Overall Electoral Explanation

Well, here's the final electoral map (from barackobama.com). As you can see, the coastal areas both went Democrat as expected, but the shockers were New Mexico and Colorado who also went Democrat; as well as North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida, which have typically went to the Republican candidate, but I guess they decided it was time for a change. You can see that although there is a lot more red on the map, the states that are more densely populated (i.e. California and the entire NE region as well as Florida) with a higher electoral count went to Barack, which is the reason he won.
-Christina

My Election Reflections

I'm very satisfied with the election results, not only because my personal choice for candidate was elected, but because it would have been a historic night had either Senator won.
The electoral college and the popular vote were startlingly different majority-wise. In the electoral vote, Senator Obama won by a landslide with 364 against 163 for Senator McCain. The popular vote, on the other hand, only favors Obama in a 6-7% lead with 53% going to Obama and 46% going to McCain. Because of this I believe we should still make radical changes to the electoral college, regardless of whether my personal choice was elected because of it or not.
My electoral prediction map was so close! :( If only I could find it...anyway, some of the ones that were wrong include Montana (I projected it going blue, however it went red)and North Carolina (I projected it going red, instead it went blue). I was most excited about Florida, since it caused so much trouble in the 2000 election and was one of the key deciding factors in putting our current president (that's President George W. Bush, not president elect Barack Obama) in office, and it has gone red for the previous couple elections. So it was pretty exciting.
My (as well as Nick's) Gallup Poll research definitely helped in my predictions. All of our polls showed an overall lead (sometimes with an overwhelming margin) towards Obama, and I kept that in mind as I was predicting the electoral votes.
I'm so excited about this election. For the first time history is actually accessible to me; instead of something that I can read about or be taught I'm living this experience. I saw our first African-American president elected into the White House, and after so many hardships and struggles we have finally broken down those racial barriers. I think we can expect America to be turned around and put back onto the right track with Barack Obama as our chosen conductor.
-Christina

My Election Reflections

I am satisfied with the result of the 2008 election between Barack Obama and John McCain.The winner was Barack Obama. I am so excited he became the next president of the United States. He believes in change and I do too. I think over the next four years that he will make the best choice for our country. This was the first election that I followed thoroughly and enjoyed to watch the evolution of the race. After seeing the outcome of the race I believe that our country has a system that works and a lot of people trust in. If we had to change it I believe I would change how the electoral votes were distributed throughout each state. But besides that I think that the electoral college will find the person that is most fit for our country. The prediction of my electoral map was pretty close. But I had a few wrong with the toss-up states that I had to make a guess on. The biggest upset I had in my prediction was Montana. I really thought it would go to Obama. I also had a few good guesses on my map too. I was most excited about Ohio. As you probably know John McCain really wanted to win Ohio, but I just didn't think he would win. And I guessed correct. My gallup poll research deffinately did support the winner of the election.

-Nick

Barack Obama...44th president of the United States.

Well folks, after 22 months and some hundred million odd dollars (and who knows how many grams of caffeine coursing through my blood stream), the American people have spoken. Barack Obama has been elected our first African-American president. To actually watch this pivotal moment in history is slightly surreal. It started at 8 p.m., when Sen. Obama had a lead of 175 to 70 electoral votes. It continued to rise until Obama reached 284 (of the necessary 270 electoral votes to secure the White House) at around 11 p.m. It was a wave effect throughout the country. McCain's concession speech in Phoenix was very gracious; he congratulated Barack and recognized this moment in history as well as thanking all of his constituents and supporters for their votes and support throughout the campaign. Obama's acceptance speech was inspirational. He mentioned the civil rights movement and how we as a people had come so far, and all the times of change this country had faced. He also thanked all the people of his campaign, in his family, as well as our nation for supporting him. Yes we can America, and yes we did!
-Christina