Well, that about wraps it up for me. I've got a CS 3810 prelim at 9:05 a.m. and a CS 6820 midterm due at 10 p.m.; I should probably get to work on those.

But before I go, a last update on the ballot proposals. While some proposals are still undecided, there do seem to be some trends emerging. Issues on abortion, euthanasia, and the right to life have gone to the left, while issues on homosexuality have gone to the right. It's a mixed bag on affirmative action.

The biggest surprise here is right now in California; with 13% reporting, the ban on gay marriage is passing 55-45.

And that concludes our live blog for tonight. I think people from every party can say we're glad this LONG election cycle has come to a close.

And now onto whether Obama will fulfill his promises. Four years might not be enough :)

A brilliant speech by Obama. It's hard to imagine that only hours earlier that both campaigns were so cutthroat.

Obama's speech-giving skills are certainly on display here.

Oh no, Tina Fey cannot reprise her role as Sarah Palin anymore. Moment of silence for this horrible loss.

Obama is giving a good speech about bringing the country together; he's certainly reaching out to detractors rather than jabbing them.

David Axelrod = Josh Lyman? Maybe that's just my West Wing fantasies talking. . .

Thank you, Mike, for pointing that out :)

Looks like Obama's crowd does not boo when McCain's name is mentioned.

Here comes Obama...

Slight correction: Franken is losing by 42.

An update on the Senate while we wait for Obama: CNN has projected the Republicans will have 40 seats, but in the state of Georgia, which has not been projected, Chambliss, the Republican candidate, is leading 52-44 with 91% reporting, so it looks like Democrats will not get 60.

And Al Franken is ahead, but by the current numbers it is only by 42 votes. Every vote counts!

It seems that Obama is leading (by small margins) in all uncalled states as well: Montana, Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina.

A great concession speech by McCain. He really does put his country first regardless of who is in the White House. What was real interesting was the less-than-gracious reaction of the crowd at times; it looks like both Obama and McCain have a lot of work to do if they will work together like McCain says the will.

So every network calls this a "historic" election because we've elected our first black president. You know what impresses me more? The way Obama was able to inspire millions upon millions of individuals who were apathetic about politics to donate whatever little bit of money they could toward his campaign. For all the power that special interests hold in politicians in DC, I feel there's hope for ordinary Americans to have a bigger impact now that Obama's support is truly American support, not just the money given to politicians by lobbyists.

And look at that applause for Sarah Palin; what future does she have in 2012? There's a lot of mixed feeling on her as well.

His audience is quite the mixed bag of emotions, but McCain is giving a great speech right now on bringing America together. McCain also blamed himself, not his supporters, for his failure.

McCain is starting to get them to applaud now.

McCain's audience doesn't seem too happy.

McCain is about to give his concession speech.

Look at the front page of the NY Times. After having 17-word headlines, the top line of this one is one big word: OBAMA.

You can just sense the emotion and feeling going through people like Roland Martin right now; this is a truly historic moment.

CNN, CBS, NYT, ABC, FOX all call it for OBAMA

CNN: Obama projected President

And now CNN calls Virginia; all it takes is California now, where the polls close in minutes.

Conservative blogger Matt Drudge has given the election to Obama.

Polls are about to close on the West Coast; let's see how fast those states get called for Obama.

FOX's website confirms call for Obama in Virginia. Seems a little too early to do that though...

I'm hearing that FOX called Virginia for Obama? Will confirm as soon as the commercial about Don't Forget the Lyrics finishes.

Question is, is that blue glow surrounding him intentional, or what?

And now we have a hologram of a person.

But does it really take a hologram to do that? Holograms are going to be good down the line because they let you visualize things in three dimensions instead of two, but that graphic doesn't need the third dimension.

CNN is discussing the possibility of getting Democrats to 60 in the Senate. They think it's fairly plausible to meet 58, but that assumes Joe Lieberman stays with the Democratic Caucus. Oh, Joe, Joe, Joe.

