McCain told ACORN in 2006 that they are "what makes America special" - and there's video

Erratic alert! From Ambinder at The Atlantic:

A goldfish's lifetime ago, Sen. John McCain was happy to accept the honors and acclamation of the Service Employees International Union, People for the American Way, UNITE HERE -- and ACORN. Here he is, on Feb. 20, 2006, telling immigration rights activists at a rally in Miami that they "are what makes America special." ACORN co-sponsored the rally, and its volunteers surround McCain, and while there's no evidence that McCain ever formally teamed with the group, the video serves as a reminder that he did not mind being associated with them when the politics of the moment were different....

McCain had no trouble fraternizing with ACORN in 2006 when their political interests coincided with his. Now, his campaign is writing e-mails in his name bashing ACORN as a tool of the Obama machine.

Oops. Now watch the video. The good stuff, where McCain sucks up to ACORN as all that is good with America, comes at about 2 minutes in.

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Broder says McCain is pretty much toast in Pennsylvania

David Broder, who has always had a soft spot for John McCain, writing in tomorrow's Washington Post. Shorter Broder: Fork him.

This week, those voters are part of a mass movement to Obama, driven by much greater familiarity with the Illinois senator's views and by a pronounced distaste for McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin.

The striking shift in Montgomery County, often a bellwether, makes McCain's task of recapturing Pennsylvania from the Democrats look almost like Mission Impossible.

Robert Stutz, a recently retired hospital administrator, was, like many of his neighbors, skeptical of both the eventual nominees when they were on the primary ballot, "so I was mostly listening to Hillary at that point." But he's been impressed with Obama's health-care plan and says that McCain virtually disqualified himself with his vice presidential choice. "I can't imagine putting Sarah Palin in a position to be president of the United States," he said....

Ann Marie Cutler, another Clinton primary voter, admits that she still has "some doubts about Obama in terms of experience," but she is reassured by the fact that "he's very bright." She watched the vice presidential debate and was "sorely disappointed" with Palin. She "drops her g's constantly," Cutler said.

Said Marjorie Lukens, a registered Republican: "The thought of Sarah Palin being a heartbeat away is terrifying."

....She likes McCain as a person, but "I can't understand why he keeps talking about this Ayers guy" -- William Ayers, the 1960s radical who became an occasional colleague and supporter of Obama in Chicago. "He should be focusing on the economy and real terrorists; that's what people worry about," she said....

It's hard to see how John McCain can overcome these odds in Pennsylvania.

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Obama is Road Runner, McCain is Wile E. Coyote.

From Andrew Sullivan in the Times of London:

McCain made a huge splash of “suspending” his campaign and rushed back to Washington to talk his own party into backing the bailout. It refused, the bailout sank for a week and McCain’s campaign was just as suddenly unsuspended. He had to crawl back and agree to have the first debate as planned. Wile E Coyote blew himself up again. Meanwhile, Obama purred “beep, beep” and raced down the home stretch.

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First McCain was going to offer a new economic plan, then he wasn't, now he is

I know McCain wants to show the electorate that he still has youthful vigor, but this changing his mind every few hours as to whether or not he's going to be offering a bold new economic plan comes across as rather - dare we say it? - erratic.

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Treasury to invest $250bn in US banks

From the NYT:

The Treasury Department, in its boldest move yet, is expected to announce a plan Tuesday to invest up to $250 billion in large and small banks, according to officials. The United States is also expected to guarantee new debt issued by banks for a period of three years, officials said.

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FOX/Rasmussen: Polls from five key states Bush won "shows a very stable race whose underlying dynamic strongly favors Barack Obama over John McCain"

There are a lot of polls, both national and state, swirling around. I find it best to monitor the action at FiveThirtyEight.com, where I've become a disciple of Nate Silver. And, I'm also constantly monitoring Pollster.com. Things are looking good, pollwise, but the right wingers have been on a crusade of late to say that John McCain is on the move.

That's why, while I try not to cherry pick polls, I take some glee in posting the FOX News/Rasmussen polls from five key states: Florida, Missouri, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina. These are all states Bush won. FOX/Rasmussen has Obama ahead in all but North Carolina, where he's tied.

