl) November 9, 2016
If you voted for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein or even that guy in UT, you voted for Trump. Don't kid yourself. #mtpol
— Montana Cowgirl (@TheMT_Cowgirl) November 9, 2016
12:32 AM: The Washington Post has Trump at 276 Electoral Votes now that they’ve given him Wisconsin.
Hillary refuses to talk tonight, she sent out loose-email-Podesta to speak for her.
Boy the Clintons must be pissed tonight!
12:28 AM: Juneau has conceded the race to Zinke.
Some are saying that it’ll take a couple more hours for Pennsylvania to be called.
If Trump wins that, it’s pretty much over for Hillary.
About 7,000 votes now separate Bullock from Gianforte, with 30.7% of Montana precincts reporting.
12:18 AM: Sounds like Maine’s electoral college votes will be split – 3 going to Hillary and 1 going to Trump.
John Podesta came out to Hillary’s crowd around midnight our time – 2 AM in New York – and told them to go home, there will be no concession speech tonight.
I wonder what dirty tricks the Clinton machine is thinking up right now.
I expect it’ll be lots of uncounted ballots magically turning up in certain precincts around the country.
We already know that some voting machines in Wayne County in Pennsylvania broke down.
Instead of counting them by hand or getting another machine, they just sit on ‘em.
So the fraud is going to start up, I have no doubt. Hillary isn’t going quietly into the night, she won’t allow this to slip away from her like it did 8 years ago.
Remember, it was expected that Trump would not be conceding, but now we have to wonder if Hillary will.
No one has declared a win yet, but it’s heading that way.
I see that the governor’s race has tightened to about 6,800 votes.
11:53 PM: The race was called for Trump by one of the networks and the Zinke rally in Whitefish went crazy.
Still, I think it was just Pennsylvania that went for Trump.
Now Trump needs 6 electoral votes to win.
You know Bill and Hillary are fuming mad right now, yelling at everyone that comes into whatever room their in, watching the results.
In Montana people are pissed.
MT Cowturd, the mouthpiece blog of the Montana Democratic Party, blocked me yet again on Twitter after I mentioned how they were crying in their beer over Trump.
I said that after they were retweeting Trump’s tweets.
What’s funny is that they unblocked me a month ago for some reason.
Who the hell controls that site?
Oh well, with the statewide Dem losses tonight I feel that many of the people that run it will be out of jobs.
I’m especially happy that New Yorker Eric Stern will be gone.
Alas, Schweitzer and he are good friends so he’ll probably slime his way back.
Don Pogreba is still not writing on his blog, nor is Reptile Dysfunction putting anything up tonight. James Conner didn’t even try.
Sorry, RD does have a post up now.
I’m still going. I see LK is as well on Pogreba’s blog.
Jackie Brown from Western Word is on Twitter. He’ll have a good post up tomorrow.
Aside from that it’s just a few TV news reporters putting out information at this point, all on Twitter, maybe some on Facebook.
For the governor’s race right now, it’s about 8,000 votes separating them.
It’s 49% to 47% with Bullock hanging on.
My, what a night!
11:33 PM: Let’s check results so far.
99% of Pennsylvania votes are in and Trump is up by 1% in the state.
86% of Michigan votes are in and Trump is up 1.8%.
95% of Wisconsin votes are in and Trump is up by 3.2%.
72% of Arizona votes are in and Trump is up by 3.8%.
In Montana, voter turnout has gone up to 41% as more precincts come in.
22.1% of Montana’s votes are now in.
Juneau is still down by 16%.
The governor’s race is now 49% to 46%, with Bullock in the lead.
Bullock gave a speech at the Great Northern saying it’ll be a long night and that it’s too close to call.
Wow…how about that huge lead of his just evaporating into thin air?
Pat Noonan is now at 40% to Koopman’s 48%.
Medical pot continues to hold strong.
Hillary refuses to talk tonight, she sent out loose-email-Podesta to speak for her.
Boy the Clintons must be pissed tonight!
12:28 AM: Juneau has conceded the race to Zinke.
