7 p.m.: It’s finally November 4th: Election Day. I’m just now getting ready to turn on the television so that I can stay glued to it for the rest of the night wishing for as many Republican victories as possible.

Though the polls have been in Senator Obama’s favor, all of the polls for the last few decades have been biased towards the Democrat, and when you start adding just a few percentage points to Senator McCain’s state polls, the election becomes much closer.

There is also the Bradley Effect, which says that some people will tell pollsters that they are voting for the black candidate in order to not appear racist, but in actuality, will vote for the white candidate.

Between these two effects, McCain undoubtedly has a chance. Though I’m not confident, I do have hope. Who knows, maybe Obama has been rubbing off on me after all.

8 p.m.: After crunching the numbers, it appears that McCain’s best path to victory would be to win Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and one of either Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico or Nevada.

Unfortunately, Obama leads in Florida and Pennsylvania has already been called in his favor. In addition, he is also winning in one of McCain’s states, North Carolina. The only pieces of good news I’ve seen all night are that McCain seems to be winning in Virginia and it looks unlikely that the Democrats will have a 60 percent, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

On the other hand, regardless of the outcome, all those idiots around campus who feel the need to ask me if I’m an Obama supporter half a dozen times a day will be gone tomorrow. So really, either way, I win.

9 p.m.: A few months ago this election was a shoo-in for McCain. Even the liberally biased polls predicted him the victor. But as we got closer to the election, things just kept looking worse. Now, with Obama significantly ahead in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, the end result seems inevitable.

If any of you liberals out there are wondering how this feels to the other side, I invite you to think back to the football game against Kansas this year. It’s kind of like being up 20 to nothing at the half with the other team seeming completely unable to move the ball, then watching, able to do nothing, as your team slowly falls over and dies.

The only difference is, when the Cyclones lose, it means less bragging rights and maybe no trip to somewhere warm in December. When the Republicans lose, it means four years of bad economic policies and a potentially nuclear-armed Iran.

9:45 p.m.: The results of Iowa have begun to come in as well, and I continue to be disappointed. Not only will Obama win in Iowa, but it appears that Sen. Harkin will be re-elected as well.

Every time I hear one of Harkin’s idiotic statements quoted on the news or in the paper, I’m embarrassed for my state, and it appears that the trend will continue for at least another six years.

On the plus side of Democratic victories, Republican Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut was defeated. Shays is a traitor to his party and if you’re going to have a liberal in office anyway, he might as well be a Democrat.

Maybe Obama could spread out the wealth and send a few votes McCain’s way. I hear he’s into that sort of thing.

10:30 p.m.: Barack Obama has now officially been predicted as the president-elect.

Ayn Rand described the situation all the way back in 1957:

“There wasn’t a man voting for it who didn’t think that under a setup of this kind he’d muscle in on the profits of the men abler than himself. There wasn’t a man rich and smart enough but that he didn’t think that somebody was richer and smarter, and that this plan would give him a share of his better’s wealth and brain. But while he was thinking that he’d get unearned benefits from the men above, he forgot about all his inferiors who’d rush to drain him as he hoped to drain his superiors.”

He will stop the motor of the world…

Keep checking back for more updates.

— Blake Hasenmiller is a senior in industrial engineering and economics from De Witt.