A reader asks me to “withdraw” the exit poll numbers, claiming they “could discourage voters from going to the polls in the last hour!”

Look, if you think so little of your right to vote that you decide to stay home because of what you read on this blog, I think you’re way too easily discouraged. At that point, you’re looking for an excuse. “Looks kinda cloudy. Oh, I have to find my ID. Oh, there’s probably going to be a line. Hey, Clueless is on HBO.”

As if I need to say it again, if you’re a Floridian, go out and vote for your man. But I don’t want to hear any additional whining that somebody would have won if it weren’t for the early exit poll numbers coming out. They didn’t stop George W. Bush in 2004. And a list of numbers on this blog isn’t the same as all of the networks calling Florida for Gore while the polls were still open in 2000.

I mean, guys, I voted in the District of Columbia for a lot of years, and it’s not like my vote was dependent on the hopes that my guy had a great chance of winning.