Some are saying that it’ll take a couple more hours for Pennsylvania to be called.
If Trump wins that, it’s pretty much over for Hillary.
About 7,000 votes now separate Bullock from Gianforte, with 30.7% of Montana precincts reporting.
12:18 AM: Sounds like Maine’s electoral college votes will be split – 3 going to Hillary and 1 going to Trump.
John Podesta came out to Hillary’s crowd around midnight our time – 2 AM in New York – and told them to go home, there will be no concession speech tonight.
I wonder what dirty tricks the Clinton machine is thinking up right now.
I expect it’ll be lots of uncounted ballots magically turning up in certain precincts around the country.
We already know that some voting machines in Wayne County in Pennsylvania broke down.
Instead of counting them by hand or getting another machine, they just sit on ‘em.
So the fraud is going to start up, I have no doubt. Hillary isn’t going quietly into the night, she won’t allow this to slip away from her like it did 8 years ago.
Remember, it was expected that Trump would not be conceding, but now we have to wonder if Hillary will.
No one has declared a win yet, but it’s heading that way.
I see that the governor’s race has tightened to about 6,800 votes.
11:53 PM: The race was called for Trump by one of the networks and the Zinke rally in Whitefish went crazy.
Still, I think it was just Pennsylvania that went for Trump.
Now Trump needs 6 electoral votes to win.
You know Bill and Hillary are fuming mad right now, yelling at everyone that comes into whatever room their in, watching the results.
In Montana people are pissed.
MT Cowturd, the mouthpiece blog of the Montana Democratic Party, blocked me yet again on Twitter after I mentioned how they were crying in their beer over Trump.
I said that after they were retweeting Trump’s tweets.
What’s funny is that they unblocked me a month ago for some reason.
Who the hell controls that site?
Oh well, with the statewide Dem losses tonight I feel that many of the people that run it will be out of jobs.
I’m especially happy that New Yorker Eric Stern will be gone.
Alas, Schweitzer and he are good friends so he’ll probably slime his way back.
Don Pogreba is still not writing on his blog, nor is Reptile Dysfunction putting anything up tonight. James Conner didn’t even try.
Sorry, RD does have a post up now.
I’m still going. I see LK is as well on Pogreba’s blog.
Jackie Brown from Western Word is on Twitter. He’ll have a good post up tomorrow.
Aside from that it’s just a few TV news reporters putting out information at this point, all on Twitter, maybe some on Facebook.
For the governor’s race right now, it’s about 8,000 votes separating them.
It’s 49% to 47% with Bullock hanging on.
My, what a night!
11:33 PM: Let’s check results so far.
99% of Pennsylvania votes are in and Trump is up by 1% in the state.
86% of Michigan votes are in and Trump is up 1.8%.
95% of Wisconsin votes are in and Trump is up by 3.2%.
72% of Arizona votes are in and Trump is up by 3.8%.
In Montana, voter turnout has gone up to 41% as more precincts come in.
22.1% of Montana’s votes are now in.
Juneau is still down by 16%.
The governor’s race is now 49% to 46%, with Bullock in the lead.
Bullock gave a speech at the Great Northern saying it’ll be a long night and that it’s too close to call.
Wow…how about that huge lead of his just evaporating into thin air?
Pat Noonan is now at 40% to Koopman’s 48%.
Medical pot continues to hold strong.
11:27 PM: The Washington Post is now saying that the GOP will maintain its control of the Senate.
That’s a huge loss for Tester and his DSCC. He won’t be getting a key leadership position, #2 under Schumer.
He’ll also be set back in fundraising for 2018 because of this.
He’s vulnerable right now.
11:10 PM: Gianforte is picking up points. It’s now 50% to 46% in the governor's race.
I can see that Matt Rosendale, someone everyone said didn’t know how to do the job, will now likely be doing that job.
Yep, he’s up 52% to 47% against Laslovich for State Auditor.
Romano has fallen, and the OPI race is now 50% to 49% with about 3,000 votes separating them.
