By contrast...

In all fairness, news organizations scoured the DNC records and, what do you know, they couldn't turn up any reimburements even remotely similar to Palin's clothing spree for the Obama-Biden tickets. Seems like Barack and Joe and Michelle and Jill, they um... BUY THEIR OWN CLOTHES! The best response the Republicans could come up with is that it's a scandal, a scandal, I tell you, that Barack Obama is using a campaign plane to fly back to Hawaii to see his seriously ill grandmother. Why isn't he swimming to see her -- THAT wouldn't cost any campaign dollars and it's not a lot to ask if he really loves her.

HuffPo reminds us that, "In early July the Obama family sat down for an interview with Maria Menounos of Access Hollywood. One of the topics discussed was Barack's status as a style icon, which amused his wife and daughters because, as Michelle points out in the interview, his belt and shoes need replacing, and his pants are 10 years old ('I hate to shop,' he explains). Michelle also reveals that the sundress she's wearing is from the Gap: 'Fortunately now they make really pretty stuff at all price ranges... [Barack] will be happy to know that this is, like, a $30 dress.' Her husband then high-fives her, and daughter Sasha announces 'Mommy buys everything from Gap!'"

Obama's suit, appropriate for a wide variety of situations, is a navy blue, worsted-wool, two-button suit tailored by Chicago's Hartmarx and costing about $1,500. Obama jokes that he had them just make him three in dark blue and three in grey, because he hates to spend time shopping.

Obama and his campaign have proven time and again that they are a responsible bunch, I have to say. In Chicago plans are afoot for a giant rally in Grant Park on election night, but that city is hobbled by a multi million dollar deficit and massive budget problems. Knowing how much such a rally is likely to cost the city, the Obama campaign has offered to pay for everything, from extra police, city workers and setup to the cleanup costs afterwards."'They have assured us that they're willing to pay,' said Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications spokeswoman Jennifer Martinez, adding that the city had yet to hit the total button. 'We're still outlining what some of these things will entail.' The U.S. Secret Service--and ultimately federal taxpayers--pays for nearly all the security around Obama. The city and state are likely to bill the campaign for things like street closures, crowd control outside a secure area in Grant Park, help with motorcades and overtime for public safety workers."

Joe Klein, who now can't get a seat on the McCain plane, figures he might as well go for the gusto, and comes out with a big piece in Time Magazine, "Why Barack is Winning":

I asked Obama about gut decisions, in an interview on his plane 17 days before the election. It was late on a Saturday night, and he looked pretty tired, riddled with gray hair and not nearly as young as when I'd first met him four years earlier. He had drawn 175,000 people to two events in Missouri that day, larger crowds than I'd ever seen at a campaign event, and he would be endorsed by Colin Powell the next morning. He seemed as relaxed as ever, though, unfazed by the hoopla or the imminence of the election. Our conversation was informal but intense. He seemed to be thinking in my presence, rather than just reciting talking points, and it took him some time to think through my question about gut decisions. He said the first really big one was how to react when incendiary videos of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's black-nationalist sermons surfaced last spring. "The decision to make it big as opposed to make it small," Obama said of the landmark speech on race relations he delivered in Philadelphia. "My gut was telling me that this was a teachable moment and that if I tried to do the usual political damage control instead of talking to the American people like ... they were adults and could understand the complexities of race, I would be not only doing damage to the campaign but missing an important opportunity for leadership."

Like adults... imagine. A candidate who want to talk to us like we have more than a sixth grade education.

Nicholas Kristof, in an editorial in today's Times, points out the weirdly uncomfortable and yet comforting truth about what an Obama presidency might mean, as a message to the world. "Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the BBC poll, said that at a recent international conference he attended in Malaysia, many Muslims voiced astonishment at Mr. Obama's rise because it was so much at odds with their assumptions about the United States. Remember that the one thing countless millions of people around the world 'know' about the United States is that it is controlled by a cabal of white bankers and Jews who use police with fire hoses to repress blacks. To them, Mr. Obama's rise triggers severe cognitive dissonance. 'It's an anomaly, so contrary to their expectation that it makes them receptive to a new paradigm for the U.S.,' Mr. Kull said."

Oh, it triggers a severe cognitive dissonance in Americans too, but I think in a good way. I hope in a good way.

=============
Inter-Media-ate

The Daily Show, as usual, had a great segment, this time, on Sarah Palin's wardrobe. But even better was the Who the F@#k is that guy segment. How do they do it? Is some poor Daily Show intern tied to a tv set 24 hours a day?

For those of us who are Poll-Fretters (and you know who you are) the recent AP poll showing McCain only 1 point away from Obama nationally is cause for a little more than minor consternation. But fear not, our intrepid poll analysts have the answer: "The problem? In 2004, evangelicals/born-again Christians made up 23% of voters. But that same group makes up 44% of likely voters in AP's poll released today. That's almost double the number - it's totally implausible."

====================

12 days to the election! We are now only TWO WEEKS from the Election!

Set your Tivo, Meet the Press' guest this Sunday morning, will John McCain.

Undecideds, whoever the heck you are, in case you missed our earlier comparison of the candidates positions on a wide range of issues, the Congressional Quarterly has also compiled a side-by-side look at McCain and Obama's stances.