Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Politico awards a Certificate of Completion to the McCain campaign for "stretching its dollars" and "staying competitive" against the Obama campaign.

The figures also demonstrate how successfully McCain was able to stretch his $85 million general election allotment into a much richer campaign kitty that could stay competitive with Obama’s fundraising apparatus. 

Meanwhile, President-Elect Barack Obama is preparing his Inaugural Address.  Which is exactly how voters--and the millions of donors to the Obama campaign--wanted it.

Writing on the Wall

Posted everywhere.  Obama, following through on a campaign promise:

Note the Dow above 13,000.

Back on Nov. 5

In true campaign fashion, I'll be suspending my blog until after Election Day.  Too much work to do to be sitting in front of my laptop.  

That goes for you all, too.  Please, please, please get out there and vote, and better yet, help your neighbors and even strangers vote.  The democratic process centers around voting, but voting really represents the final product of community engagement and of civic concern; it's important that we demonstrate all of these aspects.  

I know this election means a lot to most of my small readership.  Let it be known how much you value the outcome of this election not simply by voting, but by donating time and treasure to the candidate and/or cause in which you believe.  Let your voice be heard not just through casting your vote, but through standing up and working for the change you seek.  It is at once a simple and a challenging act, publicly voicing your support, but you won't regret it.  

If you're having trouble giving that last $10, making those phone calls, or knocking on those doors, I commend to you this video: 

Yes, we can.

"Appeal to their sense of duty."

Nice background piece from the times on the efforts of both sides to ensure fair elections via lawyer (and law student!) volunteers at polling places.  As for me, I'll be doing voter protection work in Richmond, VA on Election Day.  Can't wait.  

(East Coast) Kind of Blue

Are you all reading FiveThirtyEight.com?  Good, that's what I thought.  Anyway, when I check in on that page, the map in the upper right hand corner always catches my eye:

When I look at it, I always get nervous that the light blue (read: Obama as a slight favorite) state on the Eastern Seaboard is on the Commonwealth of Virginia, a key state for Obama's roadmap to the White House.  

Then I realize that the light blue state is North Carolina, and   At first, I relax.  Then, I realize: North Carolina!  What a glorious day that Virginia is comfortably, for the time being, in the Dems' column, and North Carolina, home of Jesse Helms and the Greensboro sit-ins, is trending that way, too.

Photo of the Moment

From rural Missouri, courtesy of Nick:

Late Night Thought

At some point in college, I realized that the D-I football stars that I had grown up watching on TV were my age.  This past year, I've realized that I'm older than them. 

I've also realized that this is the year when political candidates just aren't that much older than me--they're older, but barely 1 generation away, as opposed to 1.5 generations away (Cheney, H.W. Bush, Dole, McCain). Certainly, the youth of Obama (and Palin, I guess) brings that into focus, and while I'm closer to my high school days than to age 47, it's head-spinning to think that only 25 years ago--1983, when my brother turned 2--Barack Obama was my age.  

To have accomplished so much both professionally and personally in a quarter-century is truly incredible (and maybe that's partially why I don't view Palin in the same light).  

Anyway, just a stray thought passing through my gray matter while reading about venue and forum selection.

Angelos!

There you are, Peter Angelos, raising money for Barack Obama.  If you have infected the campaign with the same incompetence that has ruined the Orioles, then... well, I don't know if my opinion of you can drop much lower, but you get the drift.

To be fair, he has never pleaded guilty to crimes connected to the Nixon campaign, like some AL East owners out there, so I guess my opinion of him could drop a little bit lower.

Being in 5 Places at Once? Brilliant!

It's all about local news coverage.

TMQ Shows Georgetown Some Love

In his lengthy, weekly column on the NFL, Gregg Easterbrook gives a shout out to Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz ('89):

Schwartz is one of the NFL's underappreciated figures: A smart guy who graduated from Georgetown University, Schwartz not only does a fabulous job but also belongs to that small club of NFL coaches who read the New York Times and books about intellectual affairs. 

Easterbrook runs the risk of being redundant--generally, "smart guys" (and "smart girls") tend to graduate from Georgetown--but still, always good to see Georgetown mentioned in a positive light.

