The Lesions of History

History, history! We fools, what do we know or care?

--William Carlos Williams

Sad News from CNN: Joe Biden's mother-in-law, Bonnie Jacobs, died on Sunday. Biden, who had been conferring with doctors as to her care shortly before the bailout vote last week, had already canceled his campaign appearances this weekend to be with her and his wife Jill. Indiana Senator Evan Bayh filled in for him on stops in Virginia.

In Newsweek, Joe Biden talks about that choked up moment during his debate with Sarah Palin: "in the moment, he 'could picture Beau in the bed' after the 1972 car accident that killed Biden's first wife, Neilia, and their baby girl and critically injured his young sons. Now Beau, the 39-year-old attorney general of Delaware, was off to war, a judge advocate general traveling to obscure regions of Iraq, where the road isn't exactly the safest place to be. The memory of being a single parent mixed with worries about Beau to create 'a lot of bundled emotions. It surprised me. I was hoping nobody noticed.' Only 70 million or so did."

The Lesions of History

You've probably already noticed this, but sometimes when I type too fast, odd things appear. At the moment, my "s" key only works if I SMACK it, which you would think wouldn't be a problem, given the way I've been madly pounding away at my keyboard on a violent tear about...well, just about everything. But as I become more and more upset in my ranting, my typing gets worse-- much worse. Occasionally though, I produce unintentionally humorous results. When I typed the headline above, I intended to say "The Lessons of History," but it came out as the "Lesions of History." I decided to leave it.

Okay, let's start with Palin. Her disturbingly blithesome reply during Thursday's debate, to the question, "Do you believe as Vice President Cheney does, that he and his army of Necromongers and Quasideads must hold sway over the Universe and all it contains?" has sufficiently moved the NY Times to write in an editorial Saturday, "It is hard to tell from Ms. Palin's remarks whether she understands how profoundly Dick Cheney has reshaped the vice presidency — as part of a larger drive to free the executive branch from all checks and balances. Nor did she seem to understand how much damage that has done to American democracy. Mr. Cheney has shown what can happen when a vice president — a position that is easy to lampoon and overlook — is given free rein by the president and does not care about trampling on the Constitution.Mr. Cheney has long taken the bizarre view that the lesson of Watergate was that Congress was too powerful and the president not powerful enough. He dedicated himself to expanding President Bush's authority and arrogating to himself executive, legislative and legal powers that are nowhere in the Constitution." (Thanks Helene, btw for that photo -- I love it!)

Thank God for people with memories longer than mine. In his NY Times blog, Paul Krugman takes us back to the Reagan quote that Palin invoked at the debate: "It was Ronald Reagan who said that freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We don't pass it to our children in the bloodstream; we have to fight for it and protect it, and then hand it to them so that they shall do the same, or we're going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children and our children's children about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women were free." Krugman notes: "When did he say this? It was on a recording he made for Operation Coffeecup — a campaign organized by the American Medical Association to block the passage of Medicare. Doctors' wives were supposed to organize coffee klatches for patients, where they would play the Reagan recording, which declared that Medicare would lead us to totalitarianism."

On Meet the Press' roundtable this morning, Gwen Ifill had some observations about the debate (after watching a clip from SNL's sendup of the debate --more on that below). Ifill laughs about Palin's averred plan to ignore the moderator's questions, "She blew me off, I think is the technical term..." David Gregory notes that Palin "made a decision to be rhetorical and not substantive on the issues. Her primary job was to excite the conservative base. Joe Biden made a decision not to take her on." It's not on this particular clip, but during the same discussion, Peggy Noonan observed, "I think she showed that she is a woman of great and natural competence about the show-business of politics, if you will: the ability to look over the camera, to think that the camera is your friend, all of that stuff. But there are questions about other areas." The whole episode was pretty interesting, so if you have time, it's worth a watch.

Palin, Footloose and Fancy Free

So I ask you, if YOU were from Alaska would you find Palin's display embarrassing or what? "Sarah Palin may be making new friends as she campaigns the nation, but at home, she's making new enemies. She better get elected vice president. If she returns to Alaska as governor, the reception will be frosty -- and not because winter has arrived. In the last month, Palin has become something inconceivable during her first two years as the state's chief executive: A polarizing figure rapidly emptying the storehouse of good will she accumulated."

