Time to put up or shut up

John Merli
Published: November 4, 2008

It’s here. Finally!

Today is a day that many people thought would never come — the end of this never-ending campaign. If today were a movie (and no doubt it will be soon), it could be titled “The Day the Earth Stood Still,”
because it seems well beyond the state line of Virginia — and the nation itself — much of the world is watching today’s election even more closely than some of us.

Guess they all figure they have something at stake.

Go figure.

If states can get a big head over things the way we humans do, I would think our commonwealth probably has one right about now (and maybe Northern Virginia, in particular), since both major
presidential candidates once again campaigned here in the final days leading up to today.

Three days after McCain campaigned up the road in Springfield, Obama’s last campaign stop after a grueling 21 months was last night at the Prince William County Fairgrounds. Not too shabby for a
county and region whose collective “red-state” vote was pretty much taken for granted until now (although don’t tell that to Tim Kaine, Jim Webb and Mark Warner).

Now that all the histrionics from both sides are over in what ended up to be an often-nasty race (at least until the self-righteous finger-pointing begins in earnest come tomorrow morning from the losing
side), the ball is in Virginia’s court and our role is much more relevant than is usual in the national picture.

Prince William County schools wisely chose to close school doors today since most polling places are located at schools and turnout and subsequent parking needs are expected to break records.

And then it’s time to sit back tonight and watch the election roll out as one huge TV show, full of anticipation, suspense, pathos, joy and an unknown ending. And it’s all live and in living color (not to
mention high-definition, too, for some).

Sadly, we won’t have the late Tim Russert and his famously simple chalk board tonight to explain what all the returns mean as the evening progresses. But some pollsters have established a successful
track record on what possible clues to look for early in the count tonight.

One little-known group, the Political Research Center at Suffolk University in Boston, thinks we should look for at least two things when the polls close in Virginia and Florida at 7 p.m. (which is among
the earliest closing times in the country).

The center predicts that should Virginia and Florida be called for Obama relatively early in the night, it could be a clear sign that McCain is in deep trouble nationally.

However, if McCain pulls off a Florida win, we’re probably not going to see one of those network projections naming the new president-elect until closer to midnight (even if McCain loses Virginia).

But the Boston polling center said an hour before Virginia and Florida polls shut down tonight, most of Indiana’s polls will close. It’s predicting that if Obama is well ahead in the Indiana count, it could
serve as an early tip-off that other typically red states such as Virginia and North Carolina are now very much in play for the   Democrats.

And the center said should Virginia go for McCain, the Republican’s “best hour of the night” will likely be around 9 p.m., when results from Michigan and several deep-Southern states may be known.
Those are areas where he’s expected to glean his best results.

Yet one overriding and unique factor is that today may prove to be an Election Day like no other in history, specifically when it comes to actual voter turnout.

This is especially true for the legions of potential college-age voters (whose barks have always been bigger than their bites), the white majority and an apparently energized army of African-American and
Hispanic voters. And tonight’s results will be especially interesting to gauge in Prince William County, which is now the most ethnically and racially diverse county in Northern Virginia.

See you at the polls today, and good luck to us all.

John Merli has been a Prince William County resident since 1984, and a Potomac News columnist since 1985. He has worked in the media for more than 30 years. E-mail him at .