Two Days to Go… – Blue State Journal

Just holding my breath here… Watching the electoral map at Real Clear Politics.

There are so many infinite combinations here, and so many “unknown” factors, that anyone could be in shock come Tuesday night, no matter who you support. Salon noted that if you’re looking for an early sign from Virginia, look at the Virgil Goode race. If Obama wins Virginia, it will be a bad sign for McCain.

It also remains to be seen if Elizabeth Dole’s “scorched earth” turn of the past few days (literally putting the words, “there is no god” in her opponent’s mouth in the most vile ad I’ve seen this season) will have any McCain backlash. If people are ticked off enough at Dole, they might also think about McCain’s highly negative ads and just decide to vote down the Democratic line.

If McCain loses Virginia and North Carolina, he can win all the toss-up states including Ohio and even win Nevada, Colorado, and Pennsylvania (which are currently leaning Obama) and still lose by one electoral vote.

Of course, I’d hate to see it that close, but I’d love to see Obama and Hagen win North Carolina just as an answer to Dole’s abhorrent television spot.

In playing with the map, I even came to one 269-269 scenario. If you really want to abuse yourself, I found a great article on the Huffington Post that covers what happens then (it’s far from certain that Obama would be elected in this instance, but it is likely).

Mostly, my head hurts and I’m inclined to think it’s just worth keeping on keeping on because no one really has any answers this election season, even though they might claim to. There are so many X factors here. We all know what they are.

But by and large, the key to a Democratic victory is getting as many people to the polls as possible. I think it’s one thing we can still rely on that traditional helps Democrats.

Back in 2006 about this time, Sean Hannity was begging Democrats to just stay home and not vote, if they really loved their country and wanted what was best for it. I wonder if we’ll hear any similar pleas tomorrow?