Obama's Cabinet

Republican insiders close to John McCain are spending much more time in the campaign’s final days trying to pull off an upset victory on Tuesday than focusing on who might be in a McCain Cabinet. But sources close to Barack Obama have quite specific ideas about his most likely choices for a wide array of top jobs.

The list is heavy on campaign heavyweights and Washington insiders, many of them from the administration of President Bill Clinton. So while surprises can be expected to crop up — especially on any Republican members of the Cabinet — many of the selections would likely be proven hands who would provoke little controversy. Obama has not communicated his final choice on any of these posts but plans to move very quickly if he is elected, according to the sources. They point to the political price that Clinton paid for dilly-dallying on his appointments and nomination.

Obama could name his White House chief of staff within a week of his election, advisers say. Obama would also likely make a rapid announcement on an economic team in an effort to show command of the most pressing issue that would face him on moving into the Oval Office on Jan. 20.  Read Article Here.

With the possibility of a substantial presidential win and majority in Congress, Obama seemingly get whatever cabinet he wants.  He has chosen a pretty safe list of nominees.  This makes sense, but it would be nice to see a few surprises.

Last Time - McCain-Palin: Scapegoat

John McCain's campaign is looking for a scapegoat. It is looking for someone to blame if McCain loses on Tuesday.

And it has decided on Sarah Palin.

In recent days, a McCain “adviser” told Dana Bash of CNN: “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone.”

Imagine not taking advice from the geniuses at the McCain campaign. What could Palin be thinking?

Also, a “top McCain adviser” told Mike Allen of Politico that Palin is “a whack job.”

Maybe she is. But who chose to put this “whack job” on the ticket? Wasn’t it John McCain? And wasn’t it his first presidential-level decision?

And if you are a 72-year-old presidential candidate, wouldn’t you expect that your running mate’s fitness for high office would come under a little extra scrutiny? And, therefore, wouldn’t you make your selection with care? (To say nothing about caring about the future of the nation?)  Read Full Article Here.

This is the last time I will blog or repost on the topic of McCain-Palin and what went wrong.  I think I have made my point why I am voting for Obama.

Why Obama - Boris Johnson

Democracy and capitalism are the two great pillars of the American idea.

To have rocked one of those pillars may be regarded as a misfortune.

To have damaged the reputation of both, at home and abroad, is a pretty stunning achievement for an American president.

It would be tough for any candidate to receive the Republican baton from Dubya, and McCain can be proud of doing as well as he is.

His chief problem is that he does not seem to offer any hope of repair to those American ideals.

Or, to put it another way, it is not clear how America under McCain would recover her standing in the eyes of the world.

His chief selling-point is his grasp of foreign affairs, and his staunch belligerence in the pursuit of American interests.

Read Full Article Here.

Republicans v Democarts

versus

Not the most unbiased thing I ever posted, but whatever

The Election

I used to nod wisely when people said: "Let's discuss issues rather than personalities." It seemed so obvious that in politics an issue was an issue and a personality was a personality, and that the more one could separate the two, the more serious one was. After all, in a debate on serious issues, any mention of the opponent's personality would be ad hominem at best and at worst would stoop as low as ad feminam.

At my old English boarding school, we had a sporting saying that one should "tackle the ball and not the man." I carried on echoing this sort of unexamined nonsense for quite some time—in fact, until the New Hampshire primary of 1992, when it hit me very forcibly that the "personality" of one of the candidates was itself an "issue." In later years, I had little cause to revise my view that Bill Clinton's abysmal character was such as to be a "game changer" in itself, at least as important as his claim to be a "new Democrat." To summarize what little I learned from all this: A candidate may well change his or her position on, say, universal health care or Bosnia. But he or she cannot change the fact—if it happens to be a fact—that he or she is a pathological liar, or a dimwit, or a proud ignoramus. And even in the short run, this must and will tell.