Obama is doing very well in traditionally blue states and has locked down New Mexico and Iowa, which Bush won in 2004. That means if he wins any one of these five states, he's the president. I think he'll win far more than that. Somehow, FOX and the other right wingers will try to spin this into bad news for Obama. Let them spin themselves into a frenzy because this is pretty damn good for 22 days out. And, remember, today, in the new stump speech, the Erratic One said he has Obama right where he wants him. Okay:

Fox News/Rasmussen Reports polling this week in Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia shows a very stable race whose underlying dynamic strongly favors Barack Obama over John McCain.

Obama holds a narrow advantage ranging from two to five percentage points in four of the five states and is tied with McCain in North Carolina. Keep in mind that all five of these states were carried by George W. Bush in Election 2004.

The only notable change in the horse race results this week come from Ohio where Obama is now on top, 49% to 47%. For each of the previous two weeks, McCain was up by a point in the Buckeye State after enjoying larger leads earlier this fall. The race for Ohio’s 20 Electoral College votes is now well within the margin of sampling error but trending towards the Democrat.

In Virginia, a state that no Democrat has won since 1964, Obama earns 50% support for the third straight week while McCain is at 47%. Those results are essentially unchanged from each of the past two weeks.

In Florida, it’s Obama 51%, McCain 46%. That’s a bit closer than last week when Obama enjoyed a seven-percentage point lead. But, as recently as mid-September, McCain had been leading by five. This is the second straight week that Obama has been over the 50% mark in Florida. McCain has not topped 47% in any of the last three Florida Fox News/Rasmussen Reports polls.

In Missouri, the results are unchanged from a week ago—Obama 50%, McCain 47%. A month ago, before Wall Street’s financial problems became visible on Main Street, McCain was up by five points in Missouri.

The first Fox News/Rasmussen Reports poll in North Carolina finds a tie in the Tar Heel State. Both McCain and Obama earn 48% of the vote. These numbers represent a very slight improvement for McCain compared to earlier Rasmussen Reports polling in North Carolina but the fact that the race is even competitive in this southern state signals trouble for McCain.

This only means it is time to redouble our efforts. We need to vanquish the GOP. Crush their spirits as Markos says. Read More......

Now McCain is hearing voices

Dear Lord. Now John McCain is hearing voices that aren't there. While sitting awfully wooden for an interview on CNN today, McCain was asked about the people in the crowds at his rallies calling for Obama to be assassinated. McCain says that he's heard people call for him to be killed at Obama rallies too. Really? Funny those videos never made it to YouTube. Is this Liar McCain or Erratic McCain making these crazy accusations out of the blue? The media needs to follow up with McCain and ask him for specifics. When did the crowd at Obama's rallies repeatedly call for McCain to be killed? A very inauspicious beginning for a man who claims he's ditching the lies and going back to his old nice-guy self.

I think someone needs to up McCain's dose of Neuro1.

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McCain's big comeback speech today plagiarized his 2004 convention speech defending Bush

As AMERICAblog reader TLS wrote, "that's not change we can believe in my fellow prisoners."

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John McCain's erratic weekend economic adventure

The Erratic One's weekend is captured by Marc Ambinder:

It's never good to overpromise to [Politico's] Mike Allen on Saturday, back track a little on Sunday, fail to give Lindsey Graham the message, whet everyone's appetites, offer new rhetoric Monday, throw your own campaign under the bus, facilitate your burned surrogates' leaking to the New York Times, and have nothing to put up against your opponents' four new policy proposals.

And, Christopher Orr at the Plank:

Over the weekend, the McCain campaign signaled that it would unveil a series of new economic proposals to deal with the financial crisis, and trotted surrogate Lindsey Graham out to preview the "very comprehensive approach to jump-start the economy."

But sometime late yesterday, they evidently changed their minds, telling the Times, "the Republican presidential nominee would not have any more proposals this week unless developments call for some," and basically pretending they had no idea what Graham was talking about.

And, this man wants to be your president. Wow.