Here comes another hologram from CNN.

CNN is showing Senate races now; Al Franken is currently on track to win.

Back to the topic of Wolf Blitzer being the official source of projections: the BBC's 5-photo slideshow on the center of their front page includes a photo of viewers watching CNN as projections are being made.

I think you can stop crossing your fingers Julie; CNN says McCain's advisors see no path to victory.

It's interesting that social conservatives are currently doing well on ballot proposals related to homosexuality but poor on ones relating to abortion; I would have thought it would have gone the other way.

PBS's Twitter feed: "Obama eking out a 12,000 vote lead in VA out of 2.7 million votes with 83 % of vote in"

South Dakota's abortion ban was defeated. Colorado also rejected defining fertilization as start of human life.

With 80% or more reporting, Indiana is still too close to call... by last count, the difference is probably within several thousand votes.

Dick Morris has brought up the Bradley effect, but he's the only one I have heard do that so far.

CBS just called Iowa for Obama, Utah ("perhaps the most Republican state in the nation") for McCain.

Iowa for Obama, Utah for McCain, both based on exit polls

Via Twitter: Jim Lehrer from PBS: "There has been no discussion tonight of the Bradley effect." Very interesting indeed!

OK this is what McCain needs to win: all existing red states, plus all battleground states (MO, IN, VA, NC, FL, NV, CO) as well as take Washington, which has been waffling between solid and light blue for many weeks.

In Florida, Amendment 2, which bans gay marriage, currently has 62% of the vote with 58% reporting. The big question, though is whether Proposition 8, the equivalent proposal in California, will pass or fail.

I worry McCain will pull a surprise comeback win as he is known to do. But now that you mention it, yes, Ron Paul is also very, very scary.

Why cross your fingers? Are you worried Ron Paul will appear out of nowhere and win?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Obama will win unless he loses a solid blue state. *crossing my fingers* Pennsylvania was really key -- in all polls prior to Election Day, McCain needed to win all battleground states AND flip a light-blue state like PA.

No Republican has won without Ohio.

So do you think McCain will give his concession speech via hologram?

Now Wolf Blitzer says so; McCain is officially screwed.

CBS just also called New Mexico for Obama.

Although multiple networks have called Ohio for Obama, the running joke here is that it's not official until Wolf Blitzer says so.

CBS and ABC have called Ohio for Obama. Are we seeing McCain's hopes completely dashed?

I count 17 words for the current headline on the NY Times; that's quite long.

CBS, who has been calling states way ahead of any other network, is claiming Ohio for Obama.

Turnout could be that high; that partially explains all these voting problems we've heard of.

And CNN projects Senate Minority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) will hold onto his seat, though he'll be returning to fewer colleagues than before.

What are your thoughts on turnout this year? 130 million voters in 2004, what do you think we'll hit tonight? I'm gonna guess 180 million at least.

Georgia goes for McCain; he's still ahead in Virginia and Indiana but is behind in Ohio and Florida

Mike, I for one don't think they'll be able to hit 60, but that'll probably be for the better.

CNN has Democrats taking 51 in the Senate at this point. That's not a surprise; the big question is whether they can extend their lead to 60.

Glad I filled out an absentee ballot rather that wait in line like Julie. There's been some horror stories for voting in the news today.

Though I kind of had to vote absentee since I'm still registered in Missouri.

CNN calls: Michigan, New York, Wisconsin for Obama. That totals 174 for him. Wyoming and North Dakota for McCain, 49 EV.

Seems like we're waiting for polls to close in New York -- just voted myself about an hour ago. Just one thing to say: voting machines need updating, BAD.

On the topic of Fox projecting GOP losses, Fox is predicting Dole (R-N.C.) will lose her Senate seat.

Yeah, down the stretch McCain has rekindled his relationship with the religious right; he's learning how best to pray to God for a miracle.

Because he's going to need one now.

Mike, McCain must also win almost all the battleground states where he's been trailing for the last few weeks.

