McCain Wins Presidency In Stunning Reversal
WASHINGTON - November 4, 2008
by Adam Nagourney
After three weeks in which Democratic partisans across the country were all but bathing in premature victory champagne, Republican Sen. John McCain emerged with a 49%-48% popular vote victory and a razor-thin margin in the Electoral College that relied on base-driven victories in Florida, Ohio, Missouri and Virginia to stave off Sen. Barack Obama's seemingly unstoppable red-state invasion. The Republican will become the country's 44th president, with the power to appoint what may be as many as four Supreme Court justices by the end of his first term.
Analysts attribute the unexpected McCain triumph to an ironic source: the confidence and complacency of rank-and-file democrats in the days leading up to the election. Widespread reports indicate that many democrats chose not to make contributions, volunteer, or even vote, presuming that their standard bearer had already crossed the finish line, for all intents and purposes. Obama's massive advantage in financial and human resources all but dried up in the final weeks, allowing McCain to achieve the greatest political comeback since Harry Truman's 1948 shocker.
The poll that matters is the one taken on Election Day. Knowing this, the Obama campaign is wisely sounding alarms, from Obama's statements last night about "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" and not "underestimating our ability to screw it up" to today's sobering conference call, which reminds us that many in the large corps of young voters we're counting on have never been burned before, and might not see it coming.
I'm sure similar diaries with similar themes have sounded similar warnings in recent days. But I think it's worth repeating:
WE ARE LOSING. We will be losing every day up until Election Day, and we will be losing on that day until enough votes are counted to give Barack Obama 270 electoral votes.
Every time somebody tells you we have this in the bag, you say no, we don't.
Every time somebody tells you Obama has enough money, you say no, he doesn't.
Every time somebody tells you there's no point in going to canvass in Virginia or stand guard at the polls in Pennsylvania, correct them, you say yes, there is.
And when your wingnut friends tell you that Democrats can't seal the deal, you tell them, yes, we can. Then go out there and prove it.
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