I forget whether wcg is on my friended-by as well as my friends list, but the race he's been talking about for the better part of a year now, supporting Democrat Jim Webb's campaign, is the race it seems everything is hinging on now.

As of 1:21 am Eastern, Webb is ahead of George Allen by 1,524 votes, with 13 precincts out of 2,443 remaining. (CNN's count continues to be behind this one.) This one will almost certainly take weeks to resolve; at least one pundit was heard to joke that the state motto was changing to "Virginia is for lawyers."

We're done, at least for the first run. Some pages will likely be updated with later numbers for the in-town papers (we don't have editions as such, but we can make over pages mid-press run)...

UPDATE: At 1:46 Eastern, the lead is up to 4,745 with 10 precincts left...

UPDATE 2: At 3:06 Eastern, 7,720 with 7 precincts left...

The Associated Press has called the governor's race for Rick Perry.

Not that I didn't expect this, but... bleargh.

(Just overheard, to a co-worker: "Your phone's clucking...")

The polling place moved from the Boy Scouts hall to an office a block away. The quarters were significantly more cramped than in the Boy Scouts hall, and I actually had to wait a couple minutes for a machine to open, which I usually don't. I'm not sure whether this is a function of higher turnout or fewer machines (possibly both).

My reading today, as always on this holy day, is from the book of Goodwin, as told by the prophet Stout:

The most interesting incident Tuesday morning was my walking to building on Thirty-fourth Street to enter a booth and push levers on a voting machine. I have never understood why anybody passes up that bargain. It doesn't cost a cent, and for that couple of minutes you're the star of the show, with top billing. It's the only way that really counts for you to say I'm it, I'm the one that decides what's going to happen and who's going to make it happen. It's the only time I really feel important and know I have a right to. Wonderful. Sometimes the feeling lasts all the way home if somebody doesn't bump me.

(khaosworks relays another perspective, from the book of Jerusalem told by the prophet Ellis...)

Actually, those of you most anywhere in the U.S., but particularly those of you in Texas:

VOTE.

In an hour or two, once I'm showered and dressed (odd hours, remember), I will be walking up the street to register my vote against the vile piece of excrement called Proposition 2. The (insert appropriate Mandarin curse here) are extremely likely to win yet again, but that doesn't mean I have to make it easier for them...