This epic night has finally arrived. Both the Democratic and Republican Parties are ready for the biggest night in a generation. Barack Obama and John McCain have run the craziest campaign we can remember. Bruce Lunsford and Mitch McConnell have spent more money than anyone could have predicted. And we’re all ready for the final outcome.
Tonight Rick Redding is live in WLKY’s television studio providing expert analysis and I’m live at the Democratic Party’s function in Downtown Louisville providing takes from the field. We’ll be on-air and will furiously liveblog all night long. So stick with us. Watch WLKY’s Commitment 2008 special from 7:00 to 8:00 P.M. Eastern (can watch online, too, at WLKY.com) and stick with us on the web with WLKY from 8:00 to 11:00 P.M. And constantly check Page One & The ‘Ville Voice for our crazy liveblogging.
Read our by-the-minute updates after the jump…
5:11 - It’s just us media types in the main salon at the Marriott. Stick with us throughout the evening. It’s going to be pretty amazing on all sides of the political aisle. We’ll have every Democratic big dog in the state providing us with intel. And we’ve got direct lines to the Republican Party. It’s gonna be fun!
5:30 - Joni Jenkins has arrived and she is looking beautiful. Red high heels!
5:44 - Every media personality on earth is in this ballroom. A prominent Republican just texted me to inform: PA exit poll has Obama at +15. Sarcastically, they add, that probably means McCain is up 2. ha. We’re having difficulty accessing the web right now so we can’t link you to actual exit poll info.
5:52 - A reliable source just told us turnout in Jefferson County is at about 82%.
6:00 - Just in case we lose internet access, you can always check WLKY.com for results.
6:45 - Sorry. We’re back! We now have hardwired internet thanks to the lovely Marriott staff! Just had a few moments to spend with Speaker Jody Richards and he is in great spirits. In my home county of Morgan, Bruce Lunsford is reportedly winning 2 to 1 and Obama is ahead in absentees.
6:48 - We’ll be live at around 7:30, so watch!
6:58 - Security is pretty serious here tonight. Have to have arm bands to get upstairs to our suite. Joni is about to be interviewed by Mike Petchenik on-air. The crowd is starting to get pretty big. Tons of folks here. Jennifer Moore will be on-air just before me at 7:30.
7:01 - 11% of vote in, Bruce ahead of Mitch 50 to 49. McCain 52 Obama 46
7:03 - AP Calls Kentucky for McCain. Imagine that.
7:05 - In Jefferson Co Obama is at 55, McCain at 44. Joni is about to be live on WLKY. Check her out! I’m also taking all kinds of photos tonight and have a pro-photographer on-hand. Tomorrow I’ll post it all.
7:16 - A state party chair just stood us up for an interview so I filled in. Yarmuth is currently 57 to 43 with Northup. 42 percent of precincts reporting.
7:17 - Jennifer is back.
7:25 - JM didn’t really stand us up. Just a miscomm. See? I admit when I’m wrong.
7:26 - With 72% of precincts in JeffCo reporting, Obama is at 54 and McCain at 44.
7:26 - Katie King is at 50.2, David Holton is at 49.8. 41.4 reporting.
7:30 - In Morgan Co - McCain 54.8, Obama 42.8. Lunsford 57, McConnell 43. Jennifer Moore is on-air right now.
7:37 - I’ll be on-air in a sec talking about the negative campaigning.
7:40 - 24.2 percent in, McConnell/Lunsford 50/50
7:43 - Anne Northup willl concede in 10min. WLKY Declares John the winner.
7:46 - 76% in - John 58 and Anne 41. He likely won’t hit that magic 200K vote mark, but it’s a huge margin. John will be live in 6.5min.
7:58 - Anne conceding. Quite cordial! John is up next. We hear through the grapevine that Anne plans to take a big role in her community and we look forward to that. She’s got a ton of experience and can serve this community well. Looks like John is gonna beat her by about 20%. Woah.
8:02 - OMG. Roaring crowd. Obama is up in Florida. 55/44.
8:05 - Obama wins PA. Looking forward to the Obama Administration? As a Republican just called to ask us, “Do you smell what Barack is cookin?” (We’re trying to remain non-partisan here, folks…)
8:06 - 80% of JeffCo in - McCain 45, Obama 54.
8:14 - Couldn’t hear over the crowd so I hope I answered Mike’s Qs about Yarmuth-Northup correctly. John’s about to take the stage. J Moore up now.