Without Pennsylvania, McCain has to change his fortunes in Florida (where he's behind) to even have a chance.

FOX calls PA for Obama. Guess it's all set then :)

CNN showed how thoroughly Warner beat Gilmore for governor in Virginia; it's no surprise considering how he was such a popular governor and was even hailed as a potential big-name Presidential candidate before he declined to run.

According to CBS, Obama has won 83% of Clinton supporters in PA. Counties around Pittsburgh, Philly and Scranton went blue, while most of the rest of the PA went red.

Also big that Mark Warner is winning the VA Sen. race — both for the Dems' Senate prospects and B.O.'s for winning this key pickup state.

P.S. Julie: coming out of retirement?

If you'll notice, there were no returns in Pennsylvania when it was called, which leads to an interesting article by the Christian Science Monitor on how networks are cautiously returning to the exit polls.

Based on exit polling, NBC News called Pennsylvania for Obama as soon as the polls closed — this is pretty significant as most potential paths for a McCain victory run through Penn.

MSNBC has called Pennsylvania for Obama. CNN and other networks have not yet joined in. For those who have followed the horse race closely, McCain spent an enormous chunk of time campaigning in Pennsylvania since it is one of the key states McCain needed to win.

It's a real close race for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Could the Democrats avenge the loss of former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004?

As Mike said, CNN has called a whole bunch of states. However, we are waiting on word from the Associated Press or the New York Times. Unfortunately, the only states they have called so far are Kentucky and Vermont -- not the biggest nail-bites in the race.

Now John King is playing around with his favorite electronic touch screen. CNN sure has a thing for fancy tech gadgets.

A lot of the states that can tip the race in Obama's favor if he wins are on the eastern half of the United States where polls close earlier; it seems like it will either be an early Obama victory or a close-fought battle to the end.

And now CNN has called most of the East Coast + Illinois for Obama. No surprises there.

Looks like McCain is faring well based on early results in Indiana and Virginia, but not so well in Florida. Losing Florida would kill McCain regardless of what happens in the other two states.

And there's a priceless headline on the NY Times in reference to the holograms on CNN: "Help me Wolf Blitzer, You're My Only Hope"

Sorry all, we've had some technical difficulties. We'll be back up in a minute.

Not content with the "magic wall," CNN is introducing holograms to their newscast this evening. It looks pretty cool, but unfortunately for John King, it just froze up on the air. Oh well; hopefully they'll get it back up later.

We're a little more than half an hour out from the first returns now. There are reports of record turnout all across the nation, with all sorts of problems as well. In Ithaca, The Sun has been conducting unscientific exit polling at several locations on and around campus, and the results are mostly as you would expect; things are breaking for Sen. Obama in about a three-to-one ratio.

We'll have results on our election night tracker at 6 p.m. Stay tuned!

Some early takes on the election today:

1. Dan Rather: The former CBS anchor weighed in this morning on MSNBC, focusing on Indiana and Virginia. If Obama wins either one, it's effectively over in his mind. But if McCain takes both: "You better get another cup of coffee."
2. Karl Rove: Regardless of whether you think this former Bush strategist is famous or infamous, you have to admit he knows a thing or two about winning elections. And he is projecting an Obama landslide tonight.
3. Washington Redskins: 16 out of 17 times, the incumbent party's fate has been tied to the fate of the Washington Redskins in their last game before the election. And they seem to be on the same page with Rove, as the Steelers won in a landslide 23-6 score on Monday Night Football. But don't get too confident, because the one time the Redskins didn't predict a winner was 2004.

Hi folks, Chris Barnes here for The Sun. It's officially election day, and in Dixville Notch, N.H., the first votes in the nation have been cast and counted. In this first contest, Obama has emerged victorious, 15-6.

Be sure to get out and vote today, if you haven't already; a map of polling places ran in yesterday's paper. We are busy setting up our election center here on cornellsun.com, but it should be available shortly. Stay tuned!