On "the issues" in these closing weeks, there really isn't a very sharp or highly noticeable distinction to be made between the two nominees, and their "debates" have been cramped and boring affairs as a result. But the difference in character and temperament has become plainer by the day, and there is no decent way of avoiding the fact. Last week's so-called town-hall event showed Sen. John McCain to be someone suffering from an increasingly obvious and embarrassing deficit, both cognitive and physical. And the only public events that have so far featured his absurd choice of running mate have shown her to be a deceiving and unscrupulous woman utterly unversed in any of the needful political discourses but easily trained to utter preposterous lies and to appeal to the basest element of her audience. McCain occasionally remembers to stress matters like honor and to disown innuendoes and slanders, but this only makes him look both more senile and more cynical, since it cannot (can it?) be other than his wish and design that he has engaged a deputy who does the innuendoes and slanders for him. 

I suppose it could be said, as Michael Gerson has alleged, that the Obama campaign's choice of the word erratic to describe McCain is also an insinuation. But really, it's only a euphemism. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear had to feel sorry for the old lion on his last outing and wish that he could be taken somewhere soothing and restful before the night was out. The train-wreck sentences, the whistlings in the pipes, the alarming and bewildered handhold phrases—"My friends"—to get him through the next 10 seconds. I haven't felt such pity for anyone since the late Adm. James Stockdale humiliated himself as Ross Perot's running mate. And I am sorry to have to say it, but Stockdale had also distinguished himself in America's most disastrous and shameful war, and it didn't qualify him then and it doesn't qualify McCain now.

The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you to ask yourself: "What does he take me for?" Precisely this question is provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her—her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations—were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party's right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama's position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses.

It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them.

I used to call myself a single-issue voter on the essential question of defending civilization against its terrorist enemies and their totalitarian protectors, and on that "issue" I hope I can continue to expose and oppose any ambiguity. Obama is greatly overrated in my opinion, but the Obama-Biden ticket is not a capitulationist one, even if it does accept the support of the surrender faction, and it does show some signs of being able and willing to profit from experience. With McCain, the "experience" is subject to sharply diminishing returns, as is the rest of him, and with Palin the very word itself is a sick joke. One only wishes that the election could be over now and a proper and dignified verdict rendered, so as to spare democracy and civility the degradation to which they look like being subjected in the remaining days of a low, dishonest campaign.  Read Article Here.

McCain's Supporters Are Becoming Nasty

The unmistakable momentum behind Barack Obama's campaign, combined with worry that John McCain is not doing enough to stop it, is ratcheting up fears and frustrations among conservatives.

And nowhere is this emotion on plainer display than at Republican rallies, where voters this week have shouted out insults at the mention of Obama, pleaded with McCain to get more aggressive with the Democrat and generally demonstrated the sort of visceral anger and unease that reflects a party on the precipice of panic.

The calendar is closing and the polls, at least right now, are not.

With McCain passing up the opportunity to level any tough personal shots in his first two debates and the very real prospect of an Obama presidency setting in, the sort of hard-core partisan activists who turn out for campaign events are venting in unusually personal terms.

"Terrorist!” one man screamed Monday at a New Mexico rally after McCain voiced the campaign’s new rhetorical staple aimed at raising doubts about the Illinois senator: “Who is the real Barack Obama?”  Read Article Here.

C.R.E.A.M. - Bailout is Failing

After falling nearly 700 points within the first 30 minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average regained some ground, but continued to bounce between positive and negative territory. It is down about 5.8 percent, or 498 points around the noon hour. It fell below 8,000 briefly today for the first time since March 2003 after falling below 9,000 for the first time since June 2003 yesterday.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 fell 6 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 5 percent.

Wall Street is facing deepening fears about the financial crisis and its spillover to other parts of the economy. Traders have shrugged off drastic government efforts to address the problem, from a global rate cut to plans to buy bank's toxic mortgage debt. The Bush administration is now hammering out the final details of a plan that would allow the government to inject cash into banks in exchange for ownership stakes.  Read Article Here.

McCain - Grumpy?

It was a surprising rebuke from a politician who once was famous for palling around with reporters, and who was so media-friendly that he was sometimes known as “the senator from ‘Meet the Press.’” 

But what friends call “grumpy McCain” is showing up regularly on the campaign trail, and several top advisers worry that it’s hurting his campaign by making him appear peevish and hunkered down when the country is looking for a larger and more optimistic brand of leadership. 