8:16 - So deaf. Everyone screaming “KEep Louisville Yarmuth” - wow. Loud. (We just fixed our forehead glow)
8:17 - 44% in - McConnell at 50 Lunsford at 49.2 statewide. Aaron Yarmuth is at the mic discussing his dad’s race. “Lesser of two evils.” Ruh ro. He’s making the case that Yarmuth and Obama are candidates you can vote for instead of voting against their opponents.
8:20 - Encourage you to hop over to WLKY.com to watch the live stream if you’re not able to watch on television.
8:22 - Singing happy birthday to John Yarmuth. Nice and loud. John says his job is done. He’s saying this is shaping up to be one of his best birthday’s ever. He’s had the opp to work for and with the community that he loves. John’s thanking his staff.
8:25 - 868,099 votes cast, 48.5% reporting, McConnell 51.4, Lunsford 48.6. Predictions?
8:31 - Obama’s electoral lead: 101 to 34.
8:33 - Lunsford only leading McConnell by 30K votes in Jefferson County. Six more years of McConnell?
8:34 - Our attention span is so shot. John needs to just stop. Great guy, we congratulate him, but, uh. We’re ready to check what’s going on out in the country!
8:36 - Is it appropriate to be nervous about a strange photographer taking like 400 shots of me PUTTING ON FANCY TEEVEE MAKEUP? Oh god, worst nightmare’s come true!
8:45 - All of Northeastern Kentucky is blue. Bruce really does have a chance. Wow. Sorry for short updates, it’s crazy here.
8:57 - Just made the rounds to get some photographs for tomorrow. Now my mood has changed and I think there’s no way Bruce can pull this off. Just heard from the Republicans at the Galt House. At least one station is already calling it for McConnell.
9:01 - Democratic Leader of the state senate Ed Worley is up introducing Denise Harper Angel, the Democrat who wasted tons of KDP money in a useless lawsuit against Scott Ritcher. We know we’re supposed to keep this nice, but she was really nasty in her race. Mean, mean, mean. And a Democrat to boot.
9:06 - DHA is going on and on and on about her family. She says she’ll never take advantage of voters– even though that’s absolutely what she did with her suit against Scott Ritcher. (See previous stories about that mess.)
9:18 - Jefferson County - Senate - Lunsford is up 40,000. 7% of the vote is still out.
9:19 - 93% of the vote in - Yarmuth is at 203,673, Northup at 139,446. John hit that magical 200K votes. The most ever for a candidate in Jefferson County. In other news, John Yarmuth just WENT HOME instead of doing interviews with us. It’s disappointing, really, since I made it very clear to his press guy that he was on with us at 9:25. Oh well. More face time for ME!!!
9:21 - Just spoke with the RPK - McConnell isn’t planning an acceptance speech right now, despite national media reports to the contrary.
9:23 - Obama wins Ohio. 195 electoral votes for Obama.
9:27 - We hear Mitch McConnell will be making his acceptance speech any moment now. It’s over for Bruce Lunsford. We’ll have a special commentary on the KDP’s colossal failure soon. (We wrote it a month ago)
9:33 - Jonathan Hurst tells me Mike Weaver’s race is still too close to call. This could be a nail biter!
9:38 - Social update: Jennifer Moore was very polite with us. Jeremy Horton was polite, but confused. And everyone else has been super-pleasant. While the Kentucky Democratic Party is a joke (despite the Dem House Caucus), it’s a great night for Democrats. It’s an even greater night for the Republican Party of Kentucky. Congratulations to Senator Mitch McConnell on his 5th Senate Term.
9:39 - Congrats to Brent Ackerson on his Metro Council win in Louisville. I’m up in a sec to discuss negative campaigning.
9:44 - Bruce will be down in ten minutes to concede. Just spoke with him on the phone. He’s a personal friend, so please take everything I say with a grain of salt. Kentucky owes him a lot. And, as badly as I don’t want to say it, we also owe McConnell a lot. Both positive and negative, but a lot.
9:46 - Has Jennifer Moore resigned yet?
9:52 - Mitch McConnell is prepared to deliver his acceptance speech according to RPK officials. ANy moment now.
10:00 - McConnell is speaking right now. Obama won Iowa. Lunsford staffers are trickling into the ballroom, so expect him any minute, as well.