Let's just put this in perspective: The McCain campaign knows its being closely watched. Their repeated stunts, combined with the ugly negative attacks, have caused the McCain to drop precipitously in national and state polls. Yet, against this scrutiny, McCain and his campaign honchos only reinforce the idea that erratic behavior reigns. It's quite stunning. No wonder so many Republicans are fleeing from the McCain campaign. Read More......

I love the gays

Show some love for the gays. Help us defeat Prop 8 in California. We're being outspent by $10 million in that campaign to save same sex marriage in California -- mostly from Mormons, who really, really don't love the gays. Every dollar matters.

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Sarah Palin heckles her own supporters, thinking they're protesters

AP:

Many on the outer periphery, more than 100 yards from the stage, couldn't hear.

They started chanting, "Louder! Louder!" Palin thought they were protesters, looked toward them and said, "I hope those protesters have the courage and honor to give veterans thanks for their right to protest."

I hope Palin's supporters have the courage and honor to give veterans thanks for their right to support a blithering idiot. Read More......

Maureen Dowd's column is in Latin

It's absolutely brilliant. One of the most wonderful pieces of writing I've seen in a long time. My head aches, however. (just found a quasi-translation, kind of.)

Bellum Gallium

Manes Julii Caesaris paucis diebus aderant — “O, most bloody sight!” — cum Ioannes McCainus, mavericus et veteranus captivusque Belli Francoindosinini, et Sara Palina, barracuda borealis, qui sneerare amant Baracum Obamam causa oratorii, pillorant ut demagogi veri, Africanum-Americanum senatorem Terrae Lincolni, ad Republicanas rallias.

Rabidi subcanes candidati, pretendant “no orator as Brutis is,” ut “stir men’s blood” et disturbant mentes populi ad “a sudden flood of mutiny,” ut Wilhelmus Shakespearus scripsit.

Cum Quirites Americani ad rallias Republicanas audiunt nomen Baraci Husseini Obamae, clamant “Mortem!” “Amator terroris!” “Socialiste!” “Bomba Obamam!” “Obama est Arabus!” “Caput excidi!” tempus sit rabble-rouseribus desistere “Smear Talk Express,” ut Stephanus Colbertus dixit. Obama demonatus est tamquam Musulmanus-Manchurianus candidatus — civis “collo-cerviciliaris” ad ralliam Floridianam Palinae exhabet mascum Obamae ut Luciferis.

Obama non queretur high-tech lynching. Sed secreto-serventes agentes nervosissmi sunt.

Vix quisque audivit nomen “Palinae” ante lunibus paucis. Surgivit ex suo tanning bed ad silvas in Terram Eskimorum, rogans quis sit traitorosus, ominosus, scurrilosus, periculosus amator LXs terroris criminalisque Chicagoani? Tu betchus!

“Caeca ambitio Obamana,” novum rumorem Palina McCainusque dixit. “Cum utilis, Obama laborat cum amatore terroris Wilhelmo Ayro. Cum putatus, perjuravit.” McCainianus bossus maximus Francus Keatinx vocat Obamam, “plebeium,” et ut iuvenum snifferendum cocaini minimi (“a little blow.”)

Cum Primus Dudus, spousus Palinanus, culpari attemptaret “Centurionem-Gate,” judices Terrae Santae Elvorumque castigat gubernatricem Palinam de abusu auctoritatis per familiam revengendum.

Tamen Sara et Ioannes bury Obama, not praise him. Maverici, ut capiunt auxilium de friga-domina, hench-femina, Cynthia McCaina Birrabaronessa, (quae culpat Obamam periculandi suum filum in Babylonia), brazen-iter distractant mentes populares de minimissimis IV 0 I K.ibus, deminutione “Motorum Omnium,” et Depressione Magna II.0. Omnes de Georgio Busio Secundo colossale goofballo. “V” (because there’s no W. in Latin) etiam duxit per disastrum ad gymnasium.

Gubernatrix (prope Russia) Palina, spectans candidaciam MMXII, post multam educationem cum Kissingro et post multam parodiam de Sabbatis Nocte Vivo atque de Tina Feia, ferociter vituperat Obamam, ut supralupocidit (aerial shooting of wolves) in Hyperborea.

