What time do you think the networks will call the winner on election night?

[Politics_Guy25]

I'm just curious. I think it will be around 9:30 pm EDT. How about you?

[apnu]

1. I hope early, cuz I'll want to go to bed. (nt)

[grannylib]

2. Will they wait until the polls close in Hawaii, Barack's home state?

Or will they call state by state as the polls close in those locations??

[RagAss]

3. Lunchtime.

[nc4bo]

4. Sounds a little late but might work. I was sorta thinking around 10a.m. nt

[MrModerate]

5. Once Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida are declared . . .

It'll pretty much be over. If VA or FL don't go our way, it'll be once Colorado is called. If we're losing after CO (and California won't right the equation), then we're all fucked and should start looking for somewhere else to live.

[LiberalFighter]

11. If Indiana goes Obama and it is looking more and more likely that will be the bell weather.

[Skip Intro]

6. shortly after nine, like 9:01.

It'll be clear by then...

[Politics_Guy25]

10. Yep

WJC was called at 9 pm ET I believe in 1996. If there aren't any too close to call (Virginia 2006/Florida 2000) races, I think 9 might be likely. 10 PM ET with CO/NV/NM at the outside.

[MadBadger]

7. When the NC polls close.

[Politics_Guy25]

16. But that's 7:30 PM ET

I get your point :):) but I think that's way too early. None of the midwestern battlegrounds except for Ohio will be closed at that hour. Heck, Florida's not even closed. lol.

[MadBadger]

19. How bout when they call North Carolina?

[HughMoran]

8. This kind of post kinda bothers me

It just beckons for a bad outcome. Sorry, I'm not counting my eggs early after 2000 & 2004.

[kevin881]

9. not just that but....

I do not think they can call the election until after west coast polls close.

[nc4bo]

13. Sorry, my timing was not for optimism. It's for the election theft con job they do. nt

[NEDem]

14. yeah, we still have a month to go. lets not celebrate just yet

[krawhitham]

20. The OP did not say who it would be called for

[Bucky]

12. Out of sense of fairness, they should at least wait until CA, OR, & WA polls close.

But of course fuck Hawaii & Alaska. If they really wanted to matter in the elections they'd goddamn move over to where the rest of us live. Fuckin' exotics...

[BzaDem]

15. Networks do not call the winner until they have projected that the winner has 270+ EV

so even if Obama is winning FL, VA, OH, etc, he probably won't be declared winner until the polls close in CA.

[Politics_Guy25]

18. How did Reagan get called so early in 1980 then?-n/t

[BzaDem]

25. Things were different in 1980. For one, newscasters didn't fear using exit polls.

I'm going by how they called the last several elections. They did not assign electoral votes to a candidate until the states' polls closed and there was sufficient evidence that the candidate won that state. When a winner reached 270, they called the election for the winner.

[MrModerate]

26. Exit polls (I know, a dirty word) should pretty much hand Obama California . . .

About half an hour after polls open (7am?). I'm confident calling CA for Obama today, frankly . . .

[SeattleGirl]

17. They'd better freaking WAIT until ALL the polls are closed,

including in Alaska and Hawaii.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

24. Word!

Let's get this ish right this time!

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. 10:30 Eastern time

:-)

[ShadowLiberal]

22. Depends,, on if/when certain states are won

If Obama wins say North Carolina then McCain likely can't win no matter what he does.

States like PA and FL will probably take a while to count all the votes in, but if the media calls PA early (more likely considering it's not in 2 different timezones I believe) for Obama, before many votes have been counted, then it's likely a very good sign that Obama won by a decent margin there.

Another possible indicator could be a small state McCain in theory should be able to win, like New Hampshire. If Obama wins New Hampshire by say double digits, or almost double digits, then that's a very bad sign for McCain.

[Undercurrent]

23. Isn't the MSM saying they will

no longer call the election until all the polls have closed, or the magic number of 270 has been hit? (Or was I dreaming this?)

I live in Washington State, and our polls close at 7PM Pacific time. But it will probably be called before all the polls close this time, because I think it's going to be an Obama blowout, and it will be clear early on.

The folks here on the left coast were pissed off big time when the media called it for Reagan while our polls were still open. Many, many folks were driving ho,me from work, and planning on stopping to vote on the way. They heard Reagan had won on the radio before they had a chance to vote, and many didn't bother. Of course there were other issues on the ballot, and House and Senate contests too, so it screwed with our turnout down ballot.