Election Eve

For anyone looking for a preview of tomorrow night, FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver has written a terrific one for Newsweek.

I don’t think we’ll be calling anything early tomorrow. I simply don’t trust the voters in Pennsylvania—never have and never will. Any victory for Barack Obama tomorrow night won’t come until the western states have been heard from.

I’m also thinking we may be treated to the spectacle of one network calling a state for Obama while another gives it to McCain moments later. It could happen, and would you really put anything past Fox at this point? Remember, if this thing is close enough to be contested in any way then perception will be huge. Gore never recovered from the perception that Bush had “won” Florida and then had it taken away. The networks are never more powerful than on election night. When mistakes are made, when that power is abused, we lose.

I hope to have some updates throughout the day tomorrow, a few thoughts once we have a winner, and then the full running diary on Wednesday.

To Dave in Colorado, Rosie in New Hampshire, Amanda in Virginia…know that many of us envy you. Yours may be the vote that decides this election.

This is the time when the long marathon becomes a sprint to the finish. Yes. We. Can.