Barack Obama made history today in Nebraska.

The Democratic presidential candidate claimed an electoral vote in the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District — the first time in more than four decades a Democrat won any of Nebraska’s electoral votes.

The Omaha World-Herald is calling the race after Obama won 8,434 out of 15,039 early votes that arrived too late to be included in Tuesday’s results. They were counted today by Douglas County election officials.

Those ballots give Obama a 1,260-vote lead over Republican John McCain in the 2nd District.

It also added one more electoral vote to Obama’s win over McCain in Tuesday’s election. The electoral count now stands: Obama, 365, McCain, 162.

Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District is being led by McCain by only 600 votes - the district contains "Douglas County and urbanized areas of Sarpy County." Douglas is Obama by ~6,600 votes and Sarpy is McCain by ~9000 votes. This makes sense considering Sarpy has the military folks stationed at Offutt AFB.

The amount of hatered we've seen over the closing months of campaigning is discouraging. Its time for our country to unite under Obama and work towards improving our domestic obligations and repairing broken foreign relations.

As a country we can work to restore accountability in the White House by enforcing the separations of power that were implemented by our founding fathers more than 200 years ago. We can hold accountable those who have unjustly sacrificed the privacy of American citizens and those who used fear to control our nation.

From 2003 @ dailykos:

Dear Supporter,

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) was found guilty on seven counts of corruption this week[1] but, he's refusing to step down.

Politicians from both sides of the aisle, including Barack Obama and John McCain, have called on him to resign. It's time to add your voice to the mix.

Click here to watch our video, "Farewell, Ted." Then sign our petition calling for Senate leaders to remove him from the Senate:

http://change-congress.org/ted

The petition reads:

  "He has broken our trust. It's time to let another Alaskan step up and represent the Last Frontier state. For this reason, we are calling on you to remove him from the Senate. Joining with both presidential candidates Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain we are requesting that you not allow a convicted felon continue to serve as a U.S. Senator. ."

Now that Ted Stevens has been convicted of corruption, he has no place in the Senate. The American people demand leaders who work for us, rather than abusing our trust. If Stevens does not resign, he must be removed from office.

We'll deliver copies of this petition to leaders in the Senate, including Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), whether or not Stevens is still serving next week. Help us send the message that corruption in the Senate will not be tolerated.

Ted Stevens received all kinds of gifts that he didn't disclose: A $1,000 sled dog. A $3,200 hand-built stained glass window. A $2,695 massage chair. Not to mention $250,000 in labor and materials for Stevens' vacation home from Veco Corporation, an oil-field service company.[2] All this for keeping his friends at Veco in mind when he went to Washington and allocated over $88 million in earmarks to just one bill that came before Congress. [3]

Our Senators should not be for sale, whether for the price of a massage chair, a vacation home, or anything else. Click the link below to watch our video, and then help us say "Farewell, Ted" once and for all.

http://change-congress.org/ted

Thank you for holding our leaders accountable!

Japhet, Stephanie, Monica and the Change Congress Team

Sources:

1. "Stevens guilty on all counts, campaign to continue," Associated Press, Oct. 28, 2008. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5je6Pw1sViz24JRo9F0PNhoqMtzTwD94349103

2. "Ted Stevens got a massage chair, dog, prosecutors claim," Miami Herald, Oct. 28, 2008. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/744853.html

3. "Scandal-infested Stevens doles out earmarks for rodent control," Think Progress, Dec. 18, 2007 http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/18/stevens-rodent-control/

I'm getting seriously upset at the amount of hate people are spewing over this election. This is what happens when you've got two very powerful people and a national news network propogating hate:

"THERE'S NO WAY A SMART PERSON CAN GO BROKE EXPECT THROUGH BORROWED MONEY. ALL BORROWED MONEY DOES IS, IT MAY HELP YOU GET IT A LITTLE FASTER, BUT IT CAN HELP YOU GET POORER A WHOLE LOT FASTER. YOU MAKE DECENT INVESTMENTS IN THINGS YOU UNDERSTAND AT ATTRACTIVE PRICES AND YOU'LL DO WELL OVER TIME." (LINK TO ARTICLE)

This is the way I've been trying to live my adult life to this point. Going to school being the one necessary exception. I really wish I had money on hand to invest right now.

And for comedic value: Buffett: THE GE ENGINES ARE PERFORMING MAGNIFICENTLY ON THIS PLANE.

I'll just quote 2 guys, they sum it up better than I can.

George Harris:

McCain referred to Obama as naive or as not understanding on many issues when the listener probably saw a mere difference of opinion. McCain's condescenion felt annoying; to the listener who might agree or disagree with Obama, Obama nevertheless was making good points, not naive ones.

Eugene Robinson:

Americans like to vote for the nice guy, not the grumbling prophet of doom. Throughout the 90-minute debate, McCain seemed contemptuous of Obama. He wouldn’t look at him. He tried to belittle him whenever possible -- how many times did he work “Senator Obama just doesn’t understand” into his answers? His body language was closed, defensive, tense. McCain certainly succeeded in proving that he can be aggressive, but the aggression came with a smirk and a sneer.

As far as my opinions on the policies - I think that McCain did a great job of explaining his position on Iraq - he got through to me for the first time on that issue. He lost me, however, by not reassuring me that he would not continue the hard-line approach of bombs before diplomacy. I think our relations with Iran would escalate to war and our relations with Russia would deteriorate immensely in a McCain administration.

Neither candidate impressed me talking about the current economic crisis. I guess I can't blame them if "The language has not been finalized." They refused to take potentially politically risky positions twice in the night. The moderator specifically asked them which economic programs they would have to cut back to afford the $700 billion bailout and neither candidate conceded a thing - I suppose if one of them had been realistic and told them their lowest priority programs (which are sure to be cut) then they'd lose voters. Fuck politics

The most important statement to me is that Barack Obama will work to restore our nation's image as a positive world influence. Our countries priorities have become so absurd that even our allies hate and mock us, regardless of their leaders' support. I don't feel particularly great about planning a European vacation next summer as an American citizen. Please change that BHO!