In reading the first couple of pages of letters, I see that the football point was already made, ad nauseum :)

I'm sorry if this has been said, Rebecca--I didn't have time to read the thread--but isn't it possible that he knows that she, Michelle Obama, doesn't like football, so he said "Excuse me" to her? I don't know why you should extrapolate from that that he thinks no woman would like football. My husband could and should excuse himself if he's sitting in my presence and ready to launch into football talk, b/c I can't stand the sport myself. It would be rude of him to do otherwise.

You know what? I'm so effing sick of Rambling Rose and others who resent "the way the Obama campaign treated Hillary Clinton." I didn't even read this article but skipped right to the starred letters, which sometimes give me a hint about whether the article is worth reading. Usually the red stars are measured, thoughtful comments. Not this one. It's the same old diatribe of completely false accusations against the Obama campaign.

The Obama campaign did not mistreat Hillary Clinton. RR22, I remember you as a teacher in Ohio. What a shame. You have not exercised the critical thinking that we want to nurture in our children.

I'm rubbing my hands together in anticipation. She was fun!

Last time I heard that expression, I was hanging out in my friend's newly finished basement--wall-to-wall brown shag carpeting--in the 70's listening to Barbra Streisand's A Star is Born album and watching Love American Style behind my mother's back.

by not mentioning all the HRC-supporting letter writers on salon who insisted Obama was going to crash. Many of them have come into the fold, so it's counterproductive to mention them, but I couldn't help but think of some of them today.

that I've missed you while I've been loitering at O.S. these last months.

(Unless you're Beyond Blue Eyes, that site's resident dunce.)

Your poignancy makes my eyes sting. I can sense the hollow victory and pain coming through, and I just wanted to say I hear what you're saying. I can't relate--I am white and loved Obama from the start--but I had the luxury of being able to do that without the baggage that you carry from a legacy of suffering and mistreatment. I simply do not know what to say to you other than this: Obama has paved the way for your kind of black. I know it's not fair, but it was the only way. I don't think you should beat yourself up for the way you feel, nor do I think you should allow your feelings to fester into resentment. Maybe you should simply accept this result as bittersweet and let go. At any rate, your feelings are valid, and your thoughts well articulated. I appreciate your letter.

Condi has always fascinated me. Again, a hint of defensiveness behind that conservatism. It seems that we are all affected by race, and running from the predictable path seems to be the way some handle it. But the terrible context of race played a part in their lives and decisions, of that I am sure.

Always has. I can't figure him out. But I have always sensed a defensiveness in his conservatism. This was eloquent.

By the way, what's "card check"?

Is it just me or maybe b/c I live in a swing state? But I feel like all the salonistas shouldn't be blogging or reading the blogs around here. The campaign needs you! I'm getting desperate pleas for all-day canvassing around here, and we will be deployed to other locations around Cleveland as needed. I'm really asking: Is it not like that in the non-swing states? Even as I type this (1:26 am), the little ding of a new email comes in and I see it's our field organizer with the details of the plan for tomorrow, down to the nitty gritty. And desperate for more canvassers, so we're supposed to beg family and friends. That's why this post feels kind of frivolous to me.

Oh, and by the way, thanks, AKA Smith, for your support for Obama. It's nice to have you on board. I always wanted to be on the same side as you.

PS Even if you have not helped before, there's still plenty of ways to help on election day. Especially if you live in a swing state and can get the time off work, you should call the local campaign (look on the Obama website) and find out what you can do.

Thanks for supporting Obama. I appreciate your thoughtfulness in approaching this election. There is lots of contempt for undecided voters, but I find them much more reasonable this time around than the last two elections, where the candidates were more starkly different. I know it's impolitic to say around these waters, but Obama and McCain are not substantially different on some of the issues. They are both centrists of a sort, so being undecided makes some sense.