In an interview with Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron, Palin claimed that Couric's questions -- which produced a series of staggeringly embarrassing responses -- put her in a lose-lose position. "The Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed," she said. "It's like, man, no matter what you say, you are going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too."

Sarah was annoyed, huh? Wow, that's an interesting coincidence, because the Mary Ellen watching those interviews was a little bit apoplectic...

Back on the trail, Palin headed onto some dangerous ground by going back again to the nature of Obama's connection with the Vietnam War-era domestic terrorist William Ayers of the Weather Underground. Douglass Daniel at the AP notes that it may backfire on the McCain campaign. "By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is 'palling around with terrorists' and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign. And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret."

And the gaffes just keep coming. I think it's sorta just a habit for them now. "Palin regaled the cheering crowd with a story about how she was reading her Starbucks mocha cup yesterday, which featured a quotation from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. 'Now she said it, I didn't,' Palin said of Albright. 'She said, "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women."' The crowd roared its approval, but according to several sources, Albright actually said, 'there's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women.'" As usual, Palin gets the key point wrong. That's right, Sarah, let me help/support you...right to the exit.

Albright replies: "This is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including women."

I think I'll help/support Campbell Brown, who is fast becoming my favorite TV news anchor: "As journalists, and certainly for me over the last few years, we've gotten overly obsessed with parity, especially when we're covering politics," Ms. Brown said. "We kept making sure each candidate got equal time — to the point that it got ridiculous in a way. So when you have Candidate A saying the sky is blue, and Candidate B saying it's a cloudy day, I look outside and I see, well, it's a cloudy day," she said. "I should be able to tell my viewers, 'Candidate A is wrong, Candidate B is right.' And not have to say, 'Well, you decide.' Then it would be like I'm an idiot. And I'd be treating the audience like idiots."

Oh Campbell, treating us like we have brains and all, how dumb do you think we are?? Maybe the question is how dumb is the McCain campaign, which popped out with this little bizarre item last week:

(I'm not making this up, you know. Some days this stuff just writes itself...) "Sen. John McCain's senior foreign policy advisor cites a steamy romance 50 years ago with a Brazilian babe among the things that illustrate the candidate's decades-long interest in Latin America. Speaking at an Americas Conference panel discussion Friday on the next U.S. president's Latin American policy, McCain advisor Richard Fontaine started out by mentioning an old Brazilian flame of McCain's, who recently emerged in the press." From the photo she's holding, looks like Maria Gracinda used to be a ballet dancer--and you know about ballet dancers...

''Talking a little about his personal experience, he was famously born in Panama and has traveled all over the hemisphere for many years.'' Fontaine said. ``In fact, I saw, I guess it was last week, that his old girlfriend in Brazil has been found from his early days when he was in the Navy and was interviewed. She's a somewhat older woman now than she was then, but it sorta speaks to the long experience he has had in the region -- in the most positive terms.'' Asked afterward about whether he was suggesting that McCain's fling with a Latin hottie counted as Latin America foreign policy experience, Fontaine said: ''The only thing I was trying to convey was that his experience goes back a long way,'' Fontaine said. ``He was born in Panama, which illustrates a lifetime spent in Latin America. He has known a lot of people. The thing about the Brazilian girlfriend was in his first memoir, and it stuck in my brain. Look at the two candidates and contrast his extensive experience. That's the only point I was trying to make.''

Wow, I guess that means that guy who makes the Girls Gone Wild Ultimate Spring Break DVDs, Joe Francis has TON more experience in foreign policy. Maybe HE should be running for President. Oh, no wait, he's too busy doing his "community service." Ah the irony.

And, of course, "enquiring minds want to know"... when are Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston tying the ole' knot? Apparently, it's not in October, as much as Mommy and that funny Senator McWeird might want it to be...."The two have been considering getting married next summer, 'but that could change,' [Johnston's mother] said during a short interview outside her Wasilla home. The baby is due in late December.'


Sunday Morning Quarterbacking

A round up of some of the best commentary and humor from this weekend:

At the top of the list, as always, Saturday Night Live. Tina Fey should be Palin's biggest fan, seeing as how Fey can expect another Emmy for playing the Contestant #8 to such excruciating perfection. SNL has hit video gold with Palin:

LATIFAH AS IFILL: "Senator Palin. Address your position on global warming and whether you think it's man-made or not."

