Talk Elections

... and on your television you hear.

And we are now prepared to declare that Governor Romney will win the State of Colorado, meaning that unless President Obama manages to win the State of Alaska where the polls are still open, it looks like for the first time since 1824, the Congress will be deciding who will be the next President of the United States. This is much to the dismay of the folks in the Obama campaign who were certain things were going their way when Virgina was declared for them shortly the polls closed there at seven this evening.

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What's your reaction?

I'll hide in my conspiracy bunker. Thanks, Alex Jones!

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This would possibly create a scenario that would make Alaska much closer than people thought, but Romney would still win it.

Not really.  Almost all of Alaska's polls close at midnight ET.  There are only few hundred who live in the Western Aleutians who have polls that might stay open til 1 am ET.  Probably the only reason the media waited until 1 am to call Alaska in 2008 was that they didn't want to interrupt talking about Obama's win.  In this scenario, I'd expect the media to call Alaska for Romney shortly after midnight, maybe even at midnight if they have any exit polling (doubtful).

This, yeah. For a more realistic 269-269, you can switch North Carolina with Colorado and Nevada. Because Ryan is from the Midwest generally and Wisconsin in particular, a 269-269 map has gotten a teensy bit likelier with the pick.

Yes and no.  It might be a slightly likelier tie, but it won't have the last state in doubt to be called for Romney, which I also wanted.

Let the games begin.

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I was going to post something, but that gif is better than anything I had to say.

Do we really want this sort of drama? Sure, this would give the Republicans the entire government (provided that they win the Senate), but if they lose the PV or even have it this close after this much, the Senate Democrats will have the ammunition they need to fillibuster.

Drama?  This doesn't begin to give us drama.  Suppose the Senate is split 50-50.  We might well end up with Romney/nobody winning.  I don't say that because I think Ryan is a nobody, but because we might end up without a Vice President.

With a 50-50 tie, the Dems will get to organize the Senate at the start of the session because of Vice President Biden.  But it takes 51 Senators to choose the next veep sworn in for the new term as this vote ain't one Biden can break a tie on.  (Nor would it be decided if a vote was called while a Senator was stuck in the bathroom.  A 50-49 vote does not elect a Vice President.)  With the Democrats having already organized the Senate, if there is no Vice President, then President pro tem Leahy would preside over the senior house.

...and what would that mean for a Romney presidency?

...and how close would Colorado be? If its under a few thousand votes...we might know who it is for days or weeks... it seems like we would be going into 2012 the same way we went into 2000...a Right-Wing Administration and Right-Wing House with a hung Senate...but with the exception that the government is on the verge of shutting down and the economy is has no steam.

Well, Ryan would be in a weird quasi-limbo.  Since at any time he could be called up to be the Vice President, he likely would not be given a House chairmanship as he has now, which means that 269-269 50-50 tie would be the worst of both worlds for him.

If Obama/Biden wins the PV, there might be calls on the Republicans to let Biden retain the Vice Presidency, which would bring an end to almost four decades of the office being more than a warm bucket of piss since I can't imagine Biden being given a prominent role in a Romney White House as every Vice President since Mondale has.

Its going to be pretty interesting with VP Biden going off on President Romney on TV all the time.

Somewhere there is a complex containing an exaton of ammunition that the Senate Democrats forgot about.