Specter Leaves Party In Disarray

HOW CAN A REPUBLICAN STAND SUCH TIMES AND LIVE?
Arlen Specter, you scoundrel! How could you?

That rumble in Washington today was the ground more than shifting under the GOP, but sidewalks buckling and children being swallowed by the Earth. Sen. Specter is leaving the Republican party for hopefully greener senatorial pastures on the left. To begin, nothing comes as a surprise in D.C. Speculation of Specter switching parties had been rumored more as a highly implausible last ditch effort to retain his precarious seat in the Senate, but never seriously contemplated one bit. Its execution was swift, calculated and so shocking that Republican ire has yet to materialize commensurate with the blow Specter dealt. The venerable National Review, as of 5:30 p.m. pacific time today, has very little analysis of the news except for a rambling, seemingly hurting post from David Freddoso.

It's true, Democrats inherit a moderate conservative who, if he wins the nomination and defeats his Republican challenger, will not reflect the views of a majority of blue state Pennsylvanians. His filibuster-proof 60th vote is compelling, though. (Salon's Glenn Greenwald has a good explaination of what Specter's move means) President Obama supports Specter's move and Senate Leader Harry Reid restored his 29-year seniority in the Senate. Ostensibly, Specter will caucus with Democrats when that 60th vote is needed at all times for such support. It will also allow Specter, who had Hodgkin's disease and has indicated he wants to remain in the Senate to push through health care legislation, to honestly vote with Democrats on any end-of-the-year legislation the Administration says it will offer.

Assuredly, Specter's move rattles what it means to be a Republican legislator post-George W. Bush. To his credit, Specter was unequivocal about his intention to switch party affiliation. The polls said he could not beat the anti-tax crusader Pat Toomey in the GOP primary so he went to the other side. What it means in the long run is either the party has a crude, long-term plan to rid itself of any ideology other than the far right or the party is in the process of true disintegration. Specter's move shows that a Republican of any other persuasion but Christian, far right and anti-abortion can retain or win a seat. How can a far right, anti-tax maven like Toomey possibly win a general election in Pennsylvania? He can't and the same dilemma will follow Republicans across the country until the party can figure out what it can in Obama's America, but that seems a bit away judging by some of their comments.

Rush Limbaugh waved off Specter's move by insisting he should take Sen. John McCain with him. You remember McCain, right? He was the party's choice for president just five months ago and the GOP mouthpiece wants him out. He also insinuated deposing Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback because he voted today for his own state's nominee for secretary of health and human services. If Republicans don't want a dyed-in-the-wool righty like Brownback who exactly do they want?

Friedman Says The Unmentionable

NYT COLUMNIST SEES A ROCKY FIRST-TERM FOR OBAMA
It seems like people don't want to face the truth. Some people have been calling this era of economic downturn as not a Great Depression in the making, but, instead the "Great Repression".

It has been said here many times the presence of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Larry Summers in tandem with the hovering spirit of Robert Rubin would portend for more of the same faulty economic decisions that got us into this fiscal turmoil. Nobody wants to say the banks are insolvent even as Citigroup flirted with sub-one dollar stock prices yesterday. And nobody would dare say the early-goings of the nascent Obama administration might flail in response to this crisis until Thomas Friedman wrote it yesterday in The New York Times and others quickly sought to skewer him. For instance, Vanity Fair's political blog.

"But do you know what I fear? I fear that his whole first term could be eaten by Citigroup, A.I.G., Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and the whole housing/subprime credit bubble we inflated these past 20 years," said Friedman before illustrating how big this banking beast really is and how nobody has a clue how to solve it.

I hope my fears are exaggerated. But ask yourself this: Why couldn’t former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson solve this problem? And why does it seem as though his successor, Tim Geithner, won’t even look us in the eye and spell out his strategy? Is it because they don’t get it? No. It is because they know — like Roy Scheider in the movie “Jaws,” when he first saw the great white shark — that “we’re gonna need a bigger boat,” and they’re too afraid to tell us just how big.

Instead, the administration seems to be relying on the American people to become inured to the price tags zooming by them. $700 billion there. $350 billion there. $14 billion there and $2 billion in aid to some far-flung despotic third-world country. After time, what's a few billion here or there. Most of us cannot grasp what a billion looks like anyway. Republicans like Sen. John McCain, on the other hand, are appalled at a mere $1.7 million earmarked to study the foul smell of pigs.

In the meantime, things are continuing to get worse. Jobless claims again rose to 651,000 spearing any hope that the we have hit the bottom. In reality, we may have reached that point, but the bottom is just becoming wider and will only persist until the administration confronts the banks in earnest.

I heard an interesting fact last week on Real Time with Bill Maher. The Chinese character for crisis is the same for the word opportunity. An interesting notion that Obama's pledge of change is not wholly grasping.

GOP Plays CSI With Economy

IF ECONOMY CONTINUE TO TANK IN '10; GOP IS 'INNOCENT'
The politics over the stimulus plan and its near-unanimous rejection by congressional Republicans is already taking center stage for the drama that will be the 2010 mid-term elections. Robert Reich wrote an interesting blog posting this week exploring the reasons why Republicans will not have a thing to do with the proposal.

Republicans don't want their fingerprints on the stimulus bill or the next bank bailout because they plan to make the midterm election of 2010 a national referendum on Barack Obama's handling of the economy. They know that by then the economy will still appear sufficiently weak that they can dub the entire Obama effort a failure -- even if the economy would have been far worse without it, even if the economy is beginning to turn around.

