Obama wins in landslide (in tiny New Hampshire towns)

If "Dandy" Don Meredith were to call the election results instead of CNN's Wolf Blitzer, then he'd be singing his signature "Turn out the lights, the party's over" for John McCain.  At least in the towns of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, New Hampshire.

The two little towns in the northern part of the Granite State have a tradition of voting at midnight and then releasing their results shortly thereafter.

The verdict this year?  Obama in a landslide.

The results

Between the two towns, Obama received 32 votes while John McCain tallied 16 votes.  Even Ron Paul got some action with two people voting for him.

Is this a harbinger of success for Obama?  Not necessarily.  Back in 1960, Richard Nixon beat JFK by a 9 - 0 margin.

The town, however, had a love-hate relationship with Nixon.  In 1968, they opted for Hubert Humphrey over Nixon -- the only other time the town voted for a Democratic candidate.

But the polls still show the public opting for Obama.   He enjoys an average lead of seven points in the polls as compiled by RealClearPolitics.

Battlegrounds

What about the battleground states?

The polling site FiveThirtyEight.com gives the most important state for McCain to carry - Pennsylvania - to Obama.

"Pennsylvania, while certainly having tightened somewhat over the course of the past two weeks, appears to be holding at a margin of about +8 for Obama, with very few remaining undecideds," writes Nate Silver.

Joe the Plumber

What about Joe the Plumber?   We'll be tracking his movements throughout the day -- simply because he's "Joe the Plumber."

Yesterday, we told you he's writing a book.  Today, the Associated Press reports he received a warning instead of a speeding ticket last week.

Toledo's police chief said on Tuesday — the day before the traffic stop — that a department clerk faces a disciplinary hearing for allegedly looking up Wurzelbacher's address on a state computer database.

Wurzelbacher was given a verbal warning because of that ongoing investigation and because a citation could have "negative repercussions to the department and city as a whole," according to the report, which lists "Patrolman Bailey" as its author.

More on the election and Wurzelbacher to come...