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My understanding of civics and history is decent.  I’m not an authority, of course, and there is something I would really like to understand.

Following a US presidential election, like the one we had last week, when the results come in from states across the country, and one candidate passes the required 270 mark in the electoral college, they are the winner.  Sure, the electoral college doesn’t formally convene until December, but last Tuesday night it was clear that Senator Obama was the winner, and will be president elect.

Here’s where it gets a little foggy for me:  So, Senator Obama is watching CNN, and he sees Wolf Blitzer and John King analyzing the maps, and projecting winners in each state until, finally, the 270 mark is passed. What happens then?  Obviously, Senator Obama–and everyone else–knows he’s won.  But is there some sort of formal procedure that’s followed?  Yes, the loser generally concedes, as John McCain did in a speech that exhibited a great deal of class.  And President Bush called Senator Obama, too.  But neither of those events are necessary.  I mean, even if, hypothetically, John McCain had stood up in that Phoenix hotel ballroom and said, “I declare myself the winner!”, it wouldn’t have mattered; 346 electoral college votes say otherwise.  But does some government official call up Barack Obama and say, “We’re watching CNN.  They say you have the votes, so, if you’re going to be home tomorrow morning, we’d like to come by and start telling you the all the classified state secrets you’re going to need to know”?  Something like that must happen, because, sure enough, the day after the election the NSA or CIA or some agency was briefing President Elect Obama.

Are there any authorities on US presidential history reading?

It’s 8:22PM right now, and the ALCS game is supposed to have been on since eight o’clock.  But, for some reason, TBS is showing some lame sitcom.  Also, their telephone number is busy.

UPDATE: TBS is now showing a message crawl that says they are experiencing technical difficulties.  Maybe TBS isn’t big league enough to carry a game of this caliber.

NBC is broadcasting a new show tonight called Crusoe, based, obviously, on Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, which I read over the summer in South Carolina.

It’s very exciting to see a great 18th Century novel adapted for the screen, but I’m a little worried that this is going to be a very loose adaptation, indeed.  For example, it seems to be glossing over the whole slavery motif in the novel.  Crusoe gets stranded on the Island of Despair when he was a mission to go get slaves in Africa.  Also, as this series begins, Friday is already Crusoe’s friend.  No mention is made of how Crusoe intended for Friday to be his servant.  Also, they haven’t shown any of the cannibalism.

I see that this series is set to run 13 episodes.  Let’s see if it gets more or less accurate.

So there will be a debate tonight after all.  I predict good watchin’.

At last: rhythmic gymnastics on TV right now!