During two votes in the U.S. House of Representatives, no Republican backed either version of the stimulus. It took a few centrist-leaning Northeastern Republicans to win passage by a single vote in the Senate. A Reuters story yesterday implied that President Obama's rival Sen. John McCain was portraying the nascent administration as adverse to bipartisanship and characterized the plan by saying, "I think that the majority of people understand that this was generational theft." Democrats, conversely, begin to complain that the bill was too bipartisan -- even without GOP cooperation. In an interview with conservative newsweekly NewsMax, the leader of 1994's "Contract with America" Newt Gingrich said he "absolutely" sees a connection between when Republicans took over the House and 2010.

Irwin M. Stelzer imparts these talking points while writing in The Weekly Standard and illustrates this point by saying that Obama "now owns the recession." By pegging the troubled economy solely on Obama, these critics may believe that the president cannot possibly make in-roads in quite enough time for congressional elections next year.

He has asked to be judged by whether this bill and other measures he will propose create or "save" 3.5-to-4 million jobs, the number lost so far since unemployment turned up. Forget "save" -- if unemployment keeps rising, voters are not likely to rally around the slogan "It would be still worse if I hadn't spent your trillions." What the President has done is to promise what he certainly can't deliver in time for the congressional elections next year -- a reversal of job destruction, and millions of new jobs, said Stelzer.

When it's all said and done, it's still all about the economy, stupid, as Bill Clinton's campaign declared in 1992. How President Obama, congressional Democrats and the Republican opposition react to that in 2009 will be a tale we're likely to hear a lot about in 2010.

Arizona's Other Senator Caught In News Blackout

IS CLEAN AIR GETTING STALE IN D.C.? KYL BECOMING OBAMA'S ANTAGONIST

Somebody get Arizona's junior Senator Jon Kyl a newspaper subscription.

During a brief debate with the new president over the inclusion of tax cuts for people who may have earned enough to pay income tax, Obama reportedly told the square-headed senator, "I won."

Sure, sounds a bit Bushian, doesn't it? Sort of like after 2004 election, when President Bush announced he had attained "political capital" and intended to "spend it." Except, the difference from this perceive cocky utterance come this fact: Obama did convincingly win the election.

Kyl, who Sen. John McCain accidentally named-dropped this week for a presidential run in 2012, and other Republicans think such cuts amount to government-backed welfare. Undoubtedly, most of those who fail to earn high enough wages to pay income tax are also the poorest among us. It is generally accepted that the quickest way to put money in the economy is to give it to lower income families who will likely spend it on food, clothing, rent and health care. Of course, most of those people did not vote for the other senator from Arizona--McCain.

The exchange between Kyl and Obama was confirmed by both sides. There was no tone or context included in any story, although Kyl did criticize Obama's inauguration speech, so there may be some brewing animosity. What is implicit, despite the atmosphere of congeniality Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill are espousing during week one of the new administration, Republicans need to realize most of the policies laid out by president during the campaign have the backing of a majority of voters. Instead, of fighting, the GOP needs to quickly figure how to slightly navigate to closer to left to survive these days.

Obama And The Faux Fros

If you write at a black web site like The Root, you can photoshop photos of the next president in various hairdos and get away with it.

You can also find a rundown of hairstyles worn by female politicians here, but not one of Sen. John McCain with a mohawk or Sen. John Kerry with a mullet.

American History Is Made; Personal Histories Remembered

ELECTION OF OBAMA LIFTS THE DISHEVELED AMERICAN SPIRIT

The New American President:

the land of hope and dreams

HAYWARD, Calif. - At around 5 p.m. Tuesday night NBC called Pennsylvania for Sen. Barack Obama. 

Democratic diehards watching the returns at the downtown headquarters in Hayward burst into cheers after the first of the battleground states went blue.

Rhea Palmer stood in the back with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I’m thinking about my mom right now,” said Palmer, a resident of Hayward.

Seeing an African-American elected president of the United States is something she says she thought she would never see.

Palmer’s grandmother use to bring her along to work polling places in San Francisco when she was a little girl forging a strong belief in the power of voting.

“My mom would make us vote when we were old enough,” said Palmer “She always told us to get involved and get active in our community.”

While she realizes America still has racial problems, she also sees Obama’s future presidency as an example for other African-American men to follow.

“Seeing him up there gives me so much hope that he can show other young black men what they can do,” said Palmer.

DeWayne Ramsey of Hayward finds the prospect of living under an Obama presidency as a call to the rest of the African-American community to step up.

“This is history in the making,” he said, “You know, not all black men leave their kids. Barack Obama is a family man and this is a slap in the face to that idea.”

Ramsey also views a dearth of well-known black leaders until the arrival of Obama.

“We haven’t had a role model since Martin Luther King,” he said, “Barack Obama is now our role model.”

Democrats hoping to witness history sat in front of the big screen television in rows of chairs while other mobilized for last-minute forays onto the streets hoping to reject proposition 8 from passing.

In adjoining offices, volunteers continued to call voters who had yet to vote as of six in the evening, while lawyers sat awaiting any possible problems at the polls.

According to Edith Looney, director of the Eden Area United Democratic Party, nothing but minor problems were reported around the Hayward area.

As Obama began to tick off key states like Ohio and Florida, the excitiement began to grow. They hooted when Sen. Elizabeth Dole lost her senate seat in North Carolina and clapped their hands when former education secretarty William Bennett announced on CNN, “There’s no Bradley-effect. The country has grown up.”

