Alaskan Surprise: Breaking news: absentee ballots counted today in Alaska -- and they are not all counted -- have put Democrat Mark Begitch in front of Republican Senator Ted Stevens... by exactly three votes. One two three... That leads our 5th story on the Countdown tonight, along with Minnesota, and Georgia. Senator John McCain denounced Saxby Chambliss as "reprehensible" for his infamous 2002 ad showing the faces of his opponent, Max Cleeland, and Osama Bin Laden. That was then; this is tomorrow -- when, in advance of the Georgia runoff, McCain will campaign for... Saxby Chambliss. Because the word "Reprehensible" may start with the letters "R-e-p," but so does "Republican".
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Transition Talk : It was he who reminded the country we only have one president at a time. So what happens if -- on a vital point of economy policy -- the one who is but not for long, and the one who isn't but soon will be -- disagree? Our fifth story on the Countdown: with the auto industry now in as bad, if not worse, shape than Wall Street -- will it get a bailout, in time, if the Bush-Obama vote... is not unanimous.
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Finally tonight as promised, a Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast.
Some parameters, as preface. This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.
And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics.
This is about the... human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it. CONTINUED >>
The Bush's Host the Obamas: His last trip to the White House, might have guaranteed today's visit. September 25th -- the Economic Emergency Meeting on Pennsylvania Avenue; Barack Obama, almost an afterthought on day two of John McCain's Non-Suspension Suspension of His Campaign; the bizarre, see-through political stunt that spread across the electorate, a uniform coating of "Huh?" Our fifth story on the Countdown: the rapidity with which the world can change based on what Americans do -- not the government, but the people -- underscored today by his return trip... as President-Elect.
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Brief Encounters: The election may be over, but the short sharp shocks for the Republican Party, are not. It was at Guilford County, North Carolina... that Alaska Governor Palin first implied that some parts of the country were more patriotic, more American than others...This just in: Turns out that Sarah Palin's "Real America"... was in the tank for Obama, too. He... took... Guilford County.
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Yes We Did: Was it just a mandate? Or was it both mandate and a landslide? Either way, who knew? It turns out the country was in the tank for Obama. Last night, a quarter million people in Chicago's Grant Park and 78-million more on television watched Barack Obama win the White House. CONTINUED >>
If you're one of the many people who can't get enough of hearing Barack Obama's name announced as the winner of the presidency of the United States of America, you may find comfort in this brief mp3 of Keith Olbermann calling the race for Obama at 11 p.m. ET on election night. Save it to your computer to play over and over to your heart's content or use a Web service or direct upload to send the file to your phone as a ringtone.
