Live-blogging election night.

5:12 Central Time: Won't you hang out with me while we watch the results come in? Here's a helpful map, showing what times the polls close in the various states. Polls in parts of Indiana and Kentucky closed a quarter hour ago, but what will be rather thrilling is the top of the hour, 7 Eastern Time, when Florida (minus the part under Alabama) and Virginia close, and then half an hour after that Ohio and North Carolina. Perhaps things at that point will be so decisive we will more or less know. Drudge is saying "EXIT POLLS TIGHT," giving Romney NC and FL and Obama NH, PA, MI, and NV, and listing OH, VA, CO, and IA as toss ups. What? No Wisconsin? I'm thinking it will all be about Wisconsin. But I'm Wisconsincentric.

5:25: After all this time watching the election, I wonder what life will be like tomorrow. I hope it's not 2000-style craziness with recounts and litigation and accusations of fraud. Let it be decisive, and let's accept the results — is that a good centrist idea we can all sign onto?

5:50: I'm watching CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, and hanging out at MSNBC for the last few minutes, I get the feeling they think the GOP will do well. Why? They're going at the topic of the way the GOP isn't likely to take the majority in the Senate. I'm just getting the feeling that they are moving into that place of refuge.

6:00: Nothing exciting at the top of the hour. Virginia not called. But that's not surprising. It was expected to be close.

6:30: Romney wins West Virginia, unsurprisingly. NC and Ohio are now closed, but they're not calling it, unsurprisingly. CNN reveals exit polls: 49/49 in NC and 51% Obama, 48% Romney in Ohio. Impressive for Obama... if the exit polls are right.

6:41: Boring! Maybe you should go for a run, have sex, or guzzle an Ardberg along with a chocolate bar and then come back in 20 minutes or an hour or so. Wouldn't that make more sense?

7:00: CNN projects Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine (3 of the 4), and Rhode Island for Obama. Oklahoma for Romney. Many others not called.

7:27: On Fox News, Rove is on fire. Joe Trippi is stammering and looking worried. Good for Romney, right?

7:37: Watched ABC network for a while and there's a wild-eyed desperation that tells me they know Obama's in trouble.

8:00: CNN calls Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska (3 of the 5), North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, and Mississippi to Romney. Michigan, New York, and New Jersey for Obama. (There goes Michigan, which had been considered possible for Romney.)

8:02: They can't call Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, and my home state Wisconsin.

8:04: 52% Obama, 46% Romney — CNN exit poll in Wisconsin. That looks bad for Romney.

10:04: Oh, I see I've been away for 2 hours. I couldn't take the stress. It's not as though you're reading this blog for news updates. What do you want from me? Gushings of emotion?  I'm being mellow, distancing myself from the political fray, reconnecting to my old aversion to politics. The people will have what they have chosen, and I hope for the best, especially for the young people. Tomorrow there will be new things to talk about, I assume. The election is over, is it not? Obama will win, perhaps without the popular vote, like Bush. What will he do with it? Take us to a higher ground, at last? Or nothing at all.