Vilmingtoni, in Ohionem, McCain’s Mean Girl (Ferox Puella) defendit se gladiatricem politicam esse: “Pauci dicant, O Jupiter, te negativam esse. Non, negativa non sum, sed verissima.” Talk about lipsticka in porcam! Quasi Leeus Atwater de oppugnatione Busii Primi ad Dukakem: “non negativus, sed comparativus.”

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Erratic

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MSNBC's First Read: Has McCain fallen too far behind?

Not the kind of talk that revs up the base. Well, their base. Does wonders for ours.

Has McCain fallen too far behind? Can anyone point to a precedent where a candidate in a similar position has actually won? Humphrey, Ford, Gore, and Kerry all made it closer, but...

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McCain attended ACORN event two years ago

McCain was for ACORN before he was against it. Erratic much? Ben Smith has more.

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North Dakota is back in play: “It’s a statistical tossup”

In McCain's panicky new stump speech, The Erratic One says "My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.” Okay. You may remember that the Obama campaign moved its operation out of North Dakota a couple weeks ago after several polls showed the state tilting to McCain. North Dakota, after all is a reliably Republican state in presidential elections. But, North Dakota is back in play according to the latest poll:

Barack Obama is shown with an edge against John McCain in a North Dakota presidential race that has narrowed to a statistical tie, according to a new Forum poll.

The survey shows Obama squeaking past McCain, 45 percent to 43 percent, a lead that falls within the poll’s margin of error and therefore indicates a dead heat, according to political analysts.

Still up for grabs: undecided voters, comprising 12 percent.

“It’s a statistical tossup,” said Jim Danielson, co-director of the Public Affairs Institute at Minnesota State University Moorhead, which conducted the statewide telephone survey for The Forum. Pollsters contacted 606 likely North Dakota voters by telephone Oct. 6-8.

McCain has Obama right where he wants him. Tied in North Dakota. This is yet another reliably Republican state that McCain can't lock down. As noted below, he's in North Carolina and Virginia today. Palin had to do campaign stop, an insulting brief campaign stop, in West Virginia yesterday. McCain is playing defense on what should be his turf. Read More......

Chris Bowers exposes the Washington Post's "objectively wrong and quantifiably unfair" electoral map

NOTE FROM JOHN: The Post's Electoral Voter counter comes from RealClearPolitics. I know a number of people who have had concerns that RealClearPolitics leans right. The way they handled the electoral vote map sure lends credence to that view. Looks like the Washington Post got snookered, and didn't bother checking their facts or sources.

Check out the Washington Post's electoral map.



Then, check out Pollster.com's electoral map.



The Washington Post sees 16 swing states -- including New Jersey, Oregon and Iowa -- with a total of 173 electoral votes as toss up or "battleground" states. Pollster.com sees six toss-up states with a total of 60 electoral votes.

What's wrong with the Post's analysis? A lot as Chris Bowers at Open Left documented over the weekend:

On this webpage, the Washington Post collects recent polling data, and then declares a state to either be a "battleground," or leaning toward one party or the other. Here are some of their polling averages and diagnoses:

Obama +13.8%: Battleground state (PA)
Obama +10.4%: Battleground state (NH)
Obama +10.0%: Battleground state (NJ)
Obama +9.5%: Battleground state (IA)
Obama +9.0%: Battleground state (OR)
Obama +8.2%: Battleground state (MN)
Obama +8.2%: Battleground state (MI)
Obama +8.8%: Battleground state (WI)
Obama +7.3%: Battleground state (NM)
McCain +6.8%: Leaning Republican (GA)
Obama +5.1%: Battleground state (VA)
Obama +4.0%: Battleground state (CO)
McCain +3.8%: Leaning Republican (IN)
Obama +3.5%: Battleground state (OH)
Obama +3.1%: Battleground state (FL)
Obama +3.0%: Battleground state (NV)
McCain +2.2%: Leaning Republican (WV)

Notice anything wrong with this list? Could it perhaps be that any state where McCain leads, no matter his margin, is defined as "Leaning Republican?" Could it be that states where Obama leads by 7.3%-13.8% are defined as "battleground states," while states where McCain leads by 2.2%-6.8% are defined as "leaning Republican." Does the uneven math in this strike anyone as problematic?

