Election 2008: The Eve of Election Day

Pearce: This is it... the eve of Election 2008.  This has been the longest campaign season in history and is sure to prove historic tomorrow night.  Everybody pop a sit in front of your TVs and watch it unfold... we've never seen anything like it.  This will be the last posting before the results are in.  I'll be spending election night in Salisbury, North Carolina celebrating the re-election of NC Senator Elizabeth Dole!!

Washington Post: Barack Obama and the Democrats hold a commanding position two days before Tuesday's election, with the senator from Illinois leading in states whose electoral votes total nearly 300 and with his party counting on significantly expanded majorities in the House and Senate.  More...

AP: Barack Obama and John McCain uncorked massive get-out-the-vote operations in more than a dozen battleground states Sunday, millions of telephone calls, mailings and door-knockings in a frenzied, fitting climax to a record-shattering $1 billion campaign. Together, they'll spend about $8 per presidential vote.  More...

Chuck Todd: Is there a more relevant battleground state than the Tarheel state? Not only is the presidential close, but the senate and governor's races are also nailbiters.  More...

Dome: Early voting has closed in North Carolina, and preliminary numbers show that more than 40 percent of the state's registered voters have already cast ballots, more than 2.5 million people, more than 70 percent of all the votes cast in 2004.  More...

Dome: The case for McCain to win North Carolina

Dome: Analysts rank the presidential race in North Carolina.

The Fix: Dole's "Godless" ad, Hagan's response and Dole's response to Hagan's response.  More...

Dome: Dole ad took YouTube by storm.  More... 

Dome: Analysts rank the North Carolina senate race.

Dome: Analysts rank the North Carolina governor's race.

Washington Post: Pundit predictions for Election 2008.

RCP: The latest electoral map.  Virginia and Ohio move from "lean Obama" to "toss up."

NYPost: How to watch the election.

Pearce:  This video is one of the coolest things I've seen this campaign season.  It's the perfect thing to take us into Election 2008.  Please, vote however you like.

Election 2008: Only 8 Days Away

Presidential Race:

AP: Republican John McCain declared "I'm going to win it," dismissing polls showing him behind with little more than a week to go in the presidential race. A confident Democrat Barack Obama drew a jaw-dropping 100,000 people to a Denver rally and rolled out a new TV ad asserting his rival is "running out of time."  More...

WSJ: John McCain proclaimed Sunday that his presidential campaign remained viable, while Barack Obama warned his supporters against overconfidence in the home stretch of the general election.  More...

Cook: Since early September this race has shifted rather dramatically in Obama's favor. As long as the focus is almost exclusively on the economy, this race is almost unwinnable for McCain... At this stage, the most relevant question would seem to be: "How big will the train wreck be for the Republican Party up and down the ballot in November."  More...

Rothenberg: While major media outlets are hesitant to pronounce the presidential race over for fear of being harassed by Republicans and conservatives, there isn’t much doubt at this late date that it is over. Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) will be elected president in less than two weeks.  More...

Sabado: The fundamentals of this election year could not be more Democratic.  You've got a terrible economy, a deeply unpopular president and an unpopular war. You put those elements together and it's going to produce a Democratic victory. ... The only question is, what size?  More...

Washington Post: There are no "Obama 2008" buttons, banners or T-shirts visible here at U.N. headquarters, but it might be difficult to find a sliver of territory in the United States more enthusiastic over the prospect of the Illinois senator winning the White House.  More...

Pearce: Joe Biden was angered by hard hitting questions during an interview with a local Florida station on Saturday.  The Obama Camp is now punishing the station.

CNN: Sarah Palin warned that putting Obama in the White House along with Democrats running both chambers of Congress will turn the country into a nanny state.  More...

Dome: Some talking points about North Carolina for political talking heads.

Dome: The case for Obama winning in North Carolina.

Dome: Local political experts disagree as to which presidential candidate will take North Carolina.  See the opinions and analysis of Wrenn, Davis, Pearce & Kromm.

RCP: Obama already has 306 electoral votes to McCain's 157.  75 remain toss-ups.

Senate Race:

Washington Times: Sen. Elizabeth Dole is currently in the fight of her career to keep her U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina. A number of factors have made the seat, formerly held by Sen. Jesse Helms, harder to hold onto during this election cycle.  More...

