OK – so I’ve agreed to a drinking competition geared around the US elections, as it’s a nice way of making politics interesting…!

As of 11pm, we’ve been following the US elections – three streaming feeds provide us with the polling results – MSNBC, BBC News and Sky News.

Quick rules are as follows:

1. The tally from MSNBC is treated as the official count.  The votes are being read differently by different networks.  However – any news team that uses Microsoft Surface to show election results must surely know what they’re speaking about (plus, their CGI graphics look the best).
2. Although we nominally agreed that we’d have one shot per State, we worked out this may not be for the best (for some States are worth more votes than others, thanks to proportional representation).  So – with 270 votes to win the race for Presidency, we’ve agreed to have one shot per 15 votes.  Therefore, a maximum of 18 shots will be drunk by the eventual loser.
3. I’m representing the Republicans and McCain.  So – for every 15 electoral votes that Obama wins, I will need to down one shot.
4. My rival is representing the Democrats and Obama.  Accordingly, for every 15 electoral votes that McCain wins, he will have to drink a shot.
5. As there are a potentially large number of shots (at least 18 for the loser), we’ve settled on Taylor’s Port as the initial drink of choice.  This may run out fairly quickly, so I’ll update you on what we decide to drink next…

As it stands, it’s 1.24am, and Obama has 103 votes against McCain’s 34 votes.  I’ve already done 4 shots, so have another 2 to go.  Better get started…!