Election night was certainly an interesting one, wasn't it? I finally tuned into the national news channels once the polls were closing and ballots were being tabulated, and I was on the edge of my seat for the hours that followed. To add to my experience, I clicked over to Real Clear Politics to keep up with the results on my own custom electoral map. It was probably as much fun as filling out my own bracket for March Madness. I was changing states from blue (Clinton) to red (Trump) and back again throughout the night, running possible scenarios for one of the candidates to reach the magic number of 270 electoral votes.
Later in the evening however, some other states - Michigan and Wisconsin - started flipping blue to red, and the television media was flummoxed. I was watching the results live on the New York Times website, which allowed me to do what the TV guys were doing - drilling down to the county level to see which precincts had reported. The site also forecasted the percentage of probability that one candidate or the other would take the office. The gauge (below left) indicated that Hillary Clinton had about an 80% chance of going all the way.
But as you know, the needle started to creep toward the middle of the gauge as information came in. By 9:00 it had changed sharply, and once it hit 95% on the Trump side, it stayed for the rest of the night.
And that's when Yours Truly finally went to bed.
Soon after, Mr. Trump took to the stage for a short and gracious victory speech. Mrs. Clinton made her concession speech after sunrise a few hours later.
Donald Trump's Victory Speech | Hillary Clinton's Concession Speech |
"...Hopefully you're going to be so proud of your president."
Both of those speeches were humble, thoughtful, and cordial. Another speech, this one by President Obama, adds to the tone. I'm proud that he added to the idea that we are on one team. He complimented his successor's comments about working together to improve our great nation. I hope the transition between the 44th and the 45th presidents is a smooth one, and I encourage everyone to take a deep breath and work together to keep the peace. And let's all get some sleep! | |