Steve Bacon, a former member of the Air Force, turned to crowd from his front row seat and read a text message from his phone, “President Bush needs volunteers to get his [stuff] out of the White House. Put me down for the three to eight shift!”

By 7 p.m., anticipation rose as many realized the 205 electoral votes Obama had already received coupled with the likely inclusion of California’s 55 votes, put their candidate within 10 of the presidency.

“This is going to be over by eight,” said Oakland resident Michael Vaughn.

Local politicians such as State Senator Ellen Corbett, Hayward Mayor Michael Sweeney, San Leandro Mayor Tony Santos and former assemblyman Johan Klehs begin to trickle into the offices.

Congressman Pete Stark would later arrive to thank his constituents for returning him to Washington for a 17th time.

Just as Klehs walked in, the crowd began whooping and hollering. The stunned Klehs would later learn the image of Oprah Winfrey on the television illicited the cheers and not his presence.

Just a minute after 8 p.m, the networks called the election for Obama.

Those seated exploded from the seats. Complete strangers embraced, while in a sign of the times, teenagers attached cell phones to their ears to share the news.

A 10-minute standing ovation ensued with a mixture of applause and chants of “O-ba-ma, O-ba-ma!” and “No more Bush!” thrown in for good measure.

Even as the graphic on the screen read “Barack Obama: president-elect of the United States” Michael Vaughn still had not registered what had just occured in his mind.

“I’m looking at the screen. I can read what it says, but I still don’t believe it,” an incredulous Vaughn said.

A young African-American woman stood near the doorway with a blue scarf fitted loosely around her neck. Her hands were clasped near her mouth. Tears were welling up in her eyes mixed with a smile filled with awstruck and content.

A few young girls decked out in their Catholic school dresses sat on the floor. A parent pulled 

one close to explain the historical significance of the moment in their young lives.

As Sen. John McCain gave his concession speech, a red-headed high school girl mocked the Republican and yelled, “Who the maverick, now!”

The mood in the hot and humid offices turned somber as the newly elected president spoke to the throng of supporters in Chicago.

It was as if the weight of the moment hit everyone at once.

Between the idiosyncratic pauses in Obama’s speech you could faintly hear sniffles and quiet weeping.

An older white man stood in the back. His face reddened with tears ready to fall down his cheeks. His lips were pursed as he listened to Obama as if he was holding in the tears from falling.

The mood of Obama’s acceptance speech was a stark difference from the carnival atmosphere which occured when Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992.

There was no dancing, no fist-pumping and vaguely a smile from the new president.
Democrats watching in Hayward seemed to mimic Obama’s tone.

Seated in the middle of the group was a woman, palms laying flat on her lap. Her eyes shut tightly. She was rocking slowly back and forth with each sentence Obama would utter as if in a metatative trance. She seemed in the midst of an act of spiritual cleansing with the pain floating away into the ether.

As Obama ended his speech punctuated by the campaign slogan, “Yes We Can,” she whispered the phrase a full second before Obama and slowly opened her weary eyes.

An Election Day For The History Book

2008 ELECTION DAY PREVIEW

election'08: the race to clean the place - 1 day to go

[This election] will be remembered as the year when the not only younger people revived their interests in the issues but also first time voters. A mandate will be reached...because of this group.

These two lines appeared in LFR on November 1, 2004, on the eve of President Bush's re-election victory over Sen. John Kerry, yet they could be written in the same tone on the eve of the 2008 presidential election.

Ultimately, young voters did not respond any more disproportionately than any other election and the nation endured four more years of President Bush.

It is likely to occur again, yet because of sizable gains among white males, young voters showing up at the polls at roughly the same rate could give Sen. Barack Obama the White House.

Here's what to look for Tuesday:

McCAIN NEEDS TO WIN 5 OF 6 BATTLEGROUND STATES
Like Kerry four years ago, McCain has only a few quite iffy scenarios to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as he said this weekend.

McCain unrealistically must win a combination of five of six battleground states that include Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Virginia and Colorado.

Kerry needed to win Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida to beat George W. Bush. He only won the Quaker State.

OBAMA HOVERS OVER 50 PERCENT IN THE POLLS
According to data compiled by realclearpolitics.com, Obama leads in all 15 major national polls. More importantly, Obama holds a slight majority of the vote in 14 of the 15 polls, with the International Business Daily poll having him leading 48-43.

Fifty percent is the key for Obama, making any number of undecideds moving to McCain relatively moot.

PRESIDENTIAL LANDSLIDES
When it comes to election landslides it is hard to beat Reagan trouncing Walter Mondale by 18 points in 1984 and Richard Nixon laying the wood on George McGovern in 1972.

Presidential "landslide" is a relative term within politics. Where a seven point win other races might be a squeeker, the 6-7 point average margin of victory most polls show for Obama constitute a landslide.

Merely reaching 50 percent would be historical for Democrats. Obama would be the first to do so since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. President Clinton was stymied by third party candidate Ross Perot in 1992 and scored 49.2 of the vote against Bob Dole four years later.

OBAMA BEGINS TO NAME CABINET
Invariably as it becomes apparent Obama will be elected president, campaign staffers will begin peddling the names of possible cabinet members.

Thus far, Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, a former Clinton staffer has been mentioned as a possible Chief of Staff, while a New York magazine story quotes sources saying Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will not be retained by Obama. In his place another former Clintonite and Harvard president Larry Summers may be summoned.

