The urge to draw, literally, a link between Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama would have been irresistible to editorial cartoonists even if both men were not Illinois legislators, outspoken against a foreign military adventure and exploitive of their hardscrabble upbringings in the national hinterlands. Who better to juxtapose with the country's first black president than the commander-in-chief who emancipated American slaves (even if Obama's ancestors were not among them)?

"After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair." [Newsweek/Reuters]

Amy Rice and Alicia Sams' documentary on Barack Obama has been filming since summer 2006, before the president-elect was even seeking the Democratic nomination. But the directors were inspired by the Illinois senator's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and thought he'd be worth following. Actor Ed Norton's Class 5 Films put up some money, the Obama camp provided inside access and now the bet is paying off, and not just because the candidate went all the way: HBO, it was just announced, is paying in the low seven-figures for the film, and theatrical rights are still available. Chalk it up as yet another Obama win against the Clintons!

Middling designer Kenneth Cole is well known for writing his own pun-tastic advertising copy after only seconds of thought, and he hasn't lost his razor-sharp mind. Yesterday there was already a Kenneth Cole billboard up for Obama's election: "A precedent we can be proud of.—Kenneth Cole." He had one ready for a McCain election, too: "Out with the old...In with the older.—Kenneth Cole." In case of a third party victory, he could have gone with: "OMG I'm so surprised I didn't even think one up! Well okay how about like, 'Third is the word.' Yea, I like that because it has, like, different levels. Raoul, send that one over to the billboard people.—Kenneth Cole." [NYT]

In case you didn't obsessively compare election results to his site in real time, it's worth noting that baseball stat whiz Nate Silver wholly justified his gushing press and nailed the popular vote. His prediction: 52.3 percent Obama, 46.3 percent McCain. Actuals: 52.4 percent Obama, 46.3 percent McCain. Within a tenth of a percent, bitches! Granted, there are a couple of million votes yet uncounted, but Silver has already extrapolated how those will play out, and he's still super-close. Unless you want to step to his stats?? Thought so. Silver may grow fabulously wealthy applying his battle-tested techniques to other realms, according to the Wall Street Journal:

After calling Fox News Channel to task for its Barack Obama coverage, the Daily Show's Jon Stewart asked Fox host Chris Wallace if the network might need to change its stripes under the incoming Democratic administration. Actually no, Wallace said, because Obama, like all presidents, will inevitably screw up, and skeptical coverage will be rewarded. "Let me just say," Wallace added, "I worry about you. That William Ayers joke bombed. This crowd is not ready." He had a point.

Sarah Palin famously claimed she had "absolutely no diva in me," but former McCain aides did their best to demolish that assertion in a super-juicy Thursday Times story. Among their embittered, anonymous and still entirely plausible claims: They budgeted the Republican vice presidential nominee around $25,000 for clothes and were shocked at her $150,000 shopping spree; Palin wrote a concession speech that she desperately wanted to deliver Tuesday night; and she never told McCain about a call she thought she had scheduled with the president of France (really a DJ prank). Now they're talking about sending lawyers to audit her family's closets and just generally trying to destroy her chances of running for anything anywhere, ever. Here's what they told the Times about Palin's clothes shopping:

Were you aware that Fox News Channel sometimes fails "to question... anonymous, and quite absurd, claims?" Or that the right-leaning cable news network sometimes inflates implausible narratives by deciding on a "thematic link" in advance and searching for footage to fit that storyline? Yes, for several years now? Well then you're several steps ahead of conservative blogs like the A-List Ace of Spades or Michelle Malkin's startup Hot Air, which all of a sudden are none too happy with Fox News for claiming Sarah Palin doesn't know that Africa is a continent. Welcome to the last gasps of what Hillary Clinton called the "vast right-wing conspiracy!"

Failure may be an orphan, but McCain campaign veterans seem to be doing their best to pin blame for defeat on their MAVERICK VP choice Sarah Palin. Fox News Channel political correspondent Carl Cameron today disclosed the first of what he predicts will be an "avalanche" of unflattering stories about the Republican vice presidential nominee: Off-the-record tips from McCain aides that Palin did not know Africa was a continent or the constituent countries in the NAFTA treaty. He later told Bill O'Reilly Palin didn't know the constituent nations of North America, either. More damning, from a campaign perspective?

