Fox News has called California for Obama and South Dakota for McCain.

That gives Obama 275 electoral votes (he needed 270), and that's in FoxNewsLand.

Look at these guys. Are you looking at these Fox News guys? It's like all the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons have been simultaneously deflated.

In the 1972 presidential elections, Democratic nominee George McGovern — running on the ridiculous platform of ending the Vietnam War and establishing minimum incomes for the poor — performed the amazing feat of losing 49 out of 50 states to incumbent Richard Nixon, with only the flaming liberal state of Massachusetts and the tiny berg of Washington D.C. choo-choo-choosing him as the country's next president.

Even his homestate of South Dakota gave him the electoral finger.

McGovern thusly goes down in history as one of the greatest exemplars of the Democratic Party.

Go back to Day 50.

Roll Call recently broke the exciting news that three new speakers have been added to the lineup for the Democratic National Convention in Denver next week… and they are all phenomenal losers!

Jimmy Carter, John Kerry, and Tom Daschle have all been awarded prime-time speaking slots during the convention, despite the stench of defeat that surrounds them.

Here's a little bit about each one, and how each has contributed to the familiar heartbreak of millions of Democratics over the years…

Earlier this week, we reported that John McCain — in an obvious attempt to woo Fundementalist Christian voters — was speaking at a "whiskey tango" event in South Dakota and sharing a bill with Kid Rock, some friendly neighborhood bikers and a whole bunch of strippers.

Salon was kind enough to supply some actual footage from the event…

Hold on. I'm not certain that was in fact "actual footage." Cindy McCain was looking awfully lifelike.

I think this might have been digitally enhanced.

In an obvious attempt to distinguish himself from Barack Obama — whom he has previously likened to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in celebrity and vapidity — John McCain has chosen to take the social high road by sharing the bill at a Sturgis, South Dakota event with a bunch of strippers, drunken bikers and (most prestigiously of all!) "popular" "musician" Kid Rock…

As the presumptive nominee takes the stage, the "Ringin' Wet & Wild" women's wrestling event will be taking place on the main amphitheater. Two hours before then, the "Miss Buffalo Chip Beauty Pageant — Bikinis on the Beach" will be staged at a different venue. That affair is described by ESPN's Jim Caple as "essentially a topless beauty pageant. And occasionally bottomless, too."… Following McCain's speech, country stars Kellie Pickler and Kid Rock will be taking the very same stage for their own live performances.

Well, he certainly is distinguishing himself from Obama. There's no arguing that.

The cultural crossroads that is the Sturgis Rally could actually be fertile political ground for the Republican presidential nominee. Hosted in a town of 5,500, the event sees upward of half a million bikers over the course of a week. Many of them, the founder of the campground is quoted as saying, have expressed interest in seeing the Senator, whose POW background makes him a fan favorite. How the religious right will react is a whole other bag.

I don't see why the religious right would have a problem with this.

Unless maybe they hear about it.

Montana
Obama 57%
Clinton 41%

South Dakota
Clinton 55%
Obama 45%

11:03: We're going to end this before CNN gets to their "magic wall." Goodnight, everyone. Have sweet, sweet, historically black dreams.

10:52: CNN reports that history is being made in the United States right now. And who better to mark to mark this historic moment than a completely inaudible Jesse Jackson on the satellite phone from Tanzania.

10:38: Barack Obama: "This is the moment. This is the time."

And with that, he took off his flag pin, gelled back his hair, looked over his headshot and quit the presidential race to audition for the touring company of Jekyll and Hyde.

10:24: Barack Obama: "I respect McCain's many accomplishments, even if he refuses to acknowledge mine."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon….

10:12: Obama thanks his typical white grandmother. Typical.

10:08: Obama enters, the first black candidate to accept the nomination from a major American political party. If I didn't hate U2, I'd probably be really inspired by this.

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