Polls opened in Ohio and West Virginia minutes ago

JOHN HOCKENBERRY: Yeah. So, do you remember this moment from the campaign? BARACK OBAMA: In this country can be won against the greatest odds. Hope can find its way back from the darkest of corners. And when we are told that we cannot bring the change that we seek, we answer with one voice: yes, we can. [CHEERING CROWD] JOHN HOCKENBERRY: That’s Barack Obama’s victory speech after winning the North Carolina primary on the 6th of May of this year. He’s got to win it again to win this election. Polls are open all over America. This is America’s Exit Poll here on The Takeaway 877-8MYTAKE. If you’re voting. If you’re standing in line, if you’ve already voted, we want to hear the story of what it was like to participate in this American democracy. Joining us now are a couple of members of the Fifth Estate, the Fourth Estate or the Third Estate ? I don’t know what it is at this point ? Dan Moulthrop, the host of WCPN’s Sound of Ideas, from Cleveland Public Radio’s main public affairs program. Dan, thanks for joining us. DAN MOULTHROP: Good morning, John. JOHN HOCKENBERRY: And Scott Finn is news director for West Virginia Public Broadcasting and he’s at the Stonewall Jackson middle school in Charleston, West Virginia. Scott, thanks for being with us. SCOTT FINN: Hey, John. JOHN HOCKENBERRY: Scott, let’s begin with you. West Virginia looks fairly solidly for John McCain at this point and Barack Obama said a few things about the coal industry that may be decisive. What are you thinking and what are you seeing? SCOTT FINN: Well, first of all, I’m seeing something that I’ve never seen here before. I’m seeing long lines here at 6:30 am in the morning, people who are afraid that if they didn’t get here early enough they wouldn’t get the vote. And we had a record turnout in the early voting. Fully one of every six or seven voters has already put their ballots in, in West Virginia. So it’s definitely ? even though people have been saying that this race is wrapped up for McCain in West Virginia for a long time, you wouldn’t know that from the energy you’re getting from the Obama people and from the ?the high turnout. So I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t necessarily write this off yet. And that ? that revelation, so-called revelation about Obama and the coal industry, depending on who you talk about ? talk with, might not have been such a revelation. Essentially, both McCain and Obama say they have these cap and trade plans that would make it difficult to build new coal-fired power plants in America unless they did something about the carbon emissions. And that’s pretty much what that interview back in January that came out over the weekend said. So I know a lot of people are trying to make a lot out of that. I’m not sure if it’s gonna stick here or not. We’ll just have to wait and see. JOHN HOCKENBERRY: Well, what’s it will there at Stonewall Jackson middle school? What sort of a precinct is that? SCOTT FINN: It is a mixed race, mixed income precinct in the state’s largest city of 50,000 people. And I’m seeing a real diversity of people here. They’re not just, you know, black and white but also a lot more younger people. I’ve lived in this neighborhood John, for the last 10 years and I’m used to seeing a mainly older white population coming out to vote here ? with some other people mixed in. But I saw in that line, you know, just about every sort of shade of America that you would expect. And so, I do think it’s going to be interesting to see what the turnout is. JOHN HOCKENBERRY: Scott, is there a voter right next to you? SCOTT FINN: No, they’re all, they’re all inside. JOHN HOCKENBERRY: They’re all inside. Well, you’re standing outside. We ? we appreciate you taking time to join us here this morning. Dan Moulthrop up in Cleveland, you know, you’re not exactly in coal country, but the, the sort of cliffhanger of West Virginia is not lost on the people of Ohio I suspect. DAN MOULTHROP: No, not at all. In fact, we’ve had about 25 percent early voting in the state already. People have been standing in line as long as three hours in Cleveland, in Columbus and Cincinnati, to cast an early vote. And there ? this is, and the, the race is, you know, according to some polls, some of the most recent polls, Obama has a six-point lead in other polls. The latest Fox Rasmussen Poll has them in a dead heat. So, you know, anything could happen here as well. JOHN HOCKENBERRY: Zogby has Obama up by six points and you’re right, the Mason-Dixon Poll has McCain up two. Anything under three at this point is a ? a statistical dead heat. What do you think the, the balance is between the Cleveland area, the Columbus area and the Cincinnati area, very different parts of the state of Ohio? Very different communities. [BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE] DAN MOULTHROP: Very different parts, and you’re absolutely right and ? but what’s ? what’s even a bigger difference is the difference between those three cities and the rural parts of the state. If you go back to the 2004 county-by-county electoral map, you see these little tiny counties, these little tiny blue counties surrounded in a ? by seas of red. And it’s all of those rural counties where, where Obama really needs to pick up some victories and ? and a lot has happened since 2004. I mean, in 2004, Kerry really failed to, to get ? to connect with those voters. Since then, we had 2006 and Governor Strickland and Jerry Brown, both working class candidates really appealed to working class voters, came out strong and they’ve bee stumping hard for Obama. So the, the county-by-county map as the ? as the whole, as the whole country’s electoral map has been shifting, I think the county-by-county map here in Ohio, is shifting as well. JOHN HOCKENBERRY: Wow. Scott Finn, you sent us some pretty remarkable stories of some voting machine malfunctions early. Has that been, has that been sort of checked out? What’s the status right now? SCOTT FINN: Yeah. It’s been checked and rechecked and triple checked and ? and supposedly ? I, I’ll tell you, all I know is that the complaints have, have ? in the last week, pretty much disappeared. So if, if they did fix the machines, you know, we’re not ? we’re not hearing the same level of complaints we did, now. At one time, there had been up to 20 different people that had reported to just one newspaper that they had votes split on these electronic voting machines from Democrat to Republican, usually from Obama to John McCain. And now there’s some speculation out in the tech world, that this is a design flaw in ?in these machines, that basically if you have a fat finger [LAUGHS] like I do, or if you ? [BOTH SPEAK AT ONCE] Fat finger, that’s the ? that’s the hanging chad of 2008 is the fat finger. Oh great, that’s ? that’s terrific, Scott. [SCOTT LAUGHS] Dan Moulthrop, trouble? Any sense of trouble, quickly? DAN MOULTHROP: You know, I think that’s gonna be the story line of the day. Right now, I’m stand ? I’m outside of a polling place in Shaker Heights. I’ve seen ? I got here a little after six, there were 40 people lined up. I’ve seen that number double in the last 20 minutes, at le ?at least a hundred people. There were some votes ? probably 30 percent early voting in this precinct over the last month and there’s already this level of turnout. [BOTH AT ONCE] JOHN HOCKENBERRY: Wow. DAN MOULTHROP: There’s gonna be lines and expect lawsuits. It will not be surprising if the polls don’t actually close at 7:30 if there are lawsuits to keep them open to ? [BOTH AT ONCE] JOHN HOCKENBERRY: Well, we’ll be with you, we’ll be with you from wall to wall. Dan Moulthrop, host of WCPN’s Sound of Ideas, public affairs program in Cleveland, Ohio and Scott Finn, news director for West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Thank you, Scott and Dan. SCOTT FINN: Thank you, John. DAN MOULTHROP: Thank you, John. Take care. [MUSIC MAN RIVER CITY SONG]