After his first debate with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), both spectators in the hall and commentators on TV noted that McCain had deliberately avoided looking at his rival. 

A close McCain friend said the reason is clear: McCain is miserable about having to run a campaign that’s antithetical to his persona. 

“He is basically having to be somebody that he isn’t,” said the friend, who remains strongly supportive. “He is just not a guy that goes on the attack in public. For him to be on the attack constantly, attacking Obama’s character … McCain is uncomfortable with that, and it’s made him grumpy.”  Read Article Here.

I am not sure that if I were McCain I would want anyone describing me as grumpy.  The only times that I think someone is grumpy is either a child after a nap or a mean spirited old man.

Palin - Insane and Irrational

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a McCain confidant, told The Post's David Broder that the campaign would "go down in history as stupid if they don't unleash" Palin. Well, the self-identified pit bull has been unleashed -- if not unhinged.

Barack Obama, she told 8,000 fans at a rally here Monday afternoon, "launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist!" This followed her earlier accusation that the Democrat pals around with terrorists. "This is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America," she told the Clearwater crowd. "I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country." The crowd replied with boos.

McCain had said that racially explosive attacks related to Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, are off limits. But Palin told New York Times columnist Bill Kristol in an interview published Monday: "I don't know why that association isn't discussed more."  Read Article Here.

Who believes her and why does anyone support her?

Rove on Obama

With 30 days until Nov. 4, Karl Rove projects that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would get at least 273 electoral votes – three more than are needed to win – if the presidential election were held today.

But Rove warns that this race is “susceptible to rapid changes,” so no definite prediction is possible.

The remarkable forecast from the architect of the last two nationwide political victories underscores the straits that have rapidly enveloped Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as the banking and credit crisis spread.  Read Article Here.

Interesting to hear Rove say that Obama would win if the election were today.  Wonder what the strategy is behind this claim.  Probably trying to ensure that the Republican base will vote on November 4, and try to get Democrats to feel that Obama has already won the race.

Palin Bringing Race Into the Campaign

First, Palin's attack shows that her energetic debate with rival Joe Biden may be just the beginning, not the end, of a sharpened role in the battle to win the presidency.

"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain's ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday.

"This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America," she said. "We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."

Obama isn't above attacking McCain's character with loaded words, releasing an ad on Sunday that calls the Arizona Republican "erratic" _ a hard-to miss suggestion that McCain's age, 71, might be an issue.  Read Article Here.

Obama can not help the color of his skin, just like McCain can not help the fact that he is 71.  Having said that, being black does not carry lasting health concerns the way old age does.  Palin is going to regret making these comments.

Obama and McCain Battle for States

The turmoil on Wall Street and the weakening economy are changing the contours of the presidential campaign map, giving new force to Senator Barack Obama’s ambitious strategy to make incursions into Republican territory, while leading Senator John McCain to scale back his efforts to capture Democratic states.

Mr. Obama has what both sides describe as serious efforts under way in at least nine states that voted for President Bush in 2004, including some that neither side thought would be on the table this close to Election Day. In a visible sign of the breadth of Mr. Obama’s aspirations, he is using North Carolina — a state that Mr. Bush won by 13 percentage points in 2004, and where Mr. Obama is now spending heavily on advertisements — as his base to prepare this weekend for the debate on Tuesday.

By contrast, Mr. McCain is vigorously competing in just four states where Democrats won in 2004: Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, followed by Wisconsin and Minnesota. His decision last week to pull out of Michigan reflected in part the challenge that the declining economy has created for Republicans, given that they have held the White House for the last eight years.  Read Article Here.

McCain Losing Virginia?

Virginia Republicans are warning that John McCain's prospects for winning a state that has been in the GOP column in every presidential election since 1964 could be in jeopardy. With Barack Obama treating the Old Dominion like a battleground state and reliable polls showing a margin-of-error race there, some are cautioning that McCain is making a critical mistake by allowing the Democratic nominee to outpace him in terms of visits and resources committed.

The two best indicators of which states the campaigns are serious about – time and money – tell the story.

