If Republicans think governors are so weak, why do they keep running for the job?

By Super Tuesday, Obama had 1,001 delegates to Clinton's 965. By the end of February, Obama's lead had widened to 1,289 delegates to Clinton's 1,130, and she was never able to close the gap after that. The entire rest of the campaign, Obama got 456 delegates to Clinton's 494.

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AL821A_MISTA_20080603194816.gif

The entire time Clinton was saying the superdelegates would swing the primaries in her favor, they were breaking more and more in favor of Obama.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/06/03/us/politics/20080603_SUPERS_GRAPHIC.html

Clinton's campaign had a fatal misunderstanding of how the Democratic primaries worked; they thought that whoever won a state got all of the state's delegates, and didn't understand that they were awarded proportionally. After February she would have had to win by increasingly large margins to make up Obama's lead in delegates, and she didn't. She basically had no real chance to win after February and it was dishonest to herself and her supporters to say she did.

(I was undecided about who I preferred until Obama's speech on race, for most of 2007 I thought she would get the nomination and win the election, and I would have gladly worked for her campaign and voted for her if she had been the nominee.)

President Bush failed to protect us from the 9/11 and anthrax attacks (which means he also failed to prevent attacks after 9/11). He himself defined anthrax as "a second wave of terrorist attacks."

1) After criticizing Obama all summer for not having enough experience, McCain picked someone who didn't have a lot of experience, undermining one of his best arguments.

2) Her claim to fame, "I told Congress thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere," was a lie. It's a nice line, but they should've checked its veracity during vetting. She undermined her own credibility in her first appearance.

Palin backed 'bridge to nowhere' in 2006

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-08-31-palin-bridge_N.htm

The Supreme Court ruled that secession is unconstitutional in Texas v. White (1869).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_v._White

Is that the same online community that raised a record-shattering amount of money and put him in the White House? It's pretty ungracious for President Obama to disparage the same community that's largely responsible for getting him elected. (I was part of that online community and I'm still a supporter, but his quip was rude.)

9/11 Commission: 1 year, 9 months. $15 million.

Whitewater investigation: 6 years, 8 months. $60 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_Commission

http://www.9-11commission.gov/about/faq.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/timeline.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater_controversy

McCain wanted to do 10 town hall meetings. Obama countered with an offer of five meetings, " town hall meeting, plus three traditional debates and an in-depth debate on foreign policy." (It's traditional to do three debates, but there's no requirement. Reagan and Carter, for example, only had one debate.) McCain refused the counteroffer, and they only had the three debates.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5837182.html

The 10 town hall offer was a gimmick, anyway. At the time, McCain was complaining about being ignored by the press, so would have been be a way to leverage Obama's popularity to get free coverage. Also, the town hall format was supposedly McCain's best format (although he didn't do very well in the town hall debate).

The problem is that she's at one social level and pretending to be at another. Ms. Main Street Hockey Mom spends a lot of time and money on Fifth Avenue. She's simultaneously denigrating elitist and acting like one. Joe the Plumber makes $44,000 a year, so she's spend over three years worth of Joe's salary on clothes.

Kerry had a much weaker electoral map on this day in 2004 than Obama does today:

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2004/Pres/Maps/Oct23.html

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Oct23.html

The national polls were much closer in 2004 than they are today, and Bush led Kerry throughout September and October:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/polls/usatodaypolls.htm

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/chart3way.html

Obama has led McCain the entire election except during the Repubican convention:

http://www.pollster.com/polls/us/08-us-pres-ge-mvo.php

(Pollster and RealClearPolitics use composite polls.)

Plouffe saw Alaska as "competitive" in the pre-Palin era

Several polls showed McCain with a three- to five-point lead in Alaska in August. The Palin pick put Alaska out of reach, but it was closer over the summer.

http://www.pollster.com/polls/ak/08-ak-pres-ge-mvo.php

Shortly after al Qaeda bombed two US embassies in Africa in 1998, McCain said, "Look, is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted?"

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/11/vest.html

"Certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." -- John McCain, 1999.

Do McCain and Palin not understand what pro-choice means? Palin told Katie Couric she'd "counsel the person to choose life." In tonight's debate McCain said, "It's got to be courage and compassion that we show to a young woman who's facing this terribly different decision." Hello! "Choose." "Decision." That's what pro-choice means!

McCain and Palin are running on a Republican platform that would ban abortion without any exceptions. Not for rape, not for incest, not to save the life of the mother. Why are they pretending that their position would allow women a decision?

According to the New York Times, Brokaw has "played a pivotal role out of public view, both within NBC and in its dealings with the campaign of John McCain in particular."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/arts/television/30brok.html

I guess you're a big fan of Daylight Saving Time. The election's on November 4.