It is 7:24PM how does everyone know who won???

It floors me that we have results and analysis 24 minutes after polls closed. how can you even call CNN in that time period? Think...

They're using exit poll data to make the call.

Votes are fake. Didn't you get the memo? :)

If the margin in the exit polls is really big, then they feel safe making the call.

and the pundits wound up with egg all over their faces.

I'm not saying the results are necessarily wrong, but we still have a long way to go before we get a definitive answer.

they better be right, or this will look really bad, again, for the media.

:evilgrin: It has never stopped them before.

Called for Hillary a little too quick.

They crack 'em open the SECOND the polls close.

ten, I would be SHOCKED. SHOCKED.

We'll have to wait for the count to find out if people bullshitted the exit pollsters a bit, or if they gave them honest data.

These results aren't surprising. His people have been working the state HARD since the Gospel tour. He didn't just wander in last week and start asking for votes. He had a strong organization and it delivered the state. Demographics, whether people want to acknowledge that or not, didn't hurt him at all.

It will be interesting to see how the delegates are divvied up. It may not be "by the numbers." Expect to hear some hollering if it works out that way. The difference between NV and SC, though, is that the candidate has control over those delegates.

it looked like Edwards had won the SC primary, but she also said that polls had only been closed for 10 mins...

a stunning upset over Obama by a narrow margin by Edwards after the ACTUAL counting is done? I think the entire MM called it too soon - it could be another Gore v Bush all over again.

Hawkeye-X

In their book "Vote Scam" (http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/102503C.shtml) They were told that the league of women voters called them in. They then went and tried to find anyone who actually was in charge of calling in those numbers. Great story... ahh the 70s. I believe nothing. The polls, the count, the coverage. i am trying to believe because I am happy about an Obama win, but I just don't believe. i probably need to be re-educated in some way. Or something.

a projection of the winner is reliable. It may still be too soon to declare the 2nd place candidate.

Hell, Fox News was basically inferring that Obama was going to be projected to be the winner the second the clock struck 7:00pm, for about half an hour before 7:00pm.

I think all three of the big stations (MSNBC, CNN, and FOX) all called it for Obama the second the polls offically closed in SC.

But to answer your question...I don't know how they do it either :)

I went to watch the election and by 7:30 it was called for Bush, who already appeared triumphant. I walked in the light rain to my GF's apartment and the NY Post had Bush on the cover of the newspaper giving a big thumbs up. That's when I knew it was over.

Of course it's still over. Why would they give up power?