The Washington Post claims that a 2.2% lead for McCain is larger than a 13.8% lead for Obama. That is objectively wrong and quantifiably unfair. This is as blatantly imbalanced as election reporting can possibly get.

Has anyone on the Washington Post's crack political team even looked at this map? Do the political reporters stand by it? Could Dan Balz or even Chris Cillizza explain the Post's math here? Because, Chris is right. This is wrong. Very wrong. Read More......

Politico: McCain's new speech "like hitting the panic button"

John McCain isn't going to talk about the economy today. Too much "internal confusion" in the campaign. Instead, he's got a new speech. Sounds very familiar. Remember how many times Bush was going to win us over with a new speech?

Yesterday, Politico had the scoop that McCain was going to deliver new economic plans. That was wrong. But, Politico got the new scoop about the "more forceful new stump speech:

Three weeks before Election Day, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday is unveiling what his aides call a more forceful new stump speech in which he portrays himself as a scrappy fighter on the comeback trail against an opponent who’s already “measuring the drapes” in the Oval Office.

“The national media has written us off.,” McCain says in excerpts released by the campaign. “Senator Obama is measuring the drapes, and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labor elections, and concede defeat in Iraq. But they forgot to let you decide. My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.”

Allies are calling this “hitting the ‘reset’ button” on the campaign, with McCain reemerging after a long Sunday strategy session with a feisty tack that uses candor and humor, at a time when his rallies have become known for raucous rage and clumsy attacks.

But it’s more like hitting the panic button. McCain is appearing Monday in Virginia and North Carolina – two states that are usually safe for Republicans in presidential races, and that he should have put away long ago. But Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is pouring visits and staff into the former Confederacy, and he has caught McCain in many Southern polls.

Seems we have McCain just where we want him...campaigning in states that he should have wrapped up a long time ago. McCain is hitting the panic button. But, he's always hitting a panic button. He's erratic. And, a new speech isn't going to cut it.

Obama's campaign emailed out an appropriate response to McCain's new ploy:

“Less than twelve hours after his campaign announced that Senator McCain would finally have some new ideas on the economy, he decided that it was more important to give a new political speech about where he is in the polls. But the American people know that this election isn’t about who’s up or who’s down, it’s about who will change the disastrous Bush-McCain economic policies of the last eight years. Barack Obama will continue to bring his message of change to every corner of this country, which is why he’s talking today about his new plan to provide immediate relief to struggling families and homeowners, jumpstart job creation in America, and ease the credit crisis that’s hurting too many businesses,” said Obama-Biden Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer.

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"Internal confusion" means erratic McCain won't have new economic proposals after all

Yesterday, Politico, as Think Progress documents, had a hot scoop. John McCain was going to announce new economic plans today. Yep, McCain was going to seize the day by talking about the economic crisis. Wrong.

It's not going to happen:

Despite signals that Senator John McCain would have new prescriptions for the economic crisis after a weekend of meetings, his campaign said Sunday that Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, would not have any more proposals this week unless developments call for some.

The signs of internal confusion came as the campaign was under pressure from state party leaders to sharpen his message on the economy and at least blunt the advantage that Democrats traditionally have on the issue in hard times. Republicans have grown fretful as Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, has edged ahead in polls three weeks before the election, while Mr. McCain has veered between ill-received economic plans and attacks on Mr. Obama’s character.

The McCain campaign is out of control. McCain is increasingly erratic. It's disturbing. These are dangerous times. We need a steady leader.

And, don't forget that McCain doesn't want to talk about the economic crisis or he'll lose. Remember this statement from a "McCain strategist": "If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose." Read More......

ABC News/Wash. Post: 90% of voters see U.S. on wrong track; Bush at 23% approval; Obama leads 53% - 43%

The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll has some stunning numbers. There is almost a unanimous consensus in this country that we're on the wrong track -- because we are. Only 22 days til we can change the track of the nation:

A tornado of economic discontent is buffeting the nation, sending satisfaction with the country's direction to a 35-year low, George W. Bush's approval rating below Richard Nixon's worst  and Barack Obama, boosted by economic empathy, to his best-yet advantage in the presidential race.