10:07 - Not waiting for Mitch to finish. Jennifer Moore up. No, Jen, we did NOT put Mitch on the run. Stay tuned. Bruce will be in the room in just a moment. And don’t forget to check back later tonight to read our diatribe about Jennifer.
10:09 - Former Governor John Y. Brown II is up. He looks great. Gambling must do a body good! (Kidding) Actually, John’s turned out to be a good guy and he’s worked hard for Bruce Lunsford. Too bad he’s going CRAZY in front of this crowd right now, bursting out our sensitive ears. He’s talking about 38 years ago when Bruce joined his administration. Okay. We’ll update again once Bruce is speaking. Gotta grab some photos. Mitch is speaking at this very moment, Chao is at his side. Congrats to him. WAIT - JYBII just called Bruce Lunsford a “pitbull without lipstick.”
10:13 - Bruce is up. Somber cheering. The Kentucky Democratic Party failed him. Let’s see what he has to say.
10:15 - Bruce: “They gave it everything.” Spoke for a few moments about helping the Democratic Party across Kentucky and the rest of the country. Jennifer Moore has a look of total fear on her face. She’s just over Bruce’s shoulder in the live shot - check it out. Bruce: “I’m disappointed for Kentuckians and my staff who worked tirelessly for months. This has been a journey of a lifetime. I’ve met thousands of incredible people. I’m honored to have support of those who have never supported me before.
10:17 - Katie King and her dad just showed up.
10:18 - Bruce just got booed when he congratulated McConnell. “This is a time to urge all of our reps in Washington to get America back on track.” Our Intrepid Reporter just said, “Mitch will be lonely in Washington.” Bruce: “I urge Sen. McConnell to work hand-in-hand with the Obama Administration.” “This is not a time for partisanship or obstructionism.”
10:20 - Bruce: “I’ll remain active… help rebuild our economy from the bottom up. I want to congratulate all those Democrats who won big victories tonight.” (Cheering for Yarmuth) “Thank you again, to all of you, who have helped me so much over this past year. Let’s continue to work together to bring America back.” And with that, Bruce ended his third losing campaign in five years.
10:45 - We’re wrapping our event coverage. Jody Richards is on-stage discussing the massive State House Democratic victories. Linda Belcher won. Only seat lost was Renfro’s race. House: 65 Dem, 35 Rep. That’s a super-majority, right? The Democratic House Caucus is the state’s most successful political organization, for sure. Second only to Mitch McConnell’s campaign.
39 responses so far ↓
1 Hillary // Nov 4, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Jake - How do you feel about putting the most recent updates at the top?
2 jake // Nov 4, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Due to time constraints I’ll only be able to put updates at the bottom.
3 Robin // Nov 4, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Red high heels! If you want to, want to! Nice going Joni.
4 D.J. Self-Conscious // Nov 4, 2008 at 5:58 pm
You need a live webcam. You could do a strip-tease for me while there’s a lull. I’d pay good money; like $5, maybe $10.
5 D.J. Self-Conscious // Nov 4, 2008 at 6:17 pm
~82% turnout in Jefferson County = ~410,000 votes.
In 1996, the last time he was up for reelection in a presidential election year, McConnell came out of Jefferson County with a ~14,000-vote margin in his favor.
He won the state by 165,000.
If McConnell loses Jefferson County this election by less than 50,000, I don’t see how Lunsford can pull it out.
6 Billy Budd // Nov 4, 2008 at 6:53 pm
D. J. Self-Conscious—Bunning lost Jefferson by 60++ if memory serves and he pulled it out anyway.
7 alan harbig // Nov 4, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Jennifer was just on LKY and was almost unintelligible. Jenningsthefatass is on now.
8 alan harbig // Nov 4, 2008 at 7:35 pm
wonder how he’ll look in an orange jumpsuit?
9 Billy Budd // Nov 4, 2008 at 7:43 pm
does anyone know WHERE the current results in the senate race are coming from? Are these Jefferson County numbers?
10 Robin // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Is the PA result solid?
11 Robin // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Lunsford needs at least a 50K lead before the western counties and Bowling Green come in. My prediction.
12 Hillary // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:33 pm
blitzer just now: “mitch mcconnell is fighting for his political life.”
13 idiots // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Katie King is going to be a freaking judge. Congratulations, Jefferson County voters, you are imbeciles.
