Five days left.
Well, barring recounts, lawsuits, fraud allegations...
How can one guy (me) be so stressed over one election? I've tried ignoring it, but it just keeps sucking me back in. I think I need to take a vacation when this is all over.

And this was just too funny to avoid posting.



Yes, I'm a dork. It's madness.

Hooray, Bears win.
I'm feeling kindof "eh" today. Everything's good, I just feel oddly sick...my head is swimming a bit and I feel like I can't catch up and wake up. I tried to get out of the house for a bit, but that didn't help too much either. Maybe I need a nap, maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was up until 4 AM...who knows.
As I mentioned in my last post, I was in Iowa with the bride-to-be Catharine on Wednesday/Thursday. It was a good trip. We drove into Waterloo, I got to see the country club where the wedding is being held, and got a glimpse of the kitchen so I could mentally set up the line and had a meeting with the chef and manager of the club to discuss the menu. Some things on the menu stayed, some left, but overall we're pretty happy with the menu.
I've been taking a look at some of the polling sites a LOT over the last week. I don't know what the folks over at DailyKos have been smoking, but their map has Obama winning Montana, North Dakota, and Georgia, as well as the very-close states of West Virginia and Missouri. I think that'd be the absolute best Dems could hope for, but I really think it's unrealistic. Maybe he'll take West Virginia and Missouri (fivethirtyeight has the chances of that happening at 41% and 64%, respectively), but I think it'd take a serious stroke of luck to take all five. Assuming wins for Obama in Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Indiana, and North Carolina as well (as dailykos does), this would put him at 401 electoral votes to McCain's 127, a number that hasn't been reached by any candidate since Bush in 88, oddly enough. I think a more realistic number is 375. Nevertheless, that's the idealist's best-case scenario.
The map is getting harder and harder for McCain. He needs to hang on to red states - and evidenced by the tightening in Missouri, North Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia, etc, etc, it's looking much more difficult for him.
On another note, Obama's going to be in Madison on Thursday at noon. We're definitely going. Apparently people from the restaurant are trying to contact his campaign to get him in for dinner with us, but it's incredibly doubtful (at least, in my opinion). But how cool would that be?

Just got back from Iowa - had a good trip, more details later.
The official description of this picture says "US Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reacts to almost heading the wrong way off the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at the conclusion of the final presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, October 15, 2008."
I think he briefly turned into a zombie. Judge for yourself.

I don't think ANYONE saw this one coming. So forget the projections I made a couple weeks ago. I don't want to say this one is in the bag for Obama, but it's getting pretty close. Remember, ANYTHING can happen in the next three weeks - so this is not over yet.
Since we talked last, Obama has pretty much solidified Pennsylvania (fivethirtyeight puts his chances of winning that state at 97%). He's also made significant gains in states that were either maybes or "never in a million years will go blue." (See: West Virginia).
27otowin.com lists the current swing states as Nevada, Colorado, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida.
But if you add up all of the states that the site has "solid blue," he's already got 264 electoral votes. Six short. If he wins any one of these states (except for Nevada, which only has five votes), he's got the election.
More numbers from fivethirtyeight - the chances that he will win each of these states:
Nevada 79%
Colorado 93%
Missouri 55%
Indiana 50%
Ohio 75%
Virginia 93%
North Carolina 62%
Florida 83%

So it looks pretty good. In fact, fivethirtyeight says it's 94.1% good. I'll take those odds.
Nothing's settled, though. Make sure you vote.

They were saying "Boo-urns!"

Whether it's the fact that the campaign "terrorist" rhetoric is falling flat in the polls or if it's that he honestly believes that the slander is dishonorable - regardless, it's good to see John McCain stand up to it.

Ugh.

Keating Economics - John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis

Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

From http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/05/politics/fromtheroad/entry4502743.shtml :

(OMAHA, NEB.) - Sarah Palin said at a hastily scheduled Sunday night rally in this solidly red state that the decision to come here was hers alone and was not the defensive move by her campaign to lock up Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District that many pundits have suggested.

“The pundits today on TV—one of them was saying, check out the vice president’s schedule, check out where she’s going — she’s going to Nebraska,” Palin said.

“But the pundit was saying the only reason she’d be going there is ‘cause they’re scared, so they gotta go there and shore up votes. And I so wanted to reach into that TV and say no, I’m going to Nebraska because I want to go to Nebraska.

Nebraska is one of only two states that splits its Electoral College votes, and the Obama campaign is making a serious play for the solidly-Republican 2nd Congressional District, which is represented by Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. But Palin suggested that the obvious political ramifications had nothing to do with her decision to come here.

“And you can ask — and probably the reporters will ask — the top dogs in our campaign why am I in Nebraska, and it’s truly because I asked to come to the heartland of America today,” she said.

Joe Sixpack rears his head

It's another lazy Sunday - coffee, baseball, rain. Yeah, I'll get out in a few. I think I deserve a little down time.
But for now...I finally watched the VP debate. I can't believe Palin WINKED at America. The whole thing was a little too down-home folksy for me. It's getting difficult to tell the difference between the SNL parodies and real life. It was so over-the-top-ridiculous - does she know she's running for Vice President of the United States?
That's all I'll say about that. It's image dump time.

Lol what.



Shut up, I'll post for real tomorrow.