Given the global economic crisis, a record 90 percent of registered voters say the country is seriously off on the wrong track, the most since this question first was asked in 1973. At 23 percent, Bush's job approval rating has fallen below Nixon's lowest; it's a point away from the lowest in 70 years of polling, set by Harry Truman in early 1952. Bush's disapproval, meanwhile, is at an all-time record  73 percent.

Powered chiefly by the public's economic concerns, Obama leads John McCain by 10 points among likely voters, 53-43 percent, in this ABC News/Washington Post poll. Though every race is different, no presidential candidate has come back from an October deficit this large in pre-election polls dating to 1936....

Obama holds the reins on economic woe. Registered voters trust him over McCain to handle the economy by 53-37 percent. Obama holds his largest lead yet, a remarkable 30-point margin, in better understanding the economic problems Americans are having, 58-28 percent. He leads McCain by about as much, 59-31 percent, in trust to help the middle class, and by 11 points on taxes, two prime points of contention in the last presidential debate....

McCain's receiving blowback for what's perceived as negative campaigning; registered voters by 59-35 percent say he's been mainly attacking Obama rather than addressing the issues. Obama, by contrast, is seen by an even wider margin as issue-focused....

[A] drop in McCain's favorability rating, to 52 percent, a loss of 7 points since the Republican convention; 45 percent now see him unfavorably, a new high for McCain in polls since 1999. Obama's rating, meanwhile, is 64 percent favorable, near its high and up 6 points in the same time frame.

Enthusiasm for McCain's candidacy, never strong, has softened alongside his favorability rating. Just 29 percent of his own supporters are "very enthusiastic" about his campaign, the fewest since August and down a sharp 17 points from his post-convention peak. By contrast, 63 percent of Obama's backers are very enthusiastic, steady since September.

McCain's portrayal of Obama as a risky choice, further, is not resonating, and indeed may be backfiring. By 55-45 percent registered voters see Obama as safe rather than risky; by contrast, they divide 50-50 on whether McCain himself is safe or risky  down from 57-41 percent "safe" at McCain's best on this measure in June.

Okay, so after all Bush has put us through, who are the 23% of Americans who still approve of George Bush's job performance? Read More......

Conservative pundit Bill Kristol calls on McCain to fire his entire campaign

Republicans across America are running for cover. The rats are fleeing the sinking ship and one of the big rats, Bill Kristol, jumped overboard today in his NY Times column. Of course, under the leadership of the GOP brain trust, including Bill Kristol, the whole country has been sinking. But, Kristol isn't doing this to help McCain as it could appear. No, he's really trashing McCain and can then trash him more after McCain doesn't listen to the very wise Bill Kristol:

It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign.

He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s. The Obama team is well organized, flush with resources, and the candidate and the campaign are in sync. The McCain campaign, once merely problematic, is now close to being out-and-out dysfunctional. Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic. If the race continues over the next three weeks to be a conventional one, McCain is doomed.

He may be anyway. Bush is unpopular. The media is hostile. The financial meltdown has made things tougher. Maybe the situation is hopeless — and if it is, then nothing McCain or his campaign does matters.

But I’m not convinced by such claims of inevitability. McCain isn’t Bush. The media isn’t all-powerful. And the economic crisis still presents an opportunity to show leadership.

Kristol has his own agenda. After November 4th, he'll be on FOX telling all the diehards how he could have saved the McCain campaign if they'd only listen. Then, Kristol can continue to be one of the wise men in a party that has been destroyed in the elections, because of the ideas of people like Bill Kristol. Read More......

Nobel Prize in Economics for Paul Krugman

A huge and well-deserved honor for an esteemed liberal, Paul Krugman:

The American economist Paul R. Krugman won the Nobel economics prize on Monday for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity.

Mr. Krugman, 55, a professor at Princeton University in New Jersey and a columnist for The New York Times, formulated a new theory to answer questions about free trade, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

“What are the effects of free trade and globalization? What are the driving forces behind worldwide urbanization? Paul Krugman has formulated a new theory to answer these questions,” the academy said in its citation.