Obama may go Republican with Sen. Dick Lugar of Indiana at the state department and Colin Powell may play some role in bringing the nation's military thought process back to circa 1998.

REPUBLICANS BEGIN THE BLOODLETTING
The losing party usually brings out the knives for their guy's failed attempt at the White House. This year it could get more ugly than usual.

McCain may have religious conservatives angry he did turn towards Jesus before selecting their darling, the lovely Sarah Palin. Old time conservatives are already seething over the loss of the "real McCain", "The Maverick". Of course, this is the McCain persona those same people found incorrigible on Capitol Hill

What is likely to happen in the next few weeks is cover stories and columns showing infighting, constant bickering and a case of too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.

SENATE NEARS FILIBUSTER-PROOF
Democrats in the Senate need 60 members including Connecticut's Joe Lieberman and Vermont's Bernie Sanders in their caucus.

They appear to be falling just short of sixty with 58 looking likely. Saxby Chambliss in Georgia and Al Franken in Minnesotacould be the key for Democrats to crack a filibuster-proof 60, something a presidential has not had since President Carter in 1976.

THE RISE OF THE LATINO VOTING BLOC IN THE WEST
In 2000, Al Gore barely won New Mexico. Four years later, President Bush won it by less than one percent. In 2008, New Mexico, with a large influx on Latino voters and a Republican bent on alienating this burgeoning majority, the state is firmly blue for Obama.

The fever may be spreading. Colorado is leaning blue. So is Nevada. Most surprisingly in recent weeks, has been the movement in the electorate towards Obama in Big Sky states like Montana and North Dakota. Neither of these states are likely to turn blue in 2008, but may go the way of New Mexico in 2012.

The World Is Watching; Hoping For Change

POSTCARD FROM THE DESERT KINGDOM OF DUBAI

election'08: the race to clean the place

By Gabriel de Andrade
Special to the LFR

Watching the run up to this election from Dubai has been both fascinating and entertaining. What I cant get over is how scared Americans seem to be of change. The fact that words such as socialism, which are perfectly normal to use in most of the free world, has some Americans scrambling for cover is quite amusing.

I can't understand is the most powerful country in the world has no problem spending billions of taxpayers money fighting useless wars in distant shores but has a problem with providing its taxpayers with health care. Watching too much Fox News has not helped. I have not come across such a bunch of righteous and ignorant commentators in my life before. I hope that this is only the view of a few and that Americans know better.

A readers poll in today's Gulf News that asks "who would you vote for to be the new US president?" has Barack Obama leading John McCain, 63 to 11. Intrestingly enough, 17 percent of those polled stated none of the above .This is interesting as it indicates to me a general mistrust of any U.S. leadership, however, the general consensus on the Middle Eastern street is anybody but George W. Bush.

Don't get me wrong. I for one and most people out here love the U.S. and its people. But Bush's actions over the last eight years has left a perception his administration had a personal and imperialist agenda. We hope that after today's vote all that will change.

That Obama is the clear favorite out here is no surprise. A vote for McCain is perceived as a vote for the status quo. Obama is seen as a young, dynamic advocate for change who will deal with the rest of the world in an unbiased and evenhanded manner.

Believe me, if he gets that right in the Middle East the US will have millions of new friends and will do a lot better in winning hearts and minds than sending troops into villages with candy. I have no doubt that if he wins today he will have is work cut out for him. To rectify the political and financial mess is going to require a massive effort and the support of all who live in the USA.

Although the polls say otherwise there is still doubt out here as to whether the people of the USA will have the courage to elect a leader of color. I sincerely hope that they will show intent and show the rest of the rest of the world how free thinking America really is. I have faith in the American people to do the right thing and hope that America has the courage to do the right thing and put Obama in office.

Gabriel de Andrade is a South African national living in Dubai. Unfortunately, he is also a fan of the Liverpool football club in the English Premier League.

Berman Fumbles Candidate's Final Stand

ESPN VET RUMBLES, FUMBLES MNF INTERVIEWS

election'08: the race to clean the place

Call him Chris "my questions were written by elementary school children" Berman.

Sen. Barack Obama (Click here for video) and Sen. John McCain (Click here for video) appeared during halftime of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Washington Redskins game.

The much-anticipated final conversation with voters before America votes tomorrow turned into ESPN's venerable anchor tossing the world's largest softball questions.

In addition, Berman and ESPN apparently believe in equal time while the rest of the broadcast world dropped that "archaic" rule years ago. Berman went on to ask both candidates the exact same question.

Berman started off by asking the 72-year-old McCain, "What did you learn about yourself?" Apparently, realizing you can't teach an old dog new tricks, McCain answered "not a whole lot."

Softball number two: "If you could change one thing in sports, what would it be?" This derivative of "If stranded on a deserted island, what blank would you bring?"

Obama, knowing the college vote could make him president, told Berman he ws tired of computers deciding college football's national championship. Later in the short interview, Obama also said college basketball's Final Four would be the sporting event he would like to attend as president.

The quite lame interviews conducted by Berman were highlighted, though, when Berman asked McCain about the best piece of advice he has received from sports.

Playing off the announcer's famous football call McCain said, "He-could-go-all-the-way!"

On the playing field, the Steelers defeated the Redskins, 23-6, meaning Obama will win the election.

Every election, of course, except for 2004, the winner of the Washington's final game before an election has correctly predicted the winner. Since the Skins lost Monday night, the incumbent president's party will be defeated.