14 Billy Budd // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:36 pm
one assumes Mitch will win the 4th, 5th and loose the 6th; to wipe out his surplus, Jefferson County would have to give Lunsford are larger majority than it has given to Obama. I don’t see how the pieces fit for Lunsford although I thought he would put them together this year.
15 Robin // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Just goes to show you that anyone can buy a judicial post — why in the hell does anyone elect judges. When are people going to realize not every elected office is the equivalent of the prom queen or homecoming king. Credentials matter.
16 Hillary // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:41 pm
robin: cnn just called PA for obama
17 Robin // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Lunsford isn’t going to be able to hold off McConnell with only 30K margin in Jefferson County. Too bad. Voters probably fell for the “I can deliver big time for you argument”.
18 Robin // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Thanks Hillary.
19 Robin // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Yes, Jake you should be very afraid of the mystery photographer. But be sure and ask for a few copies for yourself.
20 boyledem // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Boone County and a lot of the old 5th have not reported to the Sec. of State’s website, while Jefferson and Fayette are in…McConnell will win by 4 percentage points.
21 Billy Budd // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Jake, a 30,000 vote loss for Mitch in Jefferson is easily covered. I thought the Republican tide would be weaker in the western part of the state this year and there would be a 50+ victory for Lunsford in Jefferson given the populairty of John and Obama. I think a 30,000 vote loss in Jefferson means Mitch wins.
22 writerach // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:56 pm
NC just called their Senate race: Kay Hagen beat Elizabeth Dole by a huge margin, despite Dole’s running horrible attack ads at the end.
How exciting - two women, and how hard it must have been to defeat the incumbent, wife of Bob Dole, and the fact that Hagen is winning in some counties by a larger margin than Obama is. Maybe she’ll be the next superstar!
23 Daniel // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:58 pm
how is katie king winning her race and why the heck does KY still want McConnell in office? UGH!
Thank G-d for Yarmuth being reelected.
24 writerach // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Anybody know how Al Franken is doing? Or Proposition 8 in CA? Or the S Dakota abortion ban?
25 Hillary // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:19 pm
cnn just called it for mcconnell
damn.
26 writerach // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:20 pm
CNN projects McConnell wins.
27 writerach // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:22 pm
What is WRONG with people? McConnell?!? WTF.
28 The Tyler // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Bruce Lunsford ran an awesome campaign.
This sucks, but at least McConnell will have a “perfectly miserable” time dealing with a Democratic Senate, House and Presidency.
Look on the bright side, our next US Senate race is against a crazyman.
29 alan harbig // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Can we launch the RECALL KATIE movement RIGHT NOW????
30 alan harbig // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Jesus H! Scott Jennings looks like he ate every free Krispy Kreme in Kentucky!!!!
31 alan harbig // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Bruce’s campaign was actually pretty pathetic.
32 The Tyler // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Your face is actually pretty pathetic.
33 writerach // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:35 pm
CNN projects OH for Obama! Amazing. Election Day is my favorite holiday.
34 Crutnacker // Nov 4, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Lunsford’s campaign was bad. He had a million ways to attack McConnell and didn’t.
McConnell I can understand. But if the dementia ridden Bunning wins again, we need to secede from the rest of the state.
35 Hillary // Nov 4, 2008 at 10:08 pm
how soon should we expect a change of party leadership here in ky, jake?
36 One hell of a year // Nov 4, 2008 at 10:12 pm
KY1- One Hell of a fun fight
KY2- As much as David tried to out republican the biggest scum bag in the world he is a good guy
US Senate- Bruce is a great guy and he would’ve been a great Senator his campaign Mgr is a idiot who deserves nothing but a horrible rest of his career Bruce would do Kentucky proud to stay active in Kentucky he was a great guy to get to know i hope he is well…..
37 jake // Nov 4, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Hillary: ASAP. The Governor’s staff have told me that Jennifer is out for months. So it will happen - they’ve never been dishonest with me.
I’d expect it to come sometime soon.
38 Republican gadfly // Nov 4, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Then you’re the only person that the governor’s staff is honest with.
They have lied about many things … such as no road projects being cut, when in fact they have axed many, particularly in Republican counties.
We had a good governor last year. This year, not so much.
39 idiots // Nov 5, 2008 at 2:42 am
Republican.Gadfy so a good gov to you is getting charged with a felony if you are talking about road projects the worst leader that the state senate has ever had holds them up unless he gets his way and goes and crys
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