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Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

22 days.

Just watched the first half hour of the TODAY Show. It's almost stunning how hard it is for them to acknowledge that Obama is wrapping this race up. Not kidding, the question was asked if Hillary Clinton is doing enough for Obama. They're still asking THAT question? Then, NBC's Ron Allen asked if Obama could win over conservative voters in Northeastern PA, the key to winning that critical state. If Ron Allen and the crack researchers at NBC had read the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday, they wouldn't even need to ask questions about Pennsylvania:

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has nearly closed the deal in Pennsylvania, as anxiety over the economy overcomes lingering concerns about his inexperience and qualms about his race, according to more than three dozen political operatives, pollsters and analysts across the state.

A surge in Democratic voter registration is also helping.

Some Republicans in the state say privately it is all but impossible for Republican Sen. John McCain to win Pennsylvania.

Don't expect the national news outlets to acknowledge Obama's lead. They still want a close race. It's not.

22 days to repudiate the Republican brand. As Markos say, Crush their spirits.

Get crushing. Read More......

Europe, Australia inject money into banks, markets surge

I was quite surprised this morning *not* to have read about Paulson injecting billions into the US banks and semi-nationalizing them. Waiting, as had initially been suggested, makes no sense because time is the enemy in this situation. The longer the process is delayed, the more loans back up and business stagnates. As this article states, the cash is helping today (Europe up 6% out of the gate) but it will not stop the recession. This is a necessary action but we still have more problems to come. The housing problem will continue and corporate earnings are bound to be soft for the next few quarters and beyond. Read More......

McCain says he will "whip" Obama in debate

And then he says goes on to talk about conducting a respectful race. Could McCain be any more clueless? While this is sure to be a crowd pleaser in the same halls that yell out "kill him" and make racist taunts but for everyone else, this is more of the same strange McCain that we've watched unravel in recent months. (CNN.com front page headlines toned down what McCain actually said and changed it to "crushed" rather than "whip" though at least the AP used the real words. There was even laughter on CNN about the choice of words.)

Republican John McCain vowed Sunday to "whip" Democratic rival Barack Obama's "you-know-what" when the two presidential candidates meet Wednesday in their final televised debate.

McCain made that pledge as top advisers said he is weighing new economic proposals to help the nation weather the financial crisis. The Arizona senator refused to answer a reporter's question Sunday about what plans he might be considering.

Addressing several dozen volunteers at his campaign headquarters outside Washington, McCain promised some of his signature "straight talk" about the state of the race. National and many battleground state polls have shown him trailing Obama amid the deepening market crisis.

"We're a couple points down, OK, nationally, but we're right in this game," McCain said to cheers. "The economy has hurt us a little bit in the last week or two, but in the last few days we've seen it come back up because they want experience, they want knowledge and they want vision. We'll give that to America."

Racism, hate and grasping at straws isn't what most would consider "experience" but there's a reason McCain has increasingly high negative ratings from voters. Read More......

Weekend sunset, Cabourg

Just back in from a weekend in the Pays d'Auge, Normandy. Somehow we managed to sneak in two of the 45 days (average per year) of full sun and perfect weather to celebrate Joelle's birthday. We even came back with apples from our friend's garden as well as a bag of fresh chestnuts to roast for our next meal. They aren't as pretty to look at but are full of flavor and much better than the usual shiny red, store bought varieties. We dipped our toes in the icy sea in Cabourg and then ran to dinner with friends, celebrating with a big plate of fruits de mer. Read More......

Obama reportedly raises record cash in September

Fun fun fun. Read More......

Conservative blog Redstate cofounder refuses to vote for McCain

The cofounder of one of the top conservative blogs, Red State, voted early in California for the bigoted anti-gay proposition rescinding the marriages of gay couples - wonder how he'd feel if someone rescinded his marriage - but in any case, he did vote against McCain. Perhaps McCain isn't anti-gay enough (though he really is). In any case, this is one more sign that McCain is in serious trouble. (Also note that he actually liked Palin at first, and now can't seem to stand her.) Read More......