Candidates spent $5 billion dollars campaigning for two years and one simple NFL game is all that is needed?

Hour-By-Hour; How The Election Will Go Down

AMERICA MAY KNOW ITS NEW LEADER BY 6 P.M. PACIFIC

election'08: the race to clean the place

If you can't be home watching Wolf Blitzer in front of the CNN's large Situation Room screen, here's how the election may go down when the polls begin to close starting with Indiana and parts of Eastern Kentucky at 3 p.m. pacific.

3 p.m. Sen. John McCain should jump out to a quick 19 electoral vote lead with a hard-fought victory in Indiana and an easy win in Kentucky. If, for some reason, Indiana switches to Sen. Barack Obama, the election is over. The networks would also delay calling the Hoosier State until later in the hour or more. McCain leads 19-0.

4 p.m. With wins in Georgia, South Carolina McCain will extend his lead, but ominous sign of his eventually demise will creep with a bitter loss in Virginia and an easy win for Obama in Vermont. McCain leads 42-16.

4:30 p.m. North Carolina and West Virginia go to McCain. Polls also close in the battleground state of Ohio, but, again the networks will hold off calling a likely win for Obama until after five just in case. McCain leads 62-36.

5 p.m. Twenty states begin counting votes as primetime hits the East Coast. The election may well be decided during this hour or, at least, Obama could clinch the presidency with sure-fire large blue states remaining to be won. Florida, Pennsylvania and Missouri could be called within this hour. The combination of Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio earlier will likely knock all the air out of any possibility of a McCain presidency. The bellweather Show Me State of Missouri may go to McCain without consequence. Obama leads 177-152.

5:30 p.m. Bill Clinton casts his vote reluctantly for Obama as Arkansas goes to McCain (I know he votes in New York). Obama leads 177-158.

6 p.m. While Obama has not reached the requisite 270 to become president-elect, the writing is definitely on the wall. With McCain roughly 118 electoral votes shy of 270 and large can't-miss states remaining such as New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the big mama--California--McCain is seeking far more than a miracle. Obama leads 246-185.

7 p.m. The state where it all began, Iowa, closes polls for Obama. Utah and Idaho easily go for McCain, while Montana shows signs of turning blue for Democrats in the future, but, today goes McCain's way. Nevada by way of an influx of Latinos and Californians goes blue. Obama leads 258-197.

8 p.m. Officially, the presidency will be won in the West as California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii go to Obama. Obama becomes president-elect of the United States, 335-197.

9 p.m. Unofficially, the state where McCain's campaign ultimately derailed with the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska sends its three electoral votes to McCain. Obama wins 335-20o.

Will McCain Bring Reaganism Down With him?

VOTERS ARE REJECTING TAX HOAXES OF THE PAST

election'08: the race to clean the place
1 day to go

Ronald Reagan has been dead four years. Is Reaganism about to near its own demise?

The signs of a final rebuke to Reaganomics, trickle down economics and the stuffing of fat cats coffers or--whatever you want to call it--may lie within the rhetoric of Joe the Plumber.

Sen. John McCain mocked the answer Sen. Barack Obama haphazardly uttered the Ohio plumber that Americans should spread the wealth. McCain not-so-subtlety labeled him a socialist, yet in times like these, the idea, in itself, that Americans should band together resonates more than continuing the same tired economic agenda of the past eight years and, by extension, the past 28.

An article in today's Boston Globe lays out the five questions the election may say about Americans, with number one contemplating an end to the Reagan Revolution.

During the heyday of the Democrats' New Deal coalition, which dominated politics from 1932 until 1980, the idea of spreading the wealth around was hardly political poison - it was the backbone of the party's economic philosophy. Since 1980 and the "Reagan Revolution," however, using tax policies to redistribute income has been widely viewed as an outmoded approach that chokes off economic growth.

Bob Schrum, the Democratic strategist and architect of Al Gore and John Kerry's losing presidential bids, also writes in The Week about the fall of Reaganism.

It is no longer enough to utter conservative epithets like “liberal” and “tax.” McCain’s implication that Obama wants to “spread the wealth” around rather than create wealth is dissonant at a time when Republicans are presiding over the greatest wealth destruction in history. Meantime, Obama has brilliantly pounded two numbers into the national consciousness—$250,000 (you don’t face a tax increase if you earn less) and 95 percent (the percentage of Americans who will receive a tax cut under Obama’s proposal).

Shrum smartly cautions Republicans to not merely mimic Democratic, but to rethink what conservatism means. He continues by saying the GOP can either do this or simply repackage the same product around Sarah Palin in 2012.

This choice, of course, will depend on the size of the drubbing in the House and Senate more than the likely loss of the White House.

If, indeed, the era of redistributing wealth toward the rich is over, it should be natural to assume an age of redistribution back to the middle and lower class is imminent. Some call it a new age of Progressivism.

In any case, it could be the aspect of the possible Obama presidency that surprise many moderates and independents who vote for him tomorrow--he really is a liberal!

Proof Of An Emerging Democratic Majority

SOUTH DAKOTA, MONTANA, ARIZONA COULD GO BLUE IN 2012

election'08: the race to clean the place

Regardless of the outcome of the election, it is undeniable that we are in the midst of a major change within the political identification of a large swath of American voters.

The electoral map, once regionally dominated by red states in the South, Great Plains states and the West and blue states concentrated in urban coastal areas, is now a polka dot of red and blue with red states frequently turning purple to light blue.