Who's the big winner of this election, besides whoever got laid in exchange for their ticket to last night's Obama rally? Bill O'Reilly, of course! Loud Fox asshole and bold fresh piece of humanity O'Reilly lays out his strategy: "We are going to be the watchdogs. We don't know what Obama is going to do. It's my job to explain every move he makes, but I'm not going to nitpick him." I guess he's now like Keith Olbermann, and vice versa! There are some benefits to being in the opposition party. (He said this to TMZ, btw. Bill, why do you talk to TMZ but not to us? We won't nitpick you.) [TMZ]

We all know that print is dead and so forth but, darn it, nobody can deny that today is a great day to be a newspaper. Everybody wants a souvenir of Obama's victory, and you know what makes a great souvenir? That's right, a newspaper. This is a photo of a line outside the NYT building on 40th Street of people waiting—for a newspaper! Incredible. Reports of news stands from Brooklyn to Manhattan actually selling out are flooding into Gawker HQ!:

I watched the election results last night at a big shiny CNN party surrounded by flat screen TVs and media people in suits. Sure, there were free mozzarella sticks and lots of cheering, but Lou Dobbs was there too, and when the Obama victory came through I wished that I was out in the streets surrounded by hundreds of crazy cheering hopeful people. And I found that very thing on Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg, the geographic heart of all we mock. Hipsters, it was your finest moment. And you can't help but believe that when the amorphous hipster mob takes to the street for democracy while a grim Lou Dobbs climbs silently into his pajamas somewhere across town, brighter days are ahead. God bless America.

It was a mercifully brief presidential election night, if you consider the period effectively over once a clear winner has emerged. By 10 pm. Eastern, newspaper editors could put crisp, definitive headlines atop their front pages. Some European newspapers managed the same, either by way of special editions or the quaint tradition of afternoon publishing. Papers on several other continents also heralded the election results with some, such as Barcelona's el Periódico below and Diario do Comercio in Brazil, running high-concept covers emphasizing the election's deeper meaning for American culture. One briefly wonders what sorts of words and images they would have reached for amid a McCain victory. But it is much more satisfying, really, to feel the world gaze on America with approving eyes once again. A blow-up of the newspaper headlines is after the jump.

"They went to the Coliseum, to be exact, a watering hole conveniently located across the street from CNN’s office at the Time Warner Center in midtown Manhattan." [TV Decoder]

What did one of the most despised outgoing presidents in history say to his replacement, who had just been smothered in superlatives and the warmth of a nation? George W. Bush said election night was "awesome," referred oddly to Barack Obama's "good bride" and invited the president elect to what will probably be one of the most awkward dinners in White House history. "Amazing you got so dang far on that 'change' platform, hopey," we imagine the president saying, before reaching for another pull on his non-alcoholic beer. At least the president promised a "smooth transition." Click the video icon for MSNBC's summary of the call.

So apparently Obama rented an actual orchestra for his big victory speech? That sure added to the cinematic drama at Grant Park. And for those die-hard McCain supporters not softened up by Obama's dramatic speech, the president elect deviously called to the stage his impossibly cute, scene-stealing daughters, and then his VP Joe Biden walked his 90-year-old mom to the edge of the stage as if to say, "look, ma, I'm vice president!" This is clearly a White House that's going to play shameless hardball with the opposition. (Video after the jump.) One minor nit:

Spontaneous street parties are forming in the wake of Barack Obama's election to the presidency, and we've been getting emails about it. After the jump, shots taken in the streets of San Francisco, DC, Philly, New Orleans, Chicago and Baltimore and various parts of New York — and even in Freeport, Sierra Leone. Send us shots of your own and we'll add them to the galleries, or feel free to post in the comments. In the meantime, try not to get too drunk or start throwing anything or pushing anyone. (We're hopeful you won't, hopeys.)

Barack Obama's ascent to the presidency tonight was a perfect moment of cinema: A graceful conciliation by his opponent, dramatic music at Grant Park in Chicago, a moving speech and a picture-perfect finish surrounded by family and his vice president. Also: Crying. Not only by the Democrats in attendance but, from what we can tell, even among some Republians. "I was crying and I despise the Dems," one tipster admitted to us. MSNBC cut to a gently weeping Oprah Winfrey as Obama reached the "Yes, We Can" crescendo of his spech; some other criers follow below. Good luck not choking up again.

Yes, Barack Obama promised his children a new puppy. The president elect also thanked his supporters and praised opponent John McCain as someone who has "endured sacrifices for America most of us could not begin to imagine." But he also seized upon his historic moment to highlight the changes that have swept America over more than two centuries, and to call, in a moment that recalled both the pageantry and message of John F. Kennedy before him, for a spirit of unified sacrifice in the populace.

John McCain conceded the 2008 election before a crowd of supporters that sometimes interrupted him with their disappointed shouts. But the Republican presidential nominee offered a genuinely conciliatory speech, emphasizing the historic nature of Obama's win and pledging to work together with the president elect.