HoodaThunk?

(Update: See the Loudoun Election Results post for the Loudoun-specific results, including the ballot questions.)

This will be on ongoing update for selected elections returns from here in Virginia with a specific focus on Loudoun County.

As widely expected, Mark Warner is running roughshod over Jim Gilmore for the Senate seat being vacated by John Warner. As of 8:22pm local time, 33.97% of precincts were reporting and Warner is holding a 60.73 – 37.11% lead over Gilmore. I can’t say I’m surprised. We in Loudoun were told we’d get Gilmore signage to put up at the polling locations and that never showed. To be completely honest, Gilmore’s showing here was virtually nil, especially in comparison to Warner’s. An update that came streaming in as I was writing this post has extended his lead. With 37.94% reporting, he’s now up over Gilmore 61.57 – 37.09%.

Frank Wolf (R-VA10) is doing much better, again as expected. He’s pounding Democrat challenger Judy Feder into the ground with 69.56% vs. 28.95%. Feder got mauled in the last election she tried against Wolf and this try’s not doing any better. This is going to be the last time the Dems put her up against Wolf. She’s just a punching bag to the long-time pick of Virginia’s 10th District.

More to come.

Update (8:54pm): Virginia is just too bloody tight to call right now. Loudoun County’s precincts are beginning to report (well done, State Board of Elections, for updating the status of Loudoun’s returns as they come in) and I’m seeing some wins by literally less than 20 votes. As if this moment, there’s 14006 votes for Obama, 14132 for McCain with 20.63% of precincts reporting. Statewide, it’s currently McCain with 50.76% and Obama with 48.17%. There’s been 56.69% of precincts reporting, statewide. This is still way too up in the air.

FYI, the Virginia State Board of Elections results site is here.

Update (9:54pm): As I understand it, both PA and OH are being called for Obama. With those 2, the margin of error for McCain’s campain is down to zero. Virginia has just become the center of the election’s universe. If Obama takes the Old Dominion, it’s over. As of this moment, the VA SBE is showing McCain with 1,246,807 (49.59%) votes and Obama with 1,240,441 (49.34%) votes. In over 2 million counted, it’s down to a difference of 6,400 votes. That’s with 77.12% of precincts reporting.

Loudoun County is looking very much like an Obama win at this point. With 65% reporing, he’s got 52.04% of the vote against McCain’s 47.06%. Unless there’s a significant turnout of McCain voters in the precincts remaining, I doubt there’s enough to overcome that. Disappointing.

Update (10:54pm): I had posted – I thought – an update at 10:12pm talking about Obama pulling ahead in Virginia. Must’ve lost it somewhere on the way to posting it but the damage is truly done now. With 88.22% reporting, Obama is now ahead by 31,000 votes, leading McCain 50.04% to 48.90%. Fox News is calling Virginia for Obama. By most estimates, he’s now got somewhere around 220 electoral votes. When California comes in for him, that alone will put him past the 270 electoral votes required.

It’s done, folks. And yes, I’m bitter. The fact that any GOP candidate was a longshot for election in this cycle given the history of such things didn’t destroy my hope that my fellow Americans would wake up to the fact that Obama is a man devoid of any practical experience in anything even remotely like the job of president. That Obama’s clear hostility to our military would make him gut our preparedness and leave us vulnerable to attacks right here at home. That Obama’s socialist economic idealogy would simply raise taxes and choke the economic engine right when we need them to recover with all due haste.

That hope is dust. Fine. The electorate has spoken and I hope those on the left are as prepared to be called idiots as they were to throw that epithet around themselves. I also hope they’re ready to be blamed squarely when it all goes sour. I’ll have lots more in the days to come but for now, I’m done with this. I’ve been up over 19 hours today and I need rest. We’ll survey the damage tomorrow and hope that this storm of cluelessness hasn’t rendered our nation a coming wasteland.