He's a big, strong outdoorsman who once worked a blue-collar job in the oil fields. At the same time, he's a stay-at-home dad who supports his high-achieving wife's very public ambitions. While he's not exactly my type, I assume that his appeal comes from the rare (in the public sphere, at least) combination of perceived virility and sensitivity that he embodies.

Yeah, that type does it for me.

Todd Palin, specifically? Not so much. I like my big, strapping outdoorsmen to also have some integrity and to be responsible, patriotic American citizens (i.e., not to use their spousal relationships for personal gain or, say, to ADVOCATE SECEDING FROM THE UNITED STATES).

It is problematic for a publication like Salon, especially with its particular readership, to romanticize the sex appeal of people working in oil fields and other hard labor "blue collar" jobs (do we even say blue/white collar anymore?). First, it's sexist because female laborers are surely not exalted for their sex appeal. Second, it's all well and good to find strength and masculinity sexy, but until we start valuing the actual labor it is condescending to drool over the laborer.

That's an interesting point, and maybe it's true of some of the women posting here. But, um, actually, a lot of men get turned on by women who know how to use power tools, and--well, I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but girls with guns are just more fun. (Which is supposedly some of the mystique surrounding Sarah Palin--but I'm not sure she ever shot her own caribou, to tell you the truth--I think her father filled her tag.)

Your second point gives me pause, simply because in the environment in which I grew up, practical, manual labor in the public interest *is* valued over social power, prestige, advanced degrees, etc. So who do you mean by "we"? We as a society? We as college-educated, middle-to-upper-middle-class women? I mean, a lot of the men in my husband's family have been skilled laborers and soldiers, and they drink lousy beer and have terrible taste in movies, but I think I can separate that from the fact that they're strong, capable, smart, and kind, and that they instilled in my husband (a college professor) the need to work with his hands. Are you saying that most of the women posting here can't make that distinction? (This is a genuine question, and not rhetorical sarcasm.)

How many of them are from the U of Chicago?

Seriously.

When my husband decided to grow a beard, I made him get a beard trimmer and use it. I find his beard sexy, but don't want him looking like a mountain man. I've got co-workers with Van Dyke beards like Todd Palin's--in the Midwest, at least, they're the beard of choice for geeks--and believe me, they're pretty heterosexual.

I mean, where are Fox and Drudge on this? I tell you, that librul media...

I LOVE Duel! It really is an amazingly good movie. Spielberg's best, of course, is actually "Saving Private Ryan," but Duel was one of the first to really get under your skin with a faceless threat, so I'll give you a pass. This time.

My nieces "voted" in their swing state elementary school, the same one I attended as a child. The school always went heavily Democratic. This year, Obama won by a huge margin.

I think the girls liked the fact that they're the same age as Obama's little girls. But they were also voting the same way their parents, grandmother, aunt, and two uncles voted.

It's not that children have some sort of special well of wisdom and innocence--most children are little repositories of fear and misinformation and their parents' bigotries, a lot like low-information adult voters. (I like moose but have no problem with hunting them, as long as you're sporting about it.)

But it's because I was involved in the political process early on that for me voting is a kind of civic sacrament and I can't imagine sitting out an election.

Yes, yes, yes! Yes we did!

Studs could've made it a few more days, to see this. But he must have known it was coming. Maybe he knew his work was done.