As DCH explained above, discussing Pennsylvania, the Democrats are going to turn out so many more voters that it won't matter if a few of them break for McCain. After 8 years of Bush, people are going to vote for change. The evangelicals won't turn out disproportionately either. McCain's not their guy.

Any pollsters who control for past voter tendencies will miss this. The Republican-leaners, who have voted at a higher rate in the last 2 cycles, will not turn out heavily this time. And remember, as people get used to the idea of Obama's electibility, they put their objections aside and vote their hopes, not their fears. By November, Obama will win 55 to 42, with 3 percent to Barr/others, and at least 400 electoral votes.

hit back, and tie him to bush.

More older, richer and lighter-skinned people vote to protect their position on top; more younger, poorer and darker-skinned people stay home because they're disallusioned. This election hinges on Obama inspiring a greater turnout from non-traditional voters. Therefore, McCain will do anything to drag the discourse in the mud. With enough slime coating, everyone starts to look the same; hence, why bother?

Yes, nationwide polls are essentially meaningless as it's the Electoral College that decides it. Winning by 20 million in California and New York, with their large non-white populations, won't matter if you lose all the "battleground" states. Note that because the EC votes correspond to the number of congressmen, INCLUDING senators, the small-population states are disproportionately represented; hence Wyoming gets more EC votes per person than California. These smaller states trend republican, mostly.

And then there's turnout. Non-whites are less likely to vote than whites, and young less likely than old. So Obama better be able to get to the polls those big crowds of young non-whites in places like Ohio, or forget about it.

As a longtime member of the U.S. Track and Field team (I was in race walking, and by the way, some the top Russian walkers were withrawn from beijing by the Russian Federation today for EPO), I follow these issues pretty closely and have been on the list for random, out-of-competition drug testing for years. I, too, have been pretty suspicious of Torres (have you seen her abs?!) but apparently she's cooperating with USADA with very extensive blood and urine testing to counter that perception.

What I wanted to say is that in the 1980s, some East German athletes planned pregnancies for a few months before the competition season, and then aborted them before racing, the theory being that the pregnant woman makes more estrogen, then naturally makes more testosterone too to balance it, and the testosterone was an ergogenic aid, a "natural" steroid. The downside is that estrogen makes the ligaments more elastic (so you can make room for the baby and push it out?) so pregnant women training hard would be a bit susceptable to injuries, but otherwise, the testostrone effect was a big help. Some drawbacks to pregnancy, in athletic terms -- you shouldn't get extremely hot (sauna, jacuzzi) and shouldn't raise the heart rate to extremes, but these are of no concern if you plan to abort. Also, no worries about taking antinausea drugs that could cause birth defects -- again, the baby is just a training aid like weight lifting or living at altitude.

Ghastly but true.

Try Fourt Winds for a political song, then Middleman for just a beautiful song

Both ads have windmills. One guy's a liar, the other's a dreamer. I'm voting for the dreamer, I just hope we're not tilting at windmills a la Quixote.

Too bad he didn't quit earlier instead of killing Bhutto.

Look, to all you who say this shouldn't be discussed -- it's the evangelical wing of the Republican Party that pushed McCain into picking Palin instead of Ridge or Lieberman because they're pro-choice. The same wingnuts who push publicly funded religious indoctrination that they call abstinence-only education. Looks like their abstinence only-approach doesn't work out so well. So now baby daddy, who doesn't want kids, has to get married because Miss Congeniality is running for VP. Better put down the stick and go to work at the cannery or pipeline.

The best theory I've seen, in the comments section at Fark, is that McCain picked Palin to appease the GOP just until the week is done. Then, safely out of town, Pailn can resign because her family needs her, and he can pick his Good Friend Joe.

I thought she'd step aside next week, as soon as McCain was safely out of Dodge, so he could pick Tom Ridge. Now I see that was typical Democrat thinking, caving to the attacks. The Repugs are full steam ahead with this divide and conquer shit. They knew what they were getting. They are appealing to people who think Harvard Law is a BAD thing, something to be ashamed of. Hopefully, only 49 percent in key electoral states are rednecks.

It's Yes We Can versus Hell Yeah!, or in Palin's case, MUSH!

Isn't that why he picked her?

just giving money could make it all better. I've given hundreds to Obama already. He's run a very tepid campaign since March. It comes down to who can fire up the American people now, and he's doing a lukewarm job of it.

Um, no, Mr. Secret Service Man Sir, I'm speaking satirically

Palin's church affiliation will bring in 5 new McCain voters for every one who switches to Obama. Let's face it, most of the secularists and college educated non-racists are already for Obama, but as Adlai Stevenson said, when the reporter told him he had the votes of most thinking people, "but I need a majority."

Thanks for the tip on getting auto-renewed. My subscription expires in 13 days. I went into my account settings and couldn't see how to turn on or off an auto-renew. I may have to email them directly about this. Plus, I never got my free gift magazines all these years. Bummer.