FEY AS PALIN: "Gwen, we don't know if this climate change hoozie-what's-it is man-made or if it's just a natural part of the 'End of Days.' But I'm not gonna talk about that I would like to talk about taxes, because with Barack Obama, you're gonna be paying higher taxes. But not with me and my fellow maverick. We are not afraid to get maverick-y in there and ruffle feathers and not got to allow that. And also, too, the great Ronald Reagan."

And tell me we're still playing the Drinking Game! Fey, as Palin, finishes up with: "I liked being here tonight answering these tough questions without the filter of the mainstream gotcha media with their 'follow-up questions,' 'fact-checking' or 'incessant need to figure out what your words mean and why ya put them in that order.' I'm happy to be speaking directly to the American people to let them know if you want an outsider who doesn't like politics as usual or pronouncin' the 'g' and the end of words she's sayin' I think you know who to vote for. Oh, and for those Joe Six-packs out there playing a drinking game at home -- Maverick."

• I love YouTube mashups. Sarah Palin meets Francis McDormand in Fargo. You betcha, yah. You think I have too much time on my hands?
• Letterman also gives us Palin...in her own words.
• Bill Maher notes that Pakistan's president Zardari got into hot water for gushing over Palin and hugging her, "The people in his home country of Pakistan, the Islamists, they issued a fatwa on him for being too flirty. And when Sarah today was told that Zardari had gotten a fatwa because of her, she said I know I felt it when he hugged me."
• Maureen Dowd at the NY Times has another go at translating Palin's mushy-mouthed Frontier Baroque back into English: "Sometimes, her sentences have a Yoda-like — 'When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not' — splendor. When she was asked by Couric if she'd ever negotiated with the Russians, the governor replied that when Putin 'rears his head' he is headed for Alaska. Then she uttered yet another sentence that defies diagramming: 'It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there'... She dangles gerunds, mangles prepositions, randomly exiles nouns and verbs and also — "also" is her favorite vamping word — uses verbs better left as nouns."
• And then there's Frank Rich, "After the debate, Republicans who had been bailing on Palin rushed back to the fold. They know her relentless ambition is the only hope for saving a ticket headed by a warrior who is out of juice and out of ideas. So what if she is preposterously unprepared to run the country in the midst of its greatest economic crisis in 70 years? She looks and sounds like a winner.You can understand why they believe that. She has more testosterone than anyone else at the top of her party."

It's true, Palin does have her appeal to the people that love her. This debate review, from Rich Lowry at the National Review, reminds me of that episode of the Partridge Family, the one with that gorgeous blonde girl who can't sing a note, but all the men in the room think she's fantastic. (The family has to stage an intervention, Keith finally hears her on tape and he realizes that when he isn't looking at her, she's a horrible singer. With Palin, it's the same effect you get when you read her transcript.)

"A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It's one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O'Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it."

I hope your girlfriend smacked you upside the head, Rich.

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Author, Author

So I've run into several people now who actually believe that Obama has never authored legislation in the three years he's been in the Senate. It was a crack made by Sarah Palin at the RNC back in early September, if you recall, so one might wonder why ANYone would believe something Sarah Palin said. John McCain should have CRINGED because Obama has co-sponsored legislation with him in the Senate. But the question of authoring legislation actually came up much earlier in the year, during the primaries, and oddly enough in an email forward supporting Obama and levelling an attack on Hillary Clinton's record. Nevertheless, more than one person now has said to me, "Oh, Obama's never written any legislation," and I feel it's up to us to get the truth out there circulating. Again.

While it's true that Obama has not been in Congress long enough to have a list of enacted legislation as long as McCain's or Biden's or Clinton's, he has an extraordinarily impressive and prolific track record. In just three years in the US Senate, Obama was the sole original sponsor of 129 bills and co-sponsored an additional 427.

Newsweek and FactCheck.org covered this issue fairly thoroughly back in February during the primaries, so I'm only including a shortlist of legislation Obama has authored--you can look up a complete list of co-sponsored bills at the Library of Congress. (For convenience, I'm also creating a wallet-sized version--feel free to print it out, fold it up and carry it with you.) Charles Peters in the Washington Post also examines how Obama developed bipartisan support at the state-level for a controversial law mandating videotaping for police interrogation.

