Nate Silver the 'Real Winner' of the Election

Alexander C. Kaufman
Nate Silver Called the Election, Now He Wants You to Buy His Book (Updated)

Nate Silver, the New York Times' polling guru, forecast President Obama's second election correctly -- and he's earning a lot of praise.

In the weeks leading up to the Nov. 6 decision, Silver was skyrocketed to mainstream-media fame, as political junkies neurotically check his FiveThirtyEight blog for the latest polling numbers -- and naysayers predicted a Romney win would make him a "one-term celebrity."

He even drew criticism from the Times' public editor Margaret Sullivan for betting MSNBC's Joe Scarborough -- who called Silver "a joke" -- that Obama would win.

But as Obama claimed Ohio and won the election, pundits showered the professional poker player-turned-journalist with praise.

"You know who won the election tonight? Nate Silver," Rachel Maddow said on MSNBC.

Fox News' Bret Baier also acknowledged Silver's accuracy on air.

Stopping short of a full victory lap, Silver plugged his book in a tweet after the Times called the election for Obama.

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