One of the legacies of President Bush's electoral triumph, whether through guile, good luck, innovative use of statistical information or downright felonious activity is that he polarized the nation like no other.

A look at the splits from 2000 and 2004 from a chart at Realclearpolitics.com shows Bush's dominance in these now traditional red states.

Whereas, the two previous election cycles featured enormous swings in support for either candidates, Bush beat Kerry by 20 points in Indianfor instance and Gore trounced Bush by 27 and 25 in Massachusetts and New York. This time around Obama can claim to have closed the gap significantly in every state Bush won sans Alabama where Obamamania is still as comfortable as a cow in a leather jacket.

Here's realclearpolitics.com's electoral chart:

Obama's lasting electoral triumph will likely be increasing the shading of the West to blue. Colorado, which was not on the Democrats radar four years ago is likely to go Obama's way, while New Mexico, which had been teetering on blue for two elections is solidly in his column.

If New Mexico was a target for Democrats before, it is likely that states like South Dakota and Montana with their gunslinger Democrat in the governor's mansion could be the new battleground states in 2012.

Yet, it would be wise to remember only four years ago Karl Rove was trumpeting the same rhetoric in regards to an emerging GOP domination.

Dick Polman at philly.com writes:

It was a mere four years ago when Bush's top political guru was suggesting that an extended era of GOP dominance was at hand; in his words, 'we may be seeing part of a rolling realignment.' Well, the nation's pragmatic voters have apparently nixed his dream. And it would appear that the Obama camp has no desire to go the way of Karl Rove.

Political will is frighteningly fleeting, but a possible Obama administration has the political landscape of Bush in 2004 without the baggage the president still carries today and by proxy John McCain. Obama's brief honeymoon period coupled with a Democratic Congress, done correctly, could set the stage for the expansion of the Democratic rule.

McCain's November Surprise?

OBAMA'S AUNTIE ZEITUNI ERRONOUSLY REIN U.S. ILLEGALLY

election'08: the race to clean the place
2 days to go

Maybe this is all the McCain camp has left? The Associated Press reported yesterday Sen. Barack Obama's aunt--half sister to his father--is living the U.S. illegally.

With three days left until election day and undecideds seeming to be leaning towards McCain, this story may well stoke moderate voters prone to believe some of the outrageous tall tales attached to Obama.

Within the toxic stew of emails and innuendo, Barack is a Muslim, took the oath on the Quran, his real father is Malcolm X and is trained to hypnotically change the minds of voters with the cadence of his speech, this story, apparently true, just add a great bit realism to this sort of voters minds.

The most troublesome part of the piece has an Obama staffer indicating Auntie Zeituni Onyhago and the senator are not close, yet he once invited her to visit the family in Chicago.

Bloggers on the right are salivating at this story, while The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder does not believe the story will gain traction with anti-immigration groups. What Ambinder fails to see with three days to go, groups of any kind do not have the time or sufficient money to jump on a story like this.

This is a gotcha story that perfectly plays to the radical conservative narrative put forth that targets Obama as the Muslim Manchurian candidate ready to turn the nation towards fundamentalist Islam on Nov. 5.

Sure, the story was triggered by the last days of campaign for the sake of influencing voters. Is it fair game? Yes.

In fact, it's far more fair and far more fresh than the idiotic ad running today in Pennsylvania which featured Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

This story is not a gamechanger, yet polling done up to election day may show a tightening of the race by a point or two because of this disclosure. It may also shore up tight races in North Dakota and Georgia for McCain.

In the whole scope of things, Auntie Zeituni may have saved McCain the humiliation of suffering a humbling electoral landslide.

UPDATE: Nov. 2, 2:00 p.m.- The Boston Herald is now reporting Aunt Zeituni falls within a housing loophole that allows her to stay in the country. Housing Authority officials said they were never notified of any deportation orders for Onyango, giving the impression the AP story yesterday emanated from purely political sources.

Unfortunately, the fact Joe the Plumber neither was a licensed plumber nor able to actually buy a plumbing company, failed to sway significant numbers of conservative voters. The Onyango story does not need facts to resonate with voters tempted by exclusion and xenophobia.

Despite Good News Democrats Still Fingerbiting

CONSERVATIVES WHO CALL LIBERALS WIMPS MAY HAVE AN ARGUMENT HERE

election'08: the race to clean the place

It's a bit odd to refer to supporters of a candidate as "fans" as the New York Times does today on page one.

"Obama Is Up, And Fans Fear That Jinxes It".

Was this a leftover headline from Philadelphia Phillies fans before clinching the World Series Wednesday?

Aside from the odd title, the story from Michael Powell shows maybe Republicans are correct--liberal are wimps!.

Powell quotes one Obama "fan" saying "The only thing worse than losing is to think that you're going to win and then lose."

The sentiment reveals more about this guy than the rest of the Democratic electorate. He sure seems to refute the old saying, "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

The repeating nervousness of Obama supporters in numerous articles and countless conversations around the Bay Area is showing less a lack of confidence than an inordinate amount of supreme cowardice.

Voters are issuing the same mantra which involves stolen elections, the dubious tightening of polls and superstition.

One man is even being denied sex from his wife as a precaution against McCain according to the Times piece.

How can Democrats protect the country from terrorist if they tend to wallow in this self-doubting, head in the ground attitude?

True, Democrats have been disappointed in two straight elections, but they are hardly the Chicago Cubs of presidential elections.

