Taking a victory lap

That was a great night. Not only did Barack Obama make history by winning the presidency, but the Democrats also made gains in both the House and Senate. This election was made even more remarkable by record turnouts across the country. You can check out the full electoral map, which I think is especially cool because you can compare the results of the last five elections, and it's fun to watch the states change colors. (Yes, I know I'm both a dork and easily amused.)

Things were rowdy in Philadelphia (again... have they even recovered from the Phillies chaos?), as they were all over the world - how cute was it when they showed people cheering in Kenya? Awww. Look, even John Baer's happy!

Anyway, now it's all waiting to see what the transition looks like, and I'm wondering if it's too early to ask for a job. (Okay, I was saying that at 11:02 pm last night.)

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that this is like Christmas morning for me, but I have to say, in terms of entertainment value, the election coverage is almost as great as winning. I was flipping back and forth among CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and PCN all night, but spent most of my time with the cable news networks. I love how they're so unintentionally hilarious.

Like Chris Matthews saying, "Before we talk about numbers… which we don't have yet…" I'd gotten all excited that they showed PA at 62-37 for Obama, and then realized that was with 0% of the vote counted. Did they just make the numbers up? WTF MSNBC? (In all seriousness, they had about 2 precincts reporting, and the percentage was so small, they couldn't even round it up to 1.

It's great to watch them flounder trying to come up with things to talk about to kill time. And watching them play with their technology that never, ever works right on the first try. Like the weird-ass virtual Capitol thing they had, which I couldn't figure out the purpose of, not to mention Anderson Cooper talking to a hologram, like we're on Star Wars or something. "A lot more holograms ahead"? Say it ain't so, Anderson.

However, even the talking heads have their limits. Chris Matthews: "I think we can confirm that Oprah has arrived [at the Obama campaign headquarters], but whether she is actually in the crowd or not is open to speculation. But not by us." Thanks, Chris. Way to draw that line in the sand. We're all very proud.

Best quote of the night, however, goes to this exchange:

Anderson Cooper: "So, when he gets to 270, what do we do?"
Wolf Blitzer: "We report that. Then we leave."

Aww, poor Anderson. *pets him* He still hasn't quite gotten the hang of this "reporting" thing.

Biggest "ouch" moment:
MSNBC analyst: "John McCain is appropriately hunkered down in the Goldwater Suite…" The Goldwater Suite? Oh, that's cold.

And the biggest WTF moment would be this one:
CNN Pundit: "No one in any election has given more to his country than John McCain." Really? REALLY? No one? Not even, oh, let's just throw a name out there, George Washington? No one? Okay.

And of course, the night wouldn't be complete without a WWTRD? (What Would Tim Russert Do?) Someone on MSNBC asked what state Russert, were he with us, would be writing over and over on his dry erase board. (FYI, they went with not a state, but "Bush.")

Surprisingly, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's election coverage was disappointingly unfunny, and I switched back to the real news pretty quickly. It's sad when the cable news is unintentionally funnier than Jon and Stephen, who were actually trying (and trying way too hard, IMO).