In Helena, DeeAnn Cooney – the Lieutenant Governor’s wife – is losing her District Court Judge race by about 400 votes.
SD 49 currently has the GOP Saloman ahead of Dem Tom France by about 60 votes.
For HD 92 in Missoula, GOPer Mike Hopkins really came back and now is just 3 votes behind Dem Addrien Marx.
HD 94’s Kim Dudik is having problems, falling 35 votes behind GOPer Lance Cox. She must be having déjà vu about 2014 and her race against Gary Marbut.
For HD 96, Andrew Person is down by 50 votes to GOPer Adam Hertz.
Most of these races were supposed to go for the Dems.
What happened?
Still, it’s not over yet.
Medical pot is currently getting 56% support to 43% opposition.
Jeff Essman, with no Dem opponent, will be back in the legislature.
Will he not meddle with the people’s will and let them smoke pot?
I’m now switching over to Coast 2 Coast, on AM 1290 here in Missoula, to get commentary there.
I’ll let the NBC talking heads continue to do their sad spiel, I just won’t be listening to it.
10:43 PM: California and Massachusetts have legalized marijuana.
Yeah, they legalized it.
I’m not just talking medical – California has had that for 20 years.
Adults can now smoke it.
That’s a big ‘fuck you’ to the feds and their failed prohibition policies.
The country will soon legalize it as well.
It’s well past time.
10:30 PM: Fox News has the presidential race at 254 to 209 for Trump.
NBC News has it at 244 to 209 for Trump.
The Washington Post has it 244 to 209 for Trump as well.
The New York Times has it 238 to 209 for Trump.
NBC’s Chuck Todd says the “Democrats’ big blue wall has a lot of cracks.”
Let’s get to Montana.
6.5% of precincts are reporting at this point.
The Secretary of State says that turnout is at 33.2%.
That comes out to 230,530 of the 692,763 registered voters that decided to vote.
Currently we have 337 out of 686 precincts partially reporting in the state, with just 45 precincts fully reported.
So far 220,801 people voted in the presidential race in Montana. Trump is ahead 53% to Hillary’s 39%.
I don’t see the Green Party getting up to 5% from their current 1%, and thus they won’t be able to field candidates for the legislature in 2018.
The Libertarian Party currently has 12,088 votes for Gary Johnson, or 5% of the Montana presidential vote.
Zinke continues to lead Juneau, 54% to 42%.
Libertarian Rick Breckenridge, with 2%, was a nonfactor in the race.
Bullock continues to lead Gianforte, 53% to 43%. Gianforte is picking up some ground, but I’m not sure he’ll gain enough.
Roger Roots took 2% in the Secretary of State race, but Stapleton has 53% to Lindeen’s 43%.
That race is over.
Laslovich might still have a chance, though now he’s down by about 0.5%...if even that.
Romano is also still up by about 0.5% in her race against Elsie Arntzen.
One big change is PSC #3.
Pat Noonan is now at 43% to Roger Koopman’s 45%. Cooper got up to 11%, so it looks like that Independent candidacy might have cost Noonan and the Dems.
Again, Cooper will be vilified…perhaps starting tomorrow on Cowturd.
In PSC #4, Gail Gutsch has fallen and the race is now 50% to 49%. Just 143 votes separate them, so it’s close.
Dow Futures are also down by 4%, about 760 points.
The market will no longer allow that to drop, they've capped it at 5%.
Market meddling. So much for the free hand of the market.
9:50 PM: Over at Intelligent Discontent, Don Pogreba was overcome by sadness at a possible Trump win and decided to stop his live blogging.
When you go to the Washington Post and look at their map, it’s clear Trump is winning.
Even the liberal talking heads at NBC are looking around in shock, admitting how wrong they were to think Trump couldn’t win.
The thing is, most of America doesn’t give a shit what those highly-paid corporate talking heads have to say.
Trump broke all the rules, and he’s winning.
I guess the rules aren’t the same anymore, huh?
Talk is that Paul Ryan will no longer be Speaker. Good.
