Say election results (with Linux support)

election_results.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
import time
import json
import urllib2
import os

platform = os.uname()[0]
if platform == 'Darwin':	
    import subprocess
    def speak(phrase):
        subprocess.call(['say', phrase])

if platform == 'Linux':
    # Use python espeak module
    from espeak import espeak
    def speak(phrase):
        espeak.synth(phrase)

else:
    raise Exception('Unsupported OS (%s)' % platform)

def check_results():
    page = urllib2.urlopen('http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/results/president/big-board.json')
    data = json.loads(page.read())
    new_results = (str(data['tally']['dem_electoral_won']), str(data['tally']['gop_electoral_won']))
    print "Latest data: {0}".format(new_results)
    if new_results != RESULTS:
        for candidate, result in zip(['Obama', 'Romney'], new_results):
            speak('%s %s' % (candidate, result))
            if int(result) >= 270:
                speak('%s has won' % candidate)
                return None
            time.sleep(0.5)
    return new_results


if __name__ == '__main__':
    RESULTS = ('', '')
    while True:
        try:
            RESULTS = check_results()
        except:
            print "Error retrieving results - retry in 60 seconds"
        if RESULTS == None:
            break
        # wait 2 minutes
        time.sleep(60)