Predictions and Electoral Mandate

First of all, congratulations to President-elect Obama! What an amazing, exciting election! I think this sums it up nicely.

Our group did really well predicting the results of this election. We were correct that Obama would win the presidency, and that the Democrats would maintain their majority in the House and Senate. Most of our state-level predictions were correct, too. We only flubbed on Indiana (which we thought would go Republican), Missouri (which we thought would go Democratic), and North Carolina (which we thought would go Republican). As far as the Senate race, we were only wrong on Maine (we predicted Democrat), North Carolina (we predicted Republican), and Virginia (we predicted Republican).

And does Obama have an electoral mandate? Almost! If I were to judge based solely on his performance last night and the number of electoral votes he received over McCain, I would definitely say yes. And considering the record number of voters that turned out, I think it's pretty clear that America really wants this change. But I'm leaving my answer at "almost" based on the Senate results. Even though the Democrats kept their majority, they did not reach the "magic 60" filibuster-proof majority that they wanted.