Granted, this same anxiety was evident in 2004, yet all the facts are trending towards Sen. Barack Obama this time, whereas, McCain is actually the candidate facing similar roadblocks to the White House, including limited electoral possibilities fairly impossible to overcome.

Obama is the candidate consistently leading with numbers that could easily swell to presidential landslide territory, while holding the cards to far more numerous electoral equations that could equal the 270 needed to win.

It's time for Democratic voters to act like they've won before.

McCain About To Do A Gore In Home State

POLL ILLUSTRATES HOW GOP IS LOSING THE BATTLE FOR LATINOS

election'08: the race to clean the place
6 days to go

On the face of it, the likelihood Sen John McCain lets his home state of Arizona go the way of Tennessee in 2000 is still remote, but the Arizona Republic's poll showing their boy with a two point lead over Sen. Barack Obama is ominous.

It's not so much for the embarrassment of losing your own constituency, but what the tightening of the race may say about the burgeoning Latino vote in the West.

McCain may be one of the few conservatives amendable to immigration, but his party is vehemently against it and voters of Mexican and Central American ancestry are nonetheless wary.

One of the long-reaching stories of this election may be the first direct evidence that Democrats are winning the hearts of Latino voters in not only Arizona, but Nevada, New Mexico and more conclusively in Colorado where Obama is likely to win.

After two successive elections where the electoral map was consistently static, the Obama campaign may have jumbled the political landscape of the West for the benefit of a generation of Democrats years to come.

Obama As Urkel; Is It Too Much Obamamania?

REPUBLICANS CAN WATCH 'PUSHING DAISIES' ON ABC, INSTEAD

election'08: the race to clean the place

It turns out Sen. Barack Obama's 30-minute campaign commercial to be aired tonight does not actually conflict with the resumption of the World Series.

According to the New York Times, Sen. John McCain told supporters in Hershey, PA the World Series would never be pre-empted under his presidency.

The funny things is nobody is really watching this year's Fall Classic anyway. The rain-shortened Game 5 Monday was the lowest rated fifth game of the World Series ever.

It's a nice trick for the McCain campaign to play to the World Series fancy of white males--an important demographic for the senator's chance next Tueday--yet, as with many of McCain's talking points they stand far outside the realm of truth.

Invariably, Joe the Plumber is outraged over watching the World Series at the time actually noted before Obama's infomercial and incensed by the possibility of paying sales tax on the 100-inch plasma TV who might one day buy, presumably when he gets that plumbers license and buys that infamous business.

Quite ominously, ABC, the lone network to opt out of televising "Barack Obama: American Stories", will be airing an episode of "Pushing Daisies" on the East Coast.

The Obama campaign is obviously still flush with large amounts of advertising dollars. The spots costs in the neighborhood of $5 million.

How will the audacious Obama TV program go over with the electorate? One of McCain's long-standing criticisms of Obama is his propensity for grand spectacles. Does a lead-in to the World Series signify something a bit over the top?

The film, produced by davis Guggenheim, is reported to be dripping with stars and stripes and apple pie. What you probably won't see is a production similar to the much-mocked Ross Perot infomerical in 1992. In that spot, Perot drolled folksy one-liners and trotted out his collection of pie charts.

The commercials seem like an unlikely risk. As Willie Nelson once sang, the television networks are telling Obama, "If you got the money honey, I've got the time."

Irrational Unease Permeating Democratic Voters

VOTERS FRET OVER SUSPECTED TIGHTENING OF RACE

election'08: the race to clean the place

Despite what the polls say or how the elcctoral map is unmistakably blue in states previously red or the sharpening of knives on the Republican side for John McCain, the word on the street is apprehension and uneasiness over a possibly Obama presidency actually occuring.

Today's New York Times features an interesting dispatch from Jacksonville, FL where black voters are hearing rumors of voter disenfranchisement with absentee ballots.

But amid excitement over Mr. Obama’s historic candidacy and the chance that the country might choose an African-American president within a matter of days, there is an unmistakable sense of anxiety among blacks here that something will go wrong, that victory will slip away.

If anything when it comes to voter disenfranchisement, black voters are the canary in the coalmine. Wherever the rumors that ballots would be destroyed or never counted emanated from, they touch a nerve with black voters who have learned political shenanigans usually start and end with them.

A black voter back in 2004, told the LFR the reason African Americans consistently vote Democratic in presidential elections in the 90 percent range is because "we know we're the first ones to be screwed by the Republicans."

Around the Bay Area, Obama supporters are expressing nervousness over Obama's chances beginning with a small sample of polls--possibly statistical outliers--which show the race significantly tightening. Not mentioned in some of these stories is the fact that for every polls showing the race within the margin of error six or seven show an Obama landslide ranging from seven to 10 points. (Click here for a recent sample of polls.)

Undoubtedly, Democrats are still reeling from having two consecutive presidential races narrowly lost or "stolen", however your level of conspiracy lies.

An Obama victory next Tuesday may do more for the political psyche of Democrats than anything else Obama could possibly do in office.

If McCain can pull off the political equivalent of the Miracle on Ice, the likelihood that a Democrat within this generation could win back the Oval Office might seem grim.

UPDATE, Oct. 29, 4:45 p.m.: Overheard at Starbucks in Castro Valley, Calif., "[Obama] is going to get assassinated and it really makes me sad," said by a woman in her early 20s while awaiting a venti soy mocha latte.