A shortlist of 59 out of the 129 bills Obama has authored or sponsored:

1. S.114 : A bill to authorize resources for a grant program for local educational agencies to create innovation districts
2. S.115 : A bill to suspend royalty relief, to repeal certain provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal certain tax incentives for the oil and gas industry
3. S.116 : A bill to authorize resources to provide students with opportunities for summer learning through summer learning grants
4. S.117 : A bill to amend titles 10 and 38, United States Code, to improve benefits and services for members of the Armed Forces, veterans of the Global War on Terrorism, and other veterans, to require reports on the effects of the Global War on Terrorism, and for other purposes
5. S.133 : A bill to promote the national security and stability of the economy of the United States by reducing the dependence of the United States on oil through the use of alternative fuels and new technology, and for other purposes
6. S.433 : A bill to state United States policy for Iraq, and for other purposes
7. S.453 : A bill to prohibit deceptive practices in Federal electionsS.674 : A bill to require accountability and enhanced congressional oversight for personnel performing private security functions under Federal contracts, and for other purposes
8. S.692 : A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative to report on health care quality in Veterans Affairs hospitals
9. S.713 : A bill to ensure dignity in care for members of the Armed Forces recovering from injuries
10. S.737 : A bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 in order to measure, compare, and improve the quality of voter access to polls and voter services in the administration of Federal elections in the States
11. S.767 : A bill to increase fuel economy standards for automobiles and for other purposes
12. S.768 : A bill to increase fuel economy standards for automobiles and for other purposes
13. S.795 : A bill to assist aliens who have been lawfully admitted in becoming citizens of the United States, and for other purposes
14. S.823 : A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to facilitating the development of microbicides for preventing transmission of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and for other purposes
15. S.906 : A bill to prohibit the sale, distribution, transfer, and export of elemental mercury, and for other purposes
16. S.976 : A bill to secure the promise of personalized medicine for all Americans by expanding and accelerating genomics research and initiatives to improve the accuracy of disease diagnosis, increase the safety of drugs, and identify novel treatments
17. S.1067 : A bill to require Federal agencies to support health impact assessments and take other actions to improve health and the environmental quality of communities, and for other purposes
18. S.1068 : A bill to promote healthy communities
19. S.1084 : A bill to provide housing assistance for very low-income veterans
20. S.1151 : A bill to provide incentives to the auto industry to accelerate efforts to develop more energy-efficient vehicles to lessen dependence on oil
21. S.1181 : A bill to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation
22. S.1222 : A bill to stop mortgage transactions which operate to promote fraud, risk, abuse, and under-development, and for other purposes
23. S.1271 : A bill to provide for a comprehensive national research effort on the physical and mental health and other readjustment needs of the members of the Armed Forces and veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and their families
24. S.1306 : A bill to direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to classify certain children's products containing lead to be banned hazardous substances
25. S.1324 : A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuel sold in the United States
26. S.1389 : A bill to authorize the National Science Foundation to establish a Climate Change Education Program
27. S.1430 : A bill to authorize State and local governments to direct divestiture from, and prevent investment in, companies with investments of $20,000,000 or more in Iran's energy sector, and for other purposes
28. S.1513 : A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize grant programs to enhance the access of low-income African-American students to higher education
29. S.1574 : A bill to establish Teaching Residency Programs for preparation and induction of teachers
30. S.1713 : A bill to provide for the issuance of a commemorative postage stamp in honor of Rosa Parks
31. S.1790 : A bill to make grants to carry out activities to prevent the incidence of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among teens in racial or ethnic minority or immigrant communities, and for other purposes
32. S.1811 : A bill to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to assess and reduce the levels of lead found in child-occupied facilities in the United States, and for other purposes
33. S.1817 : A bill to ensure proper administration of the discharge of members of the Armed Forces for personality disorder, and for other purposes
34. S.1818 : A bill to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to phase out the use of mercury in the manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda, and for other purposes
35. S.1824 : A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a Hospital Quality Report Card Initiative under the Medicare program to assess and report on health care quality in hospitals
36. S.1873 : A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish demonstration programs on regionalized systems for emergency care, to support emergency medicine research, and for other purposes
37. S.1885 : A bill to provide certain employment protections for family members who are caring for members of the Armed Forces recovering from illnesses and injuries incurred on active duty
38. S.1977 : A bill to provide for sustained United States leadership in a cooperative global effort to prevent nuclear terrorism, reduce global nuclear arsenals, stop the spread of nuclear weapons and related material and technology, and support the responsible and peaceful use of nuclear technology
39. S.1989 : A bill to provide a mechanism for the determination on the merits of the claims of claimants who met the class criteria in a civil action relating to racial discrimination by the Department of Agriculture but who were denied that determination
40. S.2030 : A bill to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require reporting relating to bundled contributions made by persons other than registered lobbyists
41. S.2044 : A bill to provide procedures for the proper classification of employees and independent contractors, and for other purposes
42. S.2066 : A bill to establish nutrition and physical education standards for schools
43. S.2111 : A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and schools to increase implementation of early intervention services, particularly school-wide positive behavior supports
44. S.2132 : A bill to prohibit the introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of children's products that contain lead, and for other purposes
45. S.2147 : A bill to require accountability for contractors and contract personnel under Federal contracts, and for other purposes
46. S.2202 : A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to increase the renewable content of gasoline, and for other purposes
47. S.2224 : A bill to require a licensee to notify the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the State and county in which a facility is located, whenever there is an unplanned release of radioactive substances
48. S.2227 : A bill to provide grants to States to ensure that all students in the middle grades are taught an academically rigorous curriculum with effective supports so that students complete the middle grades prepared for success in high school and postsecondary endeavors, to improve State and district policies and programs relating to the academic achievement of students in the middle grades, to develop and implement effective middle school models for struggling students, and for other purposes
49. S.2330 : A bill to authorize a pilot program within the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development with the goal of preventing at-risk veterans and veteran families from falling into homelessness, and for other purposes
50. S.2347 : A bill to restore and protect access to discount drug prices for university-based and safety-net clinics
    
