[X-spurt]

I may have just fallen off the tater wagon, but since when are the votes from absentee ballots counted and announced before the election?

[LS]

They are not counted OR announced. What is announced is the party affiliation of those REQUESTING the ballots. I think we can safely assume that this time around NO Republicans will be voting for Zero, while we should also assume that at least SOME Dems will be voting for Romney.

So . . . in a place like OH, if you have significant numbers of REPUBLICANS asking for absentee ballots over Dems, you're in pretty good shape.

These were exactly the kinds of warning signs some of us ignored in 08 when the Dems massively outperformed in early/absentee ballots!