In computer news this week:

Watching the election with your home computer instead of your tv .....

My motto for this election was "No talking heads". I've been watching the tv returns of elections since the 1960's, and this year I'm relying strictly on the internet, surfing between sites like voter.com and the major news services. By 4 pm I knew that Bush had won the first elections in New Hampshire held at midnight, and also had won 5 states, to Gore's 1. Bush led in electoral votes by 54 to 3, and was also leading in the tallied popular vote.

By 5:30 things had flip flopped, with Gore winning Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and he now lead Bush in electoral votes 146 to 141.But then Pensylvania was taken away from Gore, as too close to call, and Bush's lead increased again.

I'm finding one advantage tv has over the internet right now - no waiting. Most of these internet sites are overloaded, and you have to try several times to get on them. I get the message - Sorry - traffic jam on the information highway - as I try to get on cbs.com.

By 6:15 Gore was ahead again, taking Illinois, Michigan and New York. But then at 6:27 Bush moved ahead taking Ohio and Gore's home state of Tennesee. This gave him a narrow lead. At 6:50 Gore won Minnesota, moving into the lead again. Things are going slow now. No Western states reporting yet and some midwest and eastern states undecided.

This internet election is a slow process, almost like listening to it on old time radio. But there's no talking heads. I surf off to other sites, music, history, then return when I feel like something should have happened. The CBS site has been continuously overloaded, and I have been getting most of my info from cnn and voter.com.

When I check back in at 7:15, Bush is ahead with 218 to 172. Bush won West Virgina, Missouri and New Hampshire. On the internet the scores go backward, which I haven't seen on tv to date - interesting. Now they're saying Florida is too close to call.

At 8:05 after having dinner and a shower I'm back on the computer and find an ABC news site that's good - has a continuous vote total and a map of all the states - you can mouseover any state and see the vote totals there. Bush is now leading in Florida. I snuck a look at the tv and saw a Bush spokesperson beating up the press for their call in Florida based on exit polling. Now MSNBC has declared California for Gore, without the polls closing. That puts him in the lead again.

At 9 pm it was still so close I built an Excel spreadsheet, giving Bush and Gore the states they had or were assumed, and held out the 6 undecided states, Arkansas Florida Iowa Oregon Washington and Wisconsin.

Then it's 246 to 242 For Bush -Arkansas conceded to Bush and Washington to Gore - the 4 key states left are Florida Oregon Iowa Wisconsin - 50 electoral votes total.

I switch back to the ABC state poll and see who's leading

Florida and Oregon - Bush

Iowa - Gore

And Wisconsin is almost a dead heat tie.

If nothing changes, Florida is the key state with it's 25 votes - added to Bush's 246, puts him over at 271. If Gore wins the other 3 states, he's still short. There's now talk of absentee ballots which will take days. All the computers in the world can't ca