On a related note to the title: the McCain campaign has been trying to say that Barack Obama is "flip-flopping" on his pick for the World Series.   Politico piles on, as well.  One problem: "showing some love" for the Rays, which is what Obama did at a rally the other day, does not mean what McCain and Politico think it means.  Easterbrook showed Georgetown some love in his article; he didn't say he roots for Georgetown football, think that Georgetown is the best school in the country, or anything like that.  Rather, he gave it the written version of a pound/fist bump/dap/terrorist fist jab.  Same with Obama: shaking hands does not equate to picking them, or even rooting for them to win, the World Series.  He's just showing some love.

The Fringe

Note: many European nations have laws criminalizing the public expression of views or the tangible organization of the groups featured here.  What a sometimes-troubling society the First Amendment ensures, huh?  I'm looking forward to taking a class or two on free speech issues to help sort out some of the conflicting views I hold on this issue.

Sarah Palin

...was not funny on SNL.  No link provided, so as to save everyone brain cells.

"And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American."

-Colin Powell, Meet the Press, 10/20/08.

Amen.  For more on the topic, read some wisdom at Abedology.

KKKlassy

As seen on the link blog to the left, courtesy of Andrew Sullivan:

Great to see racism alive and well in California.   In Civ IV, I remember reading about how the John Birch Society morphed into more "respectable" forms during the mid-1960s, especially in Orange County, CA.   Apparently, the Golden State is trying its best to uphold that tradition.

Joe the Unregistered Plumber

Turns out, Joe the Plumber is a registered voter, but apparently an unlicensed plumber.

My apologies to Joe.  Still doesn't change the fact that CBS laughed at his Sammy Davis, Jr. joke a little too loudly.

Also, this whole "Joe" obsession has reminded me of this clip from The Simpsons:

He's Funny, Too

Still waiting for the video, but until then, here's a choice line from Obama at the Al Smith fundraiser for the Archdiocese of New York:

"Contrary to the rumors you may have heard, i was not actually born in a manger, i was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Earth."

I was talking with Nick the other day, and it's true: he just seems like a guy you'd want to hang out with.  

Joe the Plumber: Unregistered Voter, and More...

I've been relatively quiet about the debates, but last night, I watched something different: a 90 minute informercial for Joe Wurzelbacher, or "Joe the Plumber" from Ohio.  To paraphrase Churchill: never has the life story of so few (er, one) been so important to the policies that will affect so many.  Forget middle-class tax cuts; give us Joe the Plumber tax cuts!

So, what do we know about Joe the Plumber?

1. Apparently, he's not registered to vote.  Talk about an inefficient allocation of persuasion resources...
2. He's never met McCain, and vice versa.
3. He's comfortable comparing Obama's tap-dancing to Sammy Davis, Jr. on national television.  (More tellingly, the CBS studio crew liked the bit).

(H/T to Gerry Canavan  and Talking Points Memo)

Look, I didn't wake up this morning hoping to put Joe the Plumber on blast, and I'll largely refrain from doing so, as it does not appear that he actively sought out to be the subject of last night's debate.  But the laughter I heard in the CBS studio after his "Sammy Davis, Jr." crack is ominous.  Much like with the bigots and kooks at the Palin rallies, it's not the ones who yell "terrorist" who are the biggest problem--they're a big problem, but they can be isolated, and they self-identify.  Rather, the people who quietly smile, laugh, cheer, and tolerate this kind of insensitivity that are the real problem, and have been for quite some time.

Hi, my name is Barack...

...and I'm running for president.  Can I count on your support on Nov. 4?

Image courtesy of http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/10/barack_obama_john_mccain_ohio_1.html

Change We Can Believe In

Do your part.

(Image courtesy of my absentee ballot.)

Res Ipsa Loquitur

I turned on television about two hours ago to watch Game 1 of the NLCS (Phillies coming from behind impressively), and I have seen close to a half-dozen Obama ads.  I have seen no McCain ads. 

The past 4 weeks, I've knocked on around 150 doors or so in 4 different NoVa neighborhoods.  I have seen no McCain volunteers knocking on doors, nor have I seen any McCain literature on doorsteps, if I recall correctly (maybe one piece.  Maybe).

The thing speaks for itself.