Current polls from right-leaning pollsters are showing Obama winning the election with 273 electoral votes (270 needed to win), and that's with MCCAIN winning BOTH Florida and Ohio (the states Karl Rove stole in 2000 and 2004, respectively).

Personally, I think Obama will win Ohio. Especially since most of the Ohio officeholders who helped Rove steal the state are now either out of office, in jail, or both.

But as a Democrat, nothing would be sweeter than to see Obama win the election without winning Florida or Ohio. That would render the racist repubs in those two states, plus Karl Rove, totally irrelevant.

And there is no worse fate in politics than irrelevance.

"-- and the next morning, as the ski-plane took off from the lake, the pilot pointed at the dark patch where I had not drowned and said, "Watering hole. The moose keep that open all winter."

That's exactly what Sarah Palin said when she flew over Ground Zero the other day.

There will be white people who might have otherwise voted for the Dem nominee (although probably not Hillary) who won't vote for Obama because he is African-American.

But there will also be white people who vote for Obama primarily because he is African-American. This group will cancel out many of the anti-black voters--not all of them, of course, but enough to keep racism from defeating Obama.

Race is a huge issue in this election, and in a better society, it wouldn't be. But race is also not a one-sided issue in this election.

I am a middle-aged, middle-class white male. I was eleven years old when the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, and I still grieve his loss to this day.

I am also a proud liberal Democrat. I stand with Obama, the Clintons, Michael Moore, et al, on almost every issue. (To add one more twist here, I voted for Hillary in the Dem primary.)

But I don't even think of racial equality as an issue. I think of it as THE most important factor in determining whether or not our society will survive the next 25 to 50 years.

So, while I would have voted for Obama anyway, I am proud to say that I will vote for Obama in order to cancel out one racist anti-Obama vote. I urge my fellow Democrats to do the same.

The majority of the American people may not be experts in the world of High Finance, but from what I'm hearing, they've already devised a simple and effective solution to all current and future financial crises: "Hey, republicans, quit stealing our fucking money and giving it to rich people!"

McCain's "postponing" of the debates is just another example of republican arrogance. Republicans think they can break ALL the rules. They don't even bother to make up excuses anymore. I'm sick of their bullshit.

One other thing: McCain should be on 24-hour suicide watch. Seriously.

It may be too late for tonight's debate, but if so, Johnny Boy, you can try this gambit in the 2nd debate (provided you show up): The first time Obama knocks your dick in the dirt, just look over at him, grin, and say, "Well . . . there you go again!"

I caught that, too. My gut reaction was that Obama should have played that card. But it was probably the better debate strategy on Obama's part to let it go. It was real late in the debate, and I'm pretty sure that Obama was playing his hand to finish strong and positive, and bring the focus back to him and his personal philosophy.

One thing that I thought was hilarious was when Little Mac started a sentence with, "When I got out of prison . . . . "

I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my face. I wish I could have been the moderator, just so I could have said, "Buddy, Did you just say, 'When I got out of prison'? Who the fuck are you? Merle Haggard? G. Gordon Liddy? Heidi Fleiss?"

As another poster said, I'd never make it as President of the U.S.A. President of the Friars Club, maybe, but that's about it.

Weak brain, sweeeeeeet pooper!

I hate (pun intended) to burst your bubbles, but this is nothing. You haven't seen real hate until you've been driving on a freeway in DALLAS, TEXAS in the late 1990s and seen a car with a bumper sticker that read, "Where's Lee Harvey Oswald When You Need Him?"

It'll either be the sadistic John McCain or the masochistic John McCain.

That's because Jose the Plumber's got his job now.

My answer to McCain's "Senator Obama, why didn't you run against W. 4 years ago?"

"Senator McCain, why didn't YOU run against W. 4 years ago?"

Actually, the Post was on Michelle's side on this one. They were trying to prove, once and for all, that the Obamas aren't Muslim.