A steady drizzle of folks trekked into the Crowne Resort, where the Obama celebration is warming up. A kindly gentleman named Gus met me in the lobby and said, “You’re in the wrong place. This is all Democrats here.” He then whispered he had heard from the bar that McCain was winning. (Incidentally, like the John Locke Foundation, I’m not Republican.) A couple big screen TVs were set up for election returns. A large whoop let out from the twenty or so gathered at the tables. A man carried the cardboard Obama cutout down the hall, at such an angle that the candidate looked a little tipsy.

Otto DeBruhl, who usually runs unopposed for Register of Deeds in Buncombe County, had a victory party in another conference room of the hotel.