Early indications

12.50am According to the Guardian, "Obama's at 57%-42% with 80% of precincts reporting, in "the most bellwether county in the country," Vigo County, Indiana, which apparently has only gone against the national result twice since 1892. "

12.48am BBC reporting raw stuff from the blogosphere about Indiana tilting towards Obama - looking at big urban centres...

12.43am Networks are being very slow in calling results. Possible that some of the red states are much closer than people expect.

12.41am BBC broadcasting a valedictory speech by McCain to his press pack on board his plane this afternoon - he looks very tired, very old. He's trying to be upbeat but you can tell that he's almost ruled out winning.

12.38am This interesting bit of social media at the New York Times site gives some insight into how people are feeling at the moment. Personally I'm feeling that it's possible that McCain could do better than everyone thinks. THe conservative base vote should never be underestimated.


12.19am Crowd piling into Grant Park in Chicago - massively symbolic, given the 1968 convention and Chicago's heritage as a Democratic stronghold. Huge historical resonance here as a 'healing'/reconciling moment?

One thought is that we can thank George Bush for all of this - without 8 years of George Bush it's almost impossible to imagine Obama winning

12.10am Mark Warner (D) takes the Senate seat in Virginia