I'm waaaaay past the "youth vote" stage, but I was a college student not too long ago (it's a family tradition, when in doubt, go back to school...but I digress).

Anyway, it's very likely that college students are slogging through midterms right now, and that's what uppermost on their minds until next week.

In the meantime, though, call every smart young person you know just to check. Do they need a ride? Do their friends need a ride? Do they understand what's at stake?

Seriously. This is the first (and probably last) time in my generation's political history that we have this opportunity to make such a positive, uniting change.

LNVU. (Leave No Vote Unturned)

the constant drip of new, contradictory data can make you really, really insane. Because let's face it, the only thing worse than no hope is false hope.

But here's the conclusion I've come to. Fact is, the media and the pundits HAVE to turn this into a close race, or they have nothing to talk about. I've seen polls from McCain-rabid TV stations (cough FOX cough) that have Obama with only 160 some electoral votes. Then I look at pollster.com or fivethirtyeight.com and go, WTF?

So you're right. We're being played. So all we can do is what we can do.

Volunteer. Make phone calls. Donate what you can.

And in the end, grab a bottle, hunker down, and pray for daylight.

Seek professional help. Seriously. No one should be as angry as you are, it's not healthy for anyone, especially you.

This is what happens when people don't travel outside of our country, or otherwise get to meet and work with people from other countries.

I can just hear her mental tape when he starts talking about his wife being "hot in bed," and it goes..."well those French people are like that."

I found it sad for many reasons, and I guess at this stage it's somewhat gratuitous. We all know she's desperately unqualified, and I fear her ruthlessness and lack of intellectual curiosity more than any other politician I've seen in my lifetime.

There is no headstart program to become the VPOTUS. She needs to go back to Alaska ASAP.

and it's not from Obama's camp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QIGJTHdH50

Long, but really uplifting, especially when the crowd gives him the first standing ovation.

As for the haters showing up here, really, you have a right to your opinion, but there are more effective threads for your arguments than this one. Here you just look mean-spirited.

Just realized that the video link I provided is already on Saturn Smith's blog (this is what happens when I try to do too many things at once).

Obviously, definitely worth seeing!

I believe that the answer lies in one word: fear.

Nothing is more powerful than the status quo. While the pundits like to suggest that Bush is McCain's biggest problem, I believe that for those who have voted for Bush in the past, McCain's highly similar physical appearance and policies represent, oddly enough, a comfort zone. Hey, all of our presidents have been middle-aged white men. Why change now?

In the face of economic instability, two wars and an ever-more fearful and inexplicable world, it takes a lot to take a risk. I believe that for many people, it's a case of "Better the devil you know..."

And for one of these folks to choose Obama means recognizing that their faith and their votes for the Bush administration was a bad investment. That the war might in fact have been a big fat mistake predicated on lies and misinformation. That "trickle down" tax cuts for the wealthy was a load of meaningless horseshit that just fattened the pockets of a lot of already wealthy people.

Now add the last year's worth of negative and fear-mongering campaign messages from the Republicans, it gets even harder. Add in the race issue...

Obama has had to run not only a strong campaign, but an outstanding campaign to be doing this well. For those of us who have faced discrimination in the past, this is nothing new. Those who are not of the "majority" always have to perform at a much higher level to be perceived as worthy.

He has done that. Whether you agree with his policies or not, no one can deny his accomplishment.