I’m quite excited at the prospect of monumental change in this country (or at least the appearance of it).
Now…the Montana races.
I’ll remind you that the only Democrat I saw winning statewide was Melissa Romano. She’s now up by 5%, though I only saw her winning by about 1%.
Bullock is still up by 12%. It looks like Gianforte is done…for this cycle.
What will Stapleton be like as Secretary of State?
I’m so glad that insurance-hiking Lindeen will be sent back to Lewistown…or whatever corporate gig she gets.
She could have stood up for ratepayers, she chose not to.
Over the past month hundreds of people read my “Sorry State of Monica Lindeen” post that said just that.
They agreed with me – the voting shows that.
As I’ve been saying for months, the Montana Democrats are just clueless as to who their constituency is.
Well, it’s not theirs…it’s the GOP’s now.
But at least they have that veto pen to cling to. That’s all they can do, play defense.
It’s sad.
I can understand why Marc Racicot left the Dems in the 80s and went to the GOP.
The Party is incompetent.
I look forward to seeing Nancy Keenan shit-canned in the next week.
Or keep her on – perhaps Dems like the taste of failure.
When you go to the Washington Post and look at their map, it’s clear Trump is winning.
Even the liberal talking heads at NBC are looking around in shock, admitting how wrong they were to think Trump couldn’t win.
The thing is, most of America doesn’t give a shit what those highly-paid corporate talking heads have to say.
Trump broke all the rules, and he’s winning.
I guess the rules aren’t the same anymore, huh?
Talk is that Paul Ryan will no longer be Speaker. Good.
I’m quite excited at the prospect of monumental change in this country (or at least the appearance of it).
Now…the Montana races.
I’ll remind you that the only Democrat I saw winning statewide was Melissa Romano. She’s now up by 5%, though I only saw her winning by about 1%.
Bullock is still up by 12%. It looks like Gianforte is done…for this cycle.
What will Stapleton be like as Secretary of State?
I’m so glad that insurance-hiking Lindeen will be sent back to Lewistown…or whatever corporate gig she gets.
She could have stood up for ratepayers, she chose not to.
Over the past month hundreds of people read my “Sorry State of Monica Lindeen” post that said just that.
They agreed with me – the voting shows that.
As I’ve been saying for months, the Montana Democrats are just clueless as to who their constituency is.
Well, it’s not theirs…it’s the GOP’s now.
But at least they have that veto pen to cling to. That’s all they can do, play defense.
It’s sad.
I can understand why Marc Racicot left the Dems in the 80s and went to the GOP.
The Party is incompetent.
I look forward to seeing Nancy Keenan shit-canned in the next week.
Or keep her on – perhaps Dems like the taste of failure.
9:23 PM: Trump is up by more than 10 points in Ohio. The corporate media is now about to give him Michigan too.
NBC is reporting that the Electoral College may be 269 to 269.
That’s throw it to the House of Representatives. I mentioned this months ago, and that’s how Gary Johnson could win.
Still, it’s very early.
I think we can tell where things are going, however.
Already it’s closer than anyone thought.
Tom Brokaw, who lives here in Montana, mentioned how the national media has walled-itself off from regular people.
Most network talking heads come from east of the Mississippi.
They just don’t understand America.
Perhaps they never did.
Turnout for Denise Juneau's concession speech, Missoula
9:10 PM: 0.87% of Montana precincts are reporting so far.
The Dow futures are down by almost 700 as the rich fat cats get worried about their money under Trump.
I could care less – most people that voted for Trump couldn’t.
Above is an image from Les Braswell of all the people at the Top Hat.
Currently Zinke is leading Juneau 53% to 43%.
Like I said earlier today, there’ll be a lot of disappointed people in downtown Missoula tonight.
Of course, after I said that on Twitter I was encouraged to go and write more anti-semitic screeds by an anonymous Democratic account.
Thin-skinned, the Dems are, even when the truth is staring them right in the face.
I’m not saddened at all by their losses tonight.
Why should I be? It’s been clear for months that the losses would be huge.
No one cares about the Dem message in Montana.