Since wrapping up the Democratic nomination in June, Obama, his wife, Michelle, and his running mate Joe Biden have visited the commonwealth a combined 12 times. The candidate himself was in the Tidewater city of Newport News Saturday.

Obama is also plowing millions into Virginia, blanketing the airwaves with TV and radio ads, filling up mailboxes with leaflets and, along with the state party, operating 49 campaign offices.

Together, McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have held just one campaign event in Virginia. And the campaign has taken its ads off the pricey Washington, D.C. network affiliates that reach into the entire swath of the Northern Virginia, the commonwealth’s most populous region.  Read Article Here.

The Race in Three Mins

Recap of the Presidential Race in Three Minutes

Republican Senate Races

January 2009 could bring Democrats a dominance over Washington that neither party has experienced since the Reagan years.

The possibility that Democrats will build a muscular, 60-seat Senate majority is looking increasing plausible, with new polls showing a powerful surge for the party’s candidates in Minnesota, Kentucky and other states.

A poll out Friday shows Sen. Norm Coleman could now easily lose his Minnesota seat to comedian-turned-candidate Al Franken. A Colorado race that initially looked like a nail-biter has now broken decisively for the Democrats. A top official in the McCain camp told us Sen. Elizabeth Dole is virtually certain to lose in conservative North Carolina.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has seen his race tighten dangerously close over the past week — and Democrats are considering moving more money into the state very soon. And there is even talk that Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss is beatable in conservative Georgia after backing the economic bailout package opposed by many voters.

“Before the economic crisis, we had a number of races moving our way,” said Matthew Miller, communications director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “But now we’re seeing Republican numbers plummet.” GOP officials largely agree.  Read Article Here.

Last Night/This Morning - the Debate

Palin claims that a good barometer for economic climate is a kids soccer game. I must have missed that chapter in economics. 

Palin - Predator Lenders...who deceived the public and there is greed on Wall Street

Joe Six Pac and Hockey Mom's banding together, who demand strict oversight. It is not the American peoples fault that the economy is hurting.

Really? Cause I think that the American People did not think about spending and the future.

Biden - McCain did not know about sub-prime mortgages. Called for more deregulation. Wants to deregulate the health care industry.

He is doing exactly what he should be doing, attacking McCain. Palin has not said a single new idea just regurgitating McCain sound bites.

The buzz word for the night. Palin will not comment on it but will continue to hammer away on the idea that Obama-Biden support higher taxes. 

Taxes are certainly a divide tonight. Biden is calling the tax increase on people making more than $250,000. That is more than the middle class is making by far.

After what Palin has already has said I have to drink.

Wow Biden can't speak

Blog Later

Cheers

So those were last night's posts.  I stand by them.  Anyway I thought the debate went well for everyone but McCain.  Palin was able to demonstrate that she is more than just a pretty face.  Biden kept the spot light on McCain and his failed policies, while able to defend and promote Obama.  Palin was not able to explain why McCain was the right choice for the country.  It was interesting to hear Palin debate because she frequently refused to answer the question.  I don't think it really did much to persuade people but maybe I am wrong.

Bizzare

This is pretty bizarre but enjoyable:

Not sure who would think to mash-up Bollywood and Obama, but here it is.

Enjoy!

Strategy for Palin and Biden

The debate is tonight and everyone is giving their two cents.  Well here is mine:

Palin

• Time to demonstrate that you are in fact smart, charming, and an agent for change.  Brush off the interviews as strategy for lowering expectation for the debate.  Use Biden's past against him.  He has been in Washington longer than McCain.  If Obama really wants change why did he pick such a safe choice?  For all of his foreign policy credentials, he voted for the war in Iraq.  Try to paint him as out of touch with working class Americans, who embrace you.  You are a tough woman, who scores well in the key states of Ohio and Iowa.  Take those two states and the election is once again too close to call.  Also Biden is known for his gaffes, if he says one tonight, Jump on it.  

