Dang, I picked a cherry of a time to come back into this thread. Quick question: does the average night of political discussion on the Congressional board usually involve this much screaming at each other?
Despite my low post count, I have been a lurker here since January, so i'll take a stab. Approximately 48 hours before a 'key' election, the heat rises. Arguments are thrown, the trolls/naysayers who were rarely present in the thread before emerge, and the conversation leaves the topic at hand.
Then, a pattern slowly emerges of a predicted defeat for the hyped candidate, everyone begins to panic, and denial pops up. Chances are though, the prediction of defeat is simply the opposition, who hasn't been as present in the thread, gets its news stories/tweets/posts present. Its just the previous lack of the concentrated support against the hyped candidate emerging from 'nowhere' scares the regulars.
This inevitably leads to more arguments, until usually a mod has to force the thread back on topic. This keeps the thread clean for a bit until the results emerge and the mood shifts shift into full swing...
The Atlas Overreaction train is real folks.