At about 2:00 a.m., I decided to call it a night and head to bed. I’m not one for the election night parties, as I’d rather sit in front of my computer and check the returns from around the state and country.

As normal, I was totally disappointed with the way the results came in from across Montana. It seems so slow compared to states like Wyoming, North and South Dakota. It seems the major media organizations in those states post the results sooner than Montana. Again, as normal, those people writing about and doing the on-air reporting of the results lack the experience to actually understand what they are saying.

Some of the questions in the commentary I wrote yesterday called “Pondering” were answered:

I mentioned that in the U.S. Senate race, some people may not vote for either candidate and leave that race blank. Max Baucus, as expected, easily won, but only around 459,200 people voted in that race, which was less people voting for President, Governor, and U.S. House. These numbers were checked around 9:00 a.m.

The State Land Board is securely in the Democrats’ hands.

I “pondered” about how far the MSU-B poll would be off. The MSU-B poll had Schweitzer winning 60.2% to Brown’s 27.3%. The results this morning show Schweitzer winning 65%-33%. In the U.S. House, MSU-B had Rehberg winning 59.2% to 25.3%. He is winning 65%-32%. In the Presidential race, MSU-B had Obama winning here in Montana 44.4% to 40.2%. Currently, McCain leads 50%-47%.

In regards to the National Polls, it looks like Rasmussen was the most accurate. They projected Obama would win the popular vote 52%-46%. Currently, he is winning by that exact amount.

Barack Obama is the President-elect. We have, once again, peacefully elected a new President. We should all be proud of that fact. While I did not vote for him, he will be my President. He and his administration will be in my prayers. I admired McCain’s concession speech, and I smiled when the cameras panned Obama’s victory party in Chicago and the excitement. This is another great moment in our country’s history.

A big thanks goes to all the people who voted. Thanks goes to those who ran for office. Thanks goes to the people who worked behind the scenes for the candidate of their choice. This is the greatest country on the face on the earth!

There are still several races across the state and country that I’m watching. In some races, it may be days or weeks before we find out who won. Of course, the Monday morning quarterbacking starts today as well as the soul searching. I’ll be watching that, too.