The Fix: Boy is this race between Sen. Elizabeth Dole and state Sen. Kay Hagan (D) tough to call! This could well be the closest contest (in terms of raw vote) on the Senate docket this cycle.  More...

WRAL: Dole remains passionate about public service.  More...

Canadian Star: They're just a couple of old codgers sitting on their rocking chairs in front of a North Carolina country store, but they could be on the vanguard of a radical change in the way American politics is conducted over the next two years.  More...

CNN: Sens. Mitch McConnell and Elizabeth Dole are two top Republicans lawmakers who find themselves fighting to hold on to their Senate seats.  They're also two reasons why Democrats are talking 60 -- the number of seats needed to secure filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.  More...

CNN: GOP argument is don't give President Obama a blank check... Dole has become perhaps the most vulnerable of the red state Senate Republicans in what might be the clearest sign of the GOP's woes this election season.  More...  

San Fran Chronicle: The shock in Senate races isn't that Democrats are winning the Republican West, but that they're on the verge of taking seats in the South, the GOP's stronghold since the Reagan presidency.  More...

Winston-Salem Journal: Dole said in an interview that she hopes some Obama voters will split their tickets and vote for her -- as clear an indication as any that times have changed since the Helms era. If Obama wins North Carolina or comes close, Dole will be counting on ticket-splitters.  More...

Other:

RCP: Latest polls show Charlotte Mayor Patrick McCrory pulling ahead in NC Governor's race.

**Note**

I've added several live feeds from major news outlets to my blog.  Look along the left side of the page for the latest headlines from Drudge, Fox, CNN, Politico, Under the Dome, Roll Call, The Hill, Washington Post and more.  Don't have time to check all these sites?  Get the quick rundown at www.pearcegodwin.com.  

Also, vote in my election polls.  McCain is currently leading Obama 16-15, and Dole is leading Hagan 20-8.

The Latest on Election 2008 & Pearce's Predictions

NYT: Before this campaign season, Senator Elizabeth Dole was not considered a particularly vulnerable incumbent. As Washington royalty with a gold-plated résumé, she won the seat once held by Senator Jesse Helms by a nine-point margin in 2002.  But on Tuesday, when Mrs. Dole appeared at a rally for Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican candidate for vice president, she was appealing for her political life.  More...

N&O: In an e-mail sent to Kay Hagan supporters this week from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the former advisor to President Clinton undermined the DSCC's ad campaign, which has tarred U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole as ineffective.  "But making history means taking down powerful red-state incumbents like Mitch McConnell, Elizabeth Dole, and Roger Wicker," he writes.  More...

Pearce: Pat McCrory picks up big endorsements from North Carolina's major newspapers: Charlotte, Asheville, Greensboro & Winston-Salem.  He has also taken the lead from Beverly Perdue in the race for the North Carolina Governor's mansion.

Pearce: The final presidential debate is over, and, while much more entertaining than the previous two, it did not feature the kind of "game-changer" that McCain seems to be in desperate need of.  The candidates are now hitting the trail hard in an attempt to drive home their messages and sway still-undecided voters in the closing days of this marathon campaign.

PREDICTIONS:

Pearce: With 18 days left before the November 4th election, I'm making my predictions on the three races that matter most to North Carolina.  I believe Barack Obama will be our 44th President.  Although national polls are tightening this week, enough states are solidly, likely or leaning Obama to give him the victory with 305 electoral votes (270 are needed to win).  Only four states remain toss-ups at this point, one being North Carolina, and Obama leads in each of them.  My prediction is that Barack will win three of these four states and the presidency with 349 electoral votes to McCain's 189.  John McCain, Elizabeth Dole and Pat McCrory will win in North Carolina.  The tide could certainly change dramatically in the next 18 days, but for McCain, it would require a very significant event... October surprise anyone?

Note: Feel free to comment on my posts by clicking "Post a Comment" below.  Let's hear your predictions...

Weekly Extras

Election 2008:

RCP: Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory now leading in the race for North Carolina Governor

RCP: Electoral map favoring Obama

Cook: GOP's Senate Stock Falls

Reuters: McCain-Obama tie possible in Presidential race

AP: Racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House

Pearce: Elizabeth Dole recently released a new ad going after Kay Hagan's record in the North Carolina legislature.  See the ad below.