Administrativia

From Tampa Bay Times blogger, Adam Smith : About 30 minutes before John McCain is scheduled to lead a rally outside Raymond James Stadium, looks like there's maybe 1,000 people here. What's up with that? On the day before the election? Bush drew at least 15,000 people to a rally just across the street on the Sunday before the 2004 election. "We are the quiet majority that goes out and gets things done. ... I smell victory,'' said state Rep. Kevin Ambler. Good thing he smells it, because it's hard to see it with this crowd.

It seems that the punditocracy is going into overdrive working scenarios whereby McCain pulls an upset. What A McCain Win Looks Like... McCain Looks for Upset as Obama Holds Advantage John McCain still has a shot Of course, if those don't pan out... time to call in Mothra!

While you don't necessarily expect anything approaching the truth from a losing campaign , seriously: Obama is running out of states if you follow out a traditional model. Today, he expanded his buy into North Dakota, Georgia and Arizona in an attempt to widen the playing field and find his 270 Electoral Votes. This is a very tall order and trying to expand into new states in the final hours shows he doesn't have the votes to win. After Tuesday, Mr. Davis will be available for birthdays, bar mitzvah and receptions -- and will be appearing nightly in the GOP Comedy Club.

No real surprise , but... These pictures from the McSame campaign have to be a sign . Thanks to the folks at BrettMarty.com for being on the road and capturing this.

Some figures keep running around in my head... not enough for Obama to take Texas, but where the effect really will be: down ballot. In the 2000 GOP Primary, George Bush was running unopposed, as did John McCain in 2008. Both men took about 10-11% of the registered voters in that election. Neither Gore nor Kerry sparked that much enthusiasm -- both barely reached 7%. In the 2008 Democratic Primary, the Obama / Clinton vote combined was a staggering 22% of registered voters in Texas. 2:1 vote totals over McCain. The Texas Secretary of State has announced that between the primaries and the general, an additional 650K new voters were added to the registration roles. (Though I doubt that ACORN had much to do with it.) Given the enthusiasm gap for Bush / McCain (Bush now has a 34% approval rating here in Texas), it's safe to say that McCain will likely only hold a small margin over 50% statewide... BUT, in the urban centers of Houston, San Antonio, Austin and DFW, early voting has been ...

of·fal Pronunciation: \ˈȯ-fəl, ˈä-\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from of off + fall Date: 14th century 1: the waste or by-product of a process: as a: trimmings of a hide b: the by-products of milling used especially for stock feeds c: the viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal removed in dressing : variety meat 2: rubbish

pal·ter Pronunciation: \ˈpȯl-tər\ Function: intransitive verb Inflected Form(s): pal·tered; pal·ter·ing \-t(ə-)riŋ\ Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1600 1 : to act insincerely or deceitfully : equivocate I wonder if, at some future point unknown, the Villager reporters (as Atrios calls them) will quit waxing about the McCain that might have been. McCain's problem is that he is neither a legend or a myth... but tries to be both to disastrous results. When Clinton's myth of inevitability was pierced by Obama, she had the grace and good sense to wage a reality-based campaign. The same cannot be said of McCain/Palin -- who cling so desperately to the POW/Maverick of myth -- that they sublimate the very image they wish to project: honesty is replaced with lies; honor is displaced with sleaze; civility is replaced with incitement. With the tacit and explicit approval of the candidates.

"Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor," - Mudflats .

Campbell Brown p'wns McSame spox Tucker Bounds.

As Shannen Coffin , over at the NRO noted: "... it is a bit of a political Hail Mary pass. Second, that he is one arrogant SOB. McCain is essentially telling the world that he doesn't really need a Vice President." I would go one step further. McSame is basically telling the American electorate that his own political expediency has a higher value than the safety, security and future prosperity of this country. We have had enough of politics trumping principle, cronyism over competency and right-wing ideology before national interests. That is the Bush legacy and mantle that this ersatz "maverick" seeks. Watching and listening to the so-called excitement being ginned up by the Limbaugh-Hannity axis over this ticket, I feel like I'm watching a gambling addict writing that last check to hit the tables... knowing full well, that the money was meant for the mortgage... they just know the next roll will be a hit. No really... this time is for real. Seriously...

There will be much mention of Palin's choice to have a child with Downs Syndrome -- that when they knew during prenatal testing that the child would be born with Downs , she kept to her pro-life principles and didn't seek an abortion but now has in (her words), "a perfect baby". Like the so-called "snow-flake babies" used as props in the stem-cell debate, this image will be manna from heaven to the evangelical pro-lifers. I do not fault her for her choice to carry this child to term. That decision -- that choice -- was her legal and ethical right. But there was another choice that she and her husband made: the choice to get pregnant at an age when the risk to the child was so high. Children born to women over forty carry a 1 in 100 chance of genetic defect-- specifically Downs . With reproductive choice comes risk -- but where I differ with Palin is about the concept of choice. Here's the truth: Republicans don't believe anyone should have to wr...

Saturday (August 23rd) will mark the third anniversary of the levees breaking in New Orleans after Katrina brought devastation to the Gulf Coast -- killing thousands, displacing hundreds of thousands, and showing the truly awful incompetence of the GOP enabled, crony-filled G.W. Bush administration. (You know he's from Connecticut, don't you?) Where was the Shrub while New Orleans drowned? Sharing a birthday cake with his buddy John McCain who turned 69 that weekend. Heckuva Job!