Good evening everybody; it's already past 8:00pm Eastern Time (4:00 here in Alaska), and the polls have just been closed in some of the Eastern and Midwest states. John McCain may be holding an early lead with wins in Kentucky and South Carolina, but Barack Obama's first win so far is in Vermont. As of right now, the electoral scorecard reads McCain leading 16-3 on the road to 270; that is expected to change as early projections show Obama hopefully catching up.

I'll be back here shortly when more returns come in.