On NBC, Chuck Todd just said that the Democrats did a poor job recruiting for Senate candidates.
That failure rests largely with Tester.
9:00 PM: The corporate media is reporting that Trump has won Florida.
Currently the Washington Post has it 49.2% for Trump to Hillary’s 47.7%.
99.3% of precincts are in.
I’m enjoying NBC’s talking heads say how a vote for Trump was a way to tell the establishment that things are going badly.
The spin from these highly-paid propagandists is quite funny.
8:55 PM: It’s pretty clear to me that Democrats really underestimated the anger of the country.
Trump is winning.
I feel he will win.
I’m happy about that.
The country needs change. Many, many people feel that way.
It’s why they voted for Trump.
The night is still early, but as battleground states slip away from Hillary I think we can see what’s developing.
So far in Montana, Trump is ahead 51% to 41%, with Gary Johnson taking 5% and Jill Stein at 1%.
That’s 101,265 votes as of now, and just 1 of 686 precincts have fully reported.
162 precincts have partially reported.
For the governor’s race, gosh…will it be another 4 years of Bullock scandals?
It appears so.
With 104,795 votes counted so far, Bullock leads 55% to Gianforte’s 41%. Ted Dunlap has picked up 2%.
It looks like it could be Corey Stapleton’s year, as he’s at 51% to Monica Lindeen’s 46%.
I said more than a year ago, no one is going to vote for Lindeen when their insurance rates are going through the roof.
We might as well not mention the AG race. It’s 66% to 33% for the GOP.
Dems will be kicking themselves in 2018 or 2020 for supporting Fox in 2016.
Jesse Laslovich is currently ahead of Rosendale for Auditor, but just 51% to 48%.
Skipping over to Missoula House races I see that HD 96 – the race everyone thought would be close – is currently at 51% for Democrat Person and 48% for GOPer Hertz.
3 of 4 precincts are partially reporting for that race.
Logicosity was way off a couple weeks ago, saying HD 100 might be in play. Andrea Olsen is killing it, 82% to Doc Moore’s 17%.
Usually I’m the only one to get numbers that bad. Oh well.
If we expand our reach to other areas of the stat we see that HD 52 is close, with Chris Goodridge at 49% to Patelis’ 50%.
Daniel Zolnikov will be going back to Helena for HD 45, as he’s at 68% to Crouch’s 31%.
Despite the numerous attacks on Robert Saunders from Cowturd, he’s at 43% to Jessica Karjala’s 56% in HD 48.
I thought that race would be more of a blowout after all the negative press we saw.
Really, Saunders had no one to blame for that but himself.
Most of the other House races aren’t worth mentioning, though the majority have no results showing yet.
Medical pot comes out strong
8:40 PM: Polls in Montana have closed. If you’re in line you can still vote, though it’ll take 2 hours still in some places.
Right now the Secretary of State has results coming in.
These first numbers are very telling.
Currently medical marijuana looks like it’ll pass again, although precinct numbers are very low still.
There are many races that are tight, however.
Romano is currently in the lead for OPI, and that trend might not change.
Bullock is also way ahead of Gianforte. That doesn’t bode well, and I can’t help but think that race is over.
I also see that Pat Noonan is way out ahead, even with Independent Caron Cooper. It’s currently Noonan 59% and GOP Koopman with 31%. Cooper has 9%.
She’ll continue to be vilified by the Montana Democratic Party.
Yes, the fissures will widen, the wounds will remain unhealed.
That’s how the Party likes it, and I’m sure MT Cowturd will crow about this race later.
Gail Gutsche is currently leading for the PSC seat 4, 51% to Lake’s 48%.
I’ll do some more updates as we continue.
7:26 PM: I’ll be going out to get some pizza now so there’ll be a lull on updates for a bit.
7:25 PM: The question none of our Montana reporters are asking is why lines to vote are so long.
Why is that…both the lines and the questioning?
I asked that on Twitter and someone replied that many Montanans are not sensible and don’t vote absentee.