McCain Turns His Guns On Palin

AIDE SAYS PALIN'S 'GONE ROGUE'; REALLY MEANS SHE'S STANDING UP

So, Sarah Palin's "gone rogue" as one McCain staffer told Politico.com yesterday. Going rogue in the McCain camp seems to be being your own person, you know, how the "maverick" John McCain circa 2000 was the edgy conductor of the Straight Talk Express standing up to those bad folks in Washington.

When Palin eschewed the campaign talking points Monday in order to defend herself against the inane stories flying off the racks regarding her $150,000 wardrobe, the campaign went nuts.

Instead of damage control, the McCain campaign turned their guns on their own. Insiders now had an opportunity to illustrate to the media just what a "whack job" Palin had become.

The question becomes, why did it take this long? It was apparent to many the Alaskan governor was severely deficient politically. Some wondered why McCain did not take the pre-convention period to reverse course. In hindsight, would owning up to the miscalculation really have been worse in the long run?

It has been written here before that Palin is actually a gifted politician, not some pretty "bimbo" as Bill Maher has remarked upon often and she is not merely a politically cunning version of George W. Bush.

By being her own woman, she has shown that she is not the "empty pants suit" many portray her as but the symbol of liberal male angst towards women.

Let her become the story with seven days to go. It helped McCain for a few weeks in August, why not now. It's not like he's ready to promise a few more dollars in your pocket and free health care. So, why not?

Palin's Nice Clothes And Makeup Threatens Democracy?

CAMPAIGNS SPEND MILLIONS ON ADS NOBODY WATCHES, WHO CARES?

ELECTION'08:
the race to clean up the place

If you ever wanted a poignant storyline to illustrate the conservative mantra of a left wing media bias, point to the Sarah Palin wardrobe controversy.

The New York Times reported this week that Hollywood makeup artist Amy Strozzi was paid $22,500 for two weeks of work by the McCain campaign. The story serves up the juicy tidbit that the expediture made Strozzi the campaign's top earner.

As Sarah Hepola writes at Salon's Broadsheet blog, "does the story matter?"

No, it does not.

It is quite ignorant to believe that campaigns that rake in hundreds of millions of dollars don't spend hundreds of millions of dollars on their campaign.

Is $150,000 on Palin's wardrobe really that much in the scope of millions of dollars that the McCain people have spent?

11 DAYS TO GO

The price tag, though, to regular American voters would seem outrageous. It's silly enough for poor inner city kids to pay $300 for "vintage" baseball jerseys, but the Times doesn't report that one.

The story reeks of false populism. Should we expect Palin to attend events in clothes bought from the Chico's catalog or picture her ironing Todd and kids underwear with curlers in her hair.

Of course, this isn't about populism really, it's about sexism. Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain can campaign in the finest suits and loafers and not be skewered for it. Sen. Joe Biden can get away with the vanity of suspected botox applications and hair plugs, but a woman cannot.

As Washington nears closer to Democratic rule, again, it is subjects like these that flash contempt into the Americans who prefer to see the country and family life differently. Democrats, led by Obama's example, need to be cognizant that mocking poor conservative whites and women voters is risky when attempting to hold power. More importantly, reaching out to these Americans is the key to healing eight years of Bush.

Specter of Bin Laden Favors McCain

OBAMA IS THE CANDIDATE BELIEVED TO BE MUSLIM BY INORDINATE NUMBER OF AMERICANS

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter thinks a re-emergence of Osama bin Laden during the last two weeks of the presidential campaign may not hurt Sen. Barack Obama as it did to Sen. John Kerry in 2004.

Alter puts forth the idea Kerry made an error in failing to push rhetoric about bin Laden four years ago, while Obama, in his opinion, has not.

Seven years after 9/11, the country is in a different place, and the Obama campaign would respond to a bin Laden tape in a different way. For two years, Obama has been reminding audiences that the Bush administration has failed to catch bin Laden.

On an Oct. 9 episode of the Charlie Rose program, journalists including David Brooks and the loopy Mark Halperin did an extreme tap dance around the notion McCain's only hope in this election was either a traumatic terrorist attack or the meddling of al Qaeda media attack.

Aside from poking around military intervention on the Pakistani border, Obama has not sufficiently formed the requisite narrative that al Qaeda is still running around the globe active and poised to attack, nor as Alter says reminded voters that bin Laden has not been apprehended by the Republican president.

Like Kerry, Obama is very much vulnerable to intervention from the caves of rocky Afghanistan.

______________________

Obama's campaign has to be praying the media arm of al Qaeda recently ran out of VHS and eight-track tapes.

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The problem has more to do with the media upheaval in the day of 24-hour news cycles than the perception of Obama's inexperiences versus McCain's relative experience.

The numbers may show Obama with a fairly strong lead nationally as well as a multitude of possible electoral equations due to tightening races in battleground states, yet certain important demographics are trending his way, but by no means solid.

White males, although reported today in a poll passed a majority for Obama, could be easily swayed back to McCain if bin Laden butts into the campaign. Women, could also latch onto the Straight Talk Express if an atmosphere of danger arises.

The most tenuous factor could be voters who reluctantly support Obama despite racial prejudices who merely needed a reason to vote for the old white man.

Like it or not, too many voters, possibly your neighbors and the guy down at The Home Depot, believe or suspect Obama to be a stealth Muslim. For this reason, Obama's campaign has to be praying the media arm of al Qaeda recently ran out of VHS and eight-track tapes.

Above all, a change in conversation, whatever it may be, favors McCain.