51. S.2392 : A bill to direct the Secretary of Education to establish and maintain a public website through which individuals may find a complete database of available scholarships, fellowships, and other programs of financial assistance in the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
    
52. S.2428 : A bill to direct the Secretary of Education to establish and maintain a public website through which individuals may find a complete database of available scholarships, fellowships, and other programs of financial assistance in the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
    
53. S.2433 : A bill to require the President to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of promoting the reduction of global poverty, the elimination of extreme global poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one-half the proportion of people worldwide, between 1990 and 2015, who live on less than $1 per day
    
54. S.2519 : A bill to prohibit the awarding of a contract or grant in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold unless the prospective contractor or grantee certifies in writing to the agency awarding the contract or grant that the contractor or grantee has no seriously delinquent tax debts, and for other purposes
    
55. S.3047 : A bill to provide for the coordination of the Nation's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education initiatives
    
56. S.3077 : A bill to strengthen transparency and accountability in Federal spending
    
57. S.3142 : A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to enhance public health activities related to stillbirth and sudden unexpected infant death
    
58. S.3358 : A bill to provide for enhanced food-borne illness surveillance and food safety capacity
    
59. S.3506 : A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the credit for purchase of vehicles fueled by natural gas or liquefied natural gas and to amend the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users to reauthorize the Clean School Bus Program of the Environmental Protection Agency
    

In addition, Obama has also cosponsored:

Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 (which became law), Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act (which became law) Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (passed the Senate) 2007 Government Ethics Bill (which became law) and the Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill (In committee).

In 2005, he co-sponsored the "Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act" (which John McCain should recognize, because he introduced it!) He later added three amendments to the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act", which passed the Senate in May 2006, "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act", which was signed into law in September 2007. Obama also introduced the "Iraq War De-Escalation Act", Obama sponsored with Kit Bond (R-MO) an amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Act, provision from the Obama-Hagel bill was passed by Congress in December 2007 as an amendment to the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill, Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

By the way, if you're looking for more info on any bill in Congress past or present, the Thomas.loc.gov site is a terrific resource, but you can also use OpenCongress to actually track bills with RSS feeds. You can even tag them with your vote to remind yourself that your opinion is part of this too.

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Buh-Bye

I love stuff like this: the NY Times points out the obvious, that Obama is gaining ground and playing a better game than McCain. "By using his fund-raising advantage to compete in so many places, Mr. Obama has forced Mr. McCain to spend money to hold on in what had been viewed as safe Republican states, like Indiana and Missouri, while limiting Mr. McCain's ability to play offense on Democratic turf." Republican candidates all over the country are worried for their own campaigns. WaPo points out that "Republicans are trying to defend at least 18 House seats in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, economic trouble spots that double as election battlegrounds. Rising unemployment, the meltdown in the housing market, and a credit crunch besieging consumers and manufacturers alike were factors in Sen. John McCain's decision Thursday to pull campaign resources out of Michigan. The McCain campaign's exit from the state leaves a pair of vulnerable Republicans, Reps. Tim Walberg and Joe Knollenberg, with a weakened party infrastructure heading into Nov. 4."

