The New York Times election night needle was doing its thing tonight when, all of a sudden…
Well folks, we have some bad news. Westmoreland County has told us that they aren't going to report results by precinct tonight (though they had previously told us they would). The model runs on precinct results so, this is a problem.
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) March 14, 2018
We're still arguing over what to do about this, but it is a distinct possibility that we will turn it off. We can't responsibly model the result without data from the most GOP 1/3 of the district. And, well, we did make sure to write this in advance, in case we had to pic.twitter.com/bpZmMVqbUR
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) March 14, 2018
Alright folks, we've shut the needle down. As mentioned earlier, Westmoreland County isn't going to produce precinct results, as we believed they would. It's the GOP base of the district. We can't responsibly make a forecast without data from there.
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) March 14, 2018
THE NEEDLE IS DOWN.
It was probably the right call to make, but nevertheless Twitter proceeded to engage in varying degrees of snark:
Glad to have outlived the needle.
— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) March 14, 2018
The needle just disappeared.
Needle, why has thou forsaken us?
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 14, 2018
In the end, the real needle was the friends we made along the way
— Brett LoGiurato (@BrettLoGiurato) March 14, 2018
my god. https://t.co/X5tVMty606
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) March 14, 2018
The needle is dead. Long live the needle. https://t.co/OMaGRzSGHP
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) March 14, 2018
The needle's demise was foretold by THE ORB pic.twitter.com/yH194TY34S
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) March 14, 2018
Those of you lamenting the demise of the needle are missing the point.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) March 14, 2018
The needle has failed us.
If God is dead, then all is permitted. https://t.co/kVA9Gm0rDG
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 14, 2018
with sincere apologies to the fantastic Upshot team…i've seen the needle and the damage done
— Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) March 14, 2018
Where did the needle go? Is it over? Are we all dead???
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) March 14, 2018
The needle breaking is frankly what we all deserved
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) March 14, 2018
the needle is my god. if the needle dies I have nothing to live for. all hail the needle
— David Sims (@davidlsims) March 14, 2018
OH MY GOD THEY MAY TURN OFF THE NEEDLE!!!! WE WILL HAVE TO ACTUALLY WAIT UNTIL THE VOTES ARE COUNTED!!!! ATTENTION E.R.s!! BRACE FOR THE FLOOD OF PANIC ATTACKS!!!! https://t.co/fxNP2Iug2v
— Jeff Greenfield (@greenfield64) March 14, 2018
THE NEEDLE HAS LET US DOWN! WHAT SHALL WE DO WITHOUT THE NEEDLE? pic.twitter.com/WLwxXoF8aZ
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) March 14, 2018
[image via NYT]
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