Again, we seem to psychologically penalize Election Day voters because they like going to the polls.
I don’t like that kind of brow-beating.
Another reason I was given is that Montana doesn’t open polling places early for working people to vote, like opening them on the weekend.
Perhaps that’s true.
Like I said earlier today, however, I feel we should just let people vote where they want.
Why do I have to go into a booth with a curtain?
I’m sure a lot of people in line right now wouldn’t mind sitting down and voting on the floor.
They’d like to go home…it’s getting late.
7:15 PM: Serious discrepancies with the corporate news.
NBC is saying 91% of votes in Florida are in, yet the Washington Post has 84% in.
Who’s right…and where are they getting their info?
With 2.4% of votes in, New Mexico is going to Trump by over 67%.
Like most of these states, I expect that to flip back and forth a few times as network execs get calls from big money people in both parties.
What I’m trying to say is, this reporting we’re seeing stinks.
Also, it’s been reported that George W. Bush voted for “none of the above” for president.
7:00 PM: 14 more states just closed their polls.
NBC reported that the GOP will retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
74% of Florida’s votes are in, Ohio has 27.5% of votes in, Pennsylvania has 3% in.
North Carolina has 24% of votes in and the state is very close right now, 49.3% to 48.2%, with Hillary in the lead.
In Helena Democrats are setting up their campaign night rally place at the Great Northern.
Ryan Zinke will be doing his event in Whitefish.
6:50 PM: Florida has passed medical marijuana. It got 71% of the vote, needed 60% to pass.
6:40 PM: Florida now has 69.8% of their votes in, according to both the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Texas has 0.9% of their votes in, yet I’ve seen that state switch between blue and red a couple times.
Again, I really don’t like the corporate media doing this.
Here in Montana, it should be clear – with the huge lines in big counties – that we’ll be up very late tonight.
6:25 PM: Lines at Kalispell are so long that it’s expected it’ll take people 3 hours to vote.
Gallatin County lines are around the block.
Since it’s now dark outside, I’ve gone ahead and taken down the 7 campaign signs that were in my yard.
7:25 PM: The question none of our Montana reporters are asking is why lines to vote are so long.
Why is that…both the lines and the questioning?
I asked that on Twitter and someone replied that many Montanans are not sensible and don’t vote absentee.
Again, we seem to psychologically penalize Election Day voters because they like going to the polls.
I don’t like that kind of brow-beating.
Another reason I was given is that Montana doesn’t open polling places early for working people to vote, like opening them on the weekend.
Perhaps that’s true.
Like I said earlier today, however, I feel we should just let people vote where they want.
Why do I have to go into a booth with a curtain?
I’m sure a lot of people in line right now wouldn’t mind sitting down and voting on the floor.
They’d like to go home…it’s getting late.
7:15 PM: Serious discrepancies with the corporate news.
NBC is saying 91% of votes in Florida are in, yet the Washington Post has 84% in.
Who’s right…and where are they getting their info?
With 2.4% of votes in, New Mexico is going to Trump by over 67%.
Like most of these states, I expect that to flip back and forth a few times as network execs get calls from big money people in both parties.
What I’m trying to say is, this reporting we’re seeing stinks.
Also, it’s been reported that George W. Bush voted for “none of the above” for president.
7:00 PM: 14 more states just closed their polls.
NBC reported that the GOP will retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
74% of Florida’s votes are in, Ohio has 27.5% of votes in, Pennsylvania has 3% in.
North Carolina has 24% of votes in and the state is very close right now, 49.3% to 48.2%, with Hillary in the lead.
In Helena Democrats are setting up their campaign night rally place at the Great Northern.
Ryan Zinke will be doing his event in Whitefish.
6:50 PM: Florida has passed medical marijuana. It got 71% of the vote, needed 60% to pass.
6:40 PM: Florida now has 69.8% of their votes in, according to both the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Texas has 0.9% of their votes in, yet I’ve seen that state switch between blue and red a couple times.
Again, I really don’t like the corporate media doing this.
Here in Montana, it should be clear – with the huge lines in big counties – that we’ll be up very late tonight.