Over at HuffPo, some voters are feeling a little more than just pleased. "Maybe in the last Presidential election there were voters who were swayed by the fact that they liked George Bush -- by the fact that they wanted to have a beer with him. But not in this election. This time around, just liking someone is not gonna be enough. At least not in Michigan."

In Florida-- where Obama has actually been LEADING 3 to 8 points in the latet polls-- the economic crisis has certianly helped focus the race, but the NYTimes sounds a few warnings about a repeat of the 2000 election shenanigans, "Add to the mix a new voting system that lost 3,000 votes in a local election this summer, rumors that new laws to prevent voter fraud will lead to long lines or legal battles... and the Sunshine State starts to look cloudy."

Even KARL ROVE gave Obama 273 electoral votes on his website. I think I'm going to throw up..with joy.

With all the good news for Obama, it's utterly unsurprising to learn that McCain's camp plans a new series of unimaginative attacks, as I mentioned above, that will try to revive the Obama connection to William Ayers of the Weathermen. Over the weekend, Palin referred to a NY Times article on the topic by saying Obama "was palling around with terrorists" although she didn't mention Ayers by name. (Hey, Sarah! Enough is enough with your ticket, on constantly looking backwards.)

Unlike John Kerry, who seemed blindsided by the SwiftBoating in 2004, the Obama campaign looks alert and is pre-emptively striking with a new ad, "Three quarters of a million jobs lost this year. Our financial system in turmoil. And John McCain? Erratic in a crisis. Out of touch on the economy. No wonder his campaign wants to change the subject."

For god's sake, John McCain, you used to deplore the culture wars--isn't this election more important than this? Our economy and the world of finance is in a shambles, and a recent survey by The Economist found that out of 142 economists, a substantial majority believe Obama has the better economic plan and 80% felt that he has a better grasp of economics. We have a war on terror being fought in the wrong countries. The climate is changing and we've got torrential storms and snow in October in Europe. The world is falling apart and this is what you want to talk about???

Frankly I'm feeling a little bipolar with all the alternating euphoria and then worrying over polling that I've been doing lately. I'm finding large amounts of my own hair in the shower drain. Judith Warner captures a particular feeling that I've been trying to identify during this whole financial blowup in her editorial "Waiting for Schadenfreude" (there's that word again...). The current financial crisis has, I think, proven to be a similar sort of emotional Rorschach test. People who felt impotent feel even more powerless. Those who felt lied to see new levels of conspiracy. Demagogues are engaging in even more demagoguery. And those of us who felt, well, like losers, are feeling like even bigger losers, as we shove our unopened 401K or (if we're double-loser freelancers) SEP-IRA statements into bottom desk drawers and wait for a cathartic burst of schadenfreude that simply refuses to come."

Helpful tip: When you're feeling desperate, look at the map at ElectoralVote.com. And there's always donation therapy-- when you hear some infuriatingly untrue remark about Obama's personal, legislative or policy history, send $5 to his campaign.

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FYI, TUESDAY October 7, 2008 is the next Presidential Debate, at Belmont University's Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tennessee, moderated by Tom Brokaw, special correspondent for NBC News. This debate will have a town-hall meeting format.

Only 30 days to the election, folks! Reminder again that time is running out--for many states, you must register to vote well in advance of the elections. RockTheVote's list of voter registration deadlines. Here are some upcoming dates--forward this on to your friends in the appropriate states (swing states in bold):

• Monday, Oct 6: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, DC, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.
• Tuesday, Oct 7: Illinois, New Mexico
• Wednesday, Oct 8: Missouri
• Friday, Oct 10: New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma
  
• Saturday, Oct 11: Delaware
  
• Tuesday, Oct 14: Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon
  
• Wednesday, Oct 15: Massachusetts, West Virginia, Wisconsin
  

If you're voting absentee, you may have to get your ballot in weeks before the Nov 4th Election date. Declare Yourself has links to each state's voter information page where you can find out how to get your absentee ballot. Ohio, your absentee ballot program is now open for business.