Biden

• You are a six term senator, head of the foreign relations committee, you helped create the Violence Against Women Act and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, you served as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and seem to be an otherwise decent guy.  What does all this matter?  This woman is not fit to hold your papers.  You have been at this far longer than she even be remembered.  You have experience and facts on your side. You have authored more and better legislation than McCain has.  You should focus on McCain and his problems.  Do what Obama has not been able to do, hit McCain and Palin hard and often.  Don't shy away or look down.  Ask the questions millions of Americans are asking: how the hell can you claim that the war is a success, what is your solution for the economy, and what the fuck makes you think you are prepared to take office, you were barely able to run a town the same size as my high school?  Don't worry about coming off as elitist or talking down to her, you are going to be painted that way no matter what.  Might as well take advantage of it.

Palin's Strategy

Sarah Palin plans to go on the attack in tonight’s debate, hitting Joe Biden for what she will call his foreign policy blunders and penchant for adopting liberal positions on taxes and other issues, according to campaign officials involved in prepping her for tonight’s showdown. 

The Palin camp is projecting surprising self-confidence in the pre-debate hours, despite the vice presidential nominee’s uneven — and, at some points, peculiar — performances in recent television interviews, the officials say. Top advisers to John McCain privately say Palin’s recent CBS interview was a borderline disaster, especially since it played out in several segments over several days. Tonight will be different, they say. 

“This is going to finally put her back into a position where we see her like we saw her the first couple weeks,” a McCain official said. “She was herself. She was authentic, and people related to that. ... Tonight, she’ll get into a rhythm. You’re going to see her in a way that you haven’t seen her yet.”

By contrast, Biden plans what an aide calls "a just-the-facts, prosecutorial approach laying out the case against McCain and defending Obama." The aide said Biden will be "keeping the eye on the target, which is McCain."  Read Article Here.

McCain Out of Michigan

John McCain’s decision to cancel a campaign event in Michigan next week was not a matter of scheduling: Mr. McCain is giving up his effort to take the state back into the red column, concluding that economic distress there has simply put the state out of reach, according to Republicans familiar with the decision.  Read Article Here.

I am surprised McCain has pulled out of Michigan.  It is one of the swing states, I thought, he could grab.  Even with the economy being the main concern, McCain seemed like he had a chance to take it with his American Warrior rhetoric. If he won Michigan, I think it would put Ohio within his reach.

The Descent of Palin?

Tonight's heavily anticipated debate comes just five weeks after the popular Alaska governor entered the national spotlight as Sen. John McCain's surprise pick to be his running mate. Though she initially transformed the race with her energizing presence and a fiery convention speech, Palin is now a much less positive force: Six in 10 voters see her as lacking the experience to be an effective president, and a third are now less likely to vote for McCain because of her.

A month ago, voters rated Palin as highly as they did McCain or his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, but after weeks of intensive coverage and several perceived missteps, the shine has diminished.

Nearly a third of adults in a new poll from the Pew Research Center said they paid a lot of attention to Palin's interviews with CBS News's Katie Couric, a series that prompted grumbling among some conservative commentators about Palin's competency to be the GOP's vice presidential standard-bearer. The Pew poll showed views of Palin slipping over the past few days alone.  Read Article Here.

McCain 100% Truth, 100% False

McCain has recently boasted about speaking 100% truth. This is untrue. No one ever speaks 100% truth.  Over at Politico they round up the biggest lies and untruths.  Check It Out Here.

Biden's House

Mr. Biden certainly can trace his roots to the working-class neighborhoods of Scranton, Pa., and Claymont, Del., where he was raised. But these days, his kitchen table can be found in a 6,800-square-foot custom-built colonial-style house on four lakefront acres, a property worth close to $3 million.

Although he is among the least wealthy members of the millionaires club that is the United States Senate — he and his wife, Jill, a college professor, earn about $250,000 a year — Mr. Biden maintains a lifestyle that is more comfortable than the impression he may have given on the campaign trail. A review of his finances found that when it comes to some of his largest expenses, like the purchase and upkeep of his home and his use of Amtrak trains to get around, he has benefited from resources and relationships not available to average Americans.

As a secure incumbent who has rarely faced serious competition during 35 years in the Senate, Mr. Biden has been able to dip into his campaign treasury to spend thousands of dollars on home landscaping and some of his Amtrak travel between Wilmington, Del