6:25 PM: Lines at Kalispell are so long that it’s expected it’ll take people 3 hours to vote.
Gallatin County lines are around the block.
Since it’s now dark outside, I’ve gone ahead and taken down the 7 campaign signs that were in my yard.
Lines in Gallatin County, from KBZK-TV
6:15 PM: 5.8% of North Carolina’s votes are in, 9.8% of Ohio’s, and 29% of Florida’s.
It looks like Little Marco is heading back to the Senate. I’m sure the rich will like that.
6:00 PM: I've changed the date of this post to November 9, as it was coming up on the blog roll below the two posts I'd already put up today.
5:57 PM: Around 5:45 I began to notice some funny business.
It was on the Washington Post’s homepage.
What I mean is the corporate news’ tendency to call race when 0% of precincts are reporting.
They did this with North Carolina, having it leaning to Trump, where he had 69.6% of the votes to Hillary’s 28.4%...with 0% of precincts reporting.
Skip ahead 15 minutes and 0.1% of precincts were reporting. They then had the race 50.3% for Hillary and 47.5% for Trump.
By then it was leaning to Hillary on their map.
This is what I’ve been talking about for days – the corporate media just doing whatever the hell they want.
And who holds them accountable?
No one, really.
It was the same story with New Hampshire.
Around 5:45 I noticed that the Washington Post had the state leaning toward Trump. Then after 6 PM it was Hillary up by 14.9%.
That was when 6.3% of precincts were reporting.
5:45 PM: Well, here we go – our long, ever-updating post that’ll go until the wee hours of the morning.
Hey, if I keep seeing images of people in the Secretary of State’s Office sitting there staring at their computers, I’ll be here.
That said, I’ve got to take my son to school tomorrow, so I probably won’t be up past 2 AM.
Until then, let’s get started.
Hey, if I keep seeing images of people in the Secretary of State’s Office sitting there staring at their computers, I’ll be here.
That said, I’ve got to take my son to school tomorrow, so I probably won’t be up past 2 AM.
Until then, let’s get started.
Registration and Absentee Numbers
Holly Michels of Lee Enterprises had some good numbers today.
She said that 3,000 Montanans have registered to vote in the past 24 hours or so.
- In 2008 we saw 7,547 voters register to vote on election day or the day before.
- In 2012 we saw 8,053 register on election day.
This year the Secretary of State is telling us that 9,285 more people registered to vote this year than in 2012.
When it comes to registered voters, Gallatin County has 5,000 more than they had in 2012.
In Flathead County they have 5,500 more registered voters. In Silver Bow County, however, they have 2,000 fewer registered voters than they had in 2012.
We know that 60% of Montanans like to vote absentee.
So how’d that turn out this year?
By noon Cascade County had 86% of absentee ballots returned.
It’s figured that 80% to 95% of absentee ballots across the state had been returned by noon today.
Don’t tell that to the people in Missoula.
Over at Missoula Current, Martin Kidston tells us that 83,000 Missoula County residents are registered to vote.
Of those, just about 40,000 had requested an absentee ballot.
About 32,000 of those had been returned by this afternoon, or 79%.
By 8 PM, elections officials say they expect to have 90% of them back.
We’ll see.
Turnout Issues
Here in Missoula we saw a lot of Dem get out the vote efforts.
Did this work?
Here’s a shaming/intimidation tactic that Dems tried to employ:
At my apartment building, my downstairs neighbors actually put up a ‘No Solicitors’ sign by their front door.
They were just getting pestered too much.
I still remember the look on my neighbor’s face when she got that Dem mailer talking about voting records and such, you know, the blue one with the maps in it?
She threw that away and I detected a bit of disgust on her face.
I don’t think they voted at all, and perhaps those kinds of tactics contributed to that.
Dems have the right idea – voter contact is the way to win elections.
Contacting someone over and over and then over again, however, is not.
Some claim that these people should just vote early so canvassers stop bothering them.
I just don’t view it that way, myself.
**END OF POST**
