The sun is setting on the Eastern Coast of the United States of America on November 4, 2008. The Republican nominee John McCain and the Democratic nominee have both been campaigning for more than 24 months and today is the climax of that exhaustive work.
News footage is flashing across the screen from various News channels across the country showing Barack Obama and Michelle Obama waving at the cameras in IL as they leave their polling place, a brief shot of John and Cindy McCain show the Senator climbing back into his motorcade midday in DC.
CNN, MSNBC and even FOX have all declared so far according to exit polls that this is a high turnout election particularly in places such as VA, NC, CO and FL.
FOX News' Brit Hume is talking to political analysts on the 'Special Report with Brit Hume'. Fred Barnes and Bill Kristol are going on about how they think this night is starting to resemble that cold January night in Iowa when Sen Obama trounced Hillary.
Its 8:30 EST and the traditional Democratic states on the East Coast have been called for Sen Obama, much of the South East for Sen McCain. The results from Florida, Virginia and North Carolina are still out, with Virginia running out of ballots and Florida reporting long lines at polling places but people are waiting patiently.
CNN's Anderson Cooper is interviewing the desk of the best political team on television, Alex Castellanos is talking about where Sen McCain's camp went wrong before all of a sudden he is interrupted by BREAKING NEWS: CNN's Wolf Blitzer reports, "CNN has a projection to make Sen Obama will win, I repeat will win the state of North Carolina. We here at CNN do our careful analysis before making such a call but according to our exit polls, North Carolina will go to the Democrats." Sen Obama's face flashes across the screen with North Carolina's 15 electoral votes next to him.
Joe Lieberman is talking to MSNBC's David Gregory, with a brief back and forth between Joe and Chris Matthews about who can best lead America out of Iraq, John McCain or Barack Obama.
Joe Lieberman: John McCain has the personal experience to lead our country during this time where we and our allies face a real and immanent threat from radical Jihadists.
Chris Matthews: Joe I know you're here to root for your man...
David Gregory: Sorry to interrupt you guys but we have some news coming in...
The MSNBC news music is blaring, MSNBC projects Sen Obama wins Virginia!
The blogs and various liberal sites are buzzing tonight, diaries are being written by the second on the DailyKos about high turnout at their polling locations and Kos and others are liveblogging. Huffingtonpost has a headline in bold red letters across their front page, "Exit Polls Show Sen Obama Winning in Battleground States".
CNN's John King is going over his electoral map with Anderson Cooper showing how each candidate can get to 270. By this time Michigan and New Hampshire have been called for Sen Obama, with the Florida and Ohio results still out.
Two Obama volunteers watching the election from a bar in Green Bay, Wisconsin see Breaking News fly across the plasma screen on ABC, they're reporting that Sen Obama has narrowly won Florida and Ohio. The election is starting to look like a landslide for the Democrats.
As the clock strikes 12:30 EST, what once looked like a potential nail biter Colorado has given Sen Obama its 9 electoral votes handily. Bill Richardson is on Fox News right now talking to Brit Hume about Sen Obama's appeal to Latino voters and what helped him seal his victory in the largely Latin Southwest. The polls around the country are closed.
MSNBC's David Gregory has breaking news, according to exit polls conducted nationally Sen Barack Hussein Obama has won over 300 electoral votes and is the President-Elect. The coverage moves to analysis from Matthews and Olbermann.
Chris: Keith, what does this say about America tonight? Can you believe we are saying President-Elect Barack Obama. A black man on this day has been elected President of the United States.
Keith: Chris, if someone would have told me just 5 years ago that an African American, a member of one of the most oppressed groups in America would be President I don't know if I would believe it.
Its approaching 1:17 EST and there is a massive crowd in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, IL, the fire marshal is estimating there are 35,000 people here tonight. The podium is set up, the music is blaring loudly with red, white and blue light illuminating the Mid Western night sky.
Sen Obama and Michelle Obama emerge along with Sen Joe Biden and wife Jill. The crowd is going nuts chanting "Yes we did!" Sen Obama and Joe Biden are waving to the crowd, before he takes the podium.
Sen Obama steps up to the podium, with the CNN caption below declaring "President-Elect Barack Obama". Obama flashes his winning smile and the crowd noise gets progressively louder.
Barack Obama: First off I want to say, lets give Sen McCain a round of applause for running an outstanding campaign. The Senator called me a few minutes ago to congragulate me and wish me luck as we prepare to enter into a new phase in our nation's history. Some people thought this day would never come...
Folks this night isn't a reality yet but if we work hard between now and election day and not sit on our hands it can very well become a reality. Donate, phonebank and canvass to ensure that Sen Obama is our next President.