I do the same thing for the Maine results. I’ve done it for a couple of elections, and know to make ceratin “kentucky windage” for a bit of a bias in the system.
Last November I called the Maine governor’s race within 300 votes of the final result at 10:30 pm, and the press didn’t annouce a winner until the next morning.
I actually started this hobby 10 1/2 years ago after the nets called Florida for Gore. I only had dialup but I kept on entering in county numbers from past elections and the election that night and became convinced that the state was too close to call. It took the nets about four hours to figure it out, but if you broke down the data it was obvious, given the turnout in counties. Then they called it for Bush and I had the same reaction, the data looked too close to call.
If you (all of us) separate yourself from your prejudices and hopes, and you just go where the numbers take you, you can make good projections.
Hard to believe this race is so close. Kloppenschlock isn’t even a judge!