Graphic via the always awesome twolf1.

All the major networks are calling Ohio for Obama. To be able to do so this early says that the exit polls we were hearing around 5 pm ET have held — the exit poll margins I saw were running 54-45 in Obama’s favor. CNN hasn’t officially called it yet, but they are reporting the margins as:

Obama 56%

McCain 43%

With 15% in

Florida is still too close to call at this point, and likely will be for at least another half hour or so until the panhandle versus the Miami-Dade numbers start really getting crunched.

WV lands in the McCain column, but it was a much closer margin than it looked to be just after the primary. What’s the difference, given how well Obama performed with blue-collar voters in Ohio according to their exit polls? The time Obama spent in the state. WV barely got any campaign time, two short visits before the primary, one Biden visit and one Bill and Hillary visit each during the general and that’s it. Ohio, the same sort of retail politics state as WV was bombarded with campaign appearances from both candidates, and their voters were given an opportunity to get to know" Obama up close as a result.

I still think Obama could have taken WV’s 5 electoral votes with a little more effort campaigning here, but he pulled out the electoral plum of Ohio with its 20 electoral votes. With PA, that’s just huge.

That puts the CNN electoral count at Obama with 194 and McCain with 69.

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  3. Blue America Welcomes Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, Candidate For U.S. Senate
  4. Election 2009: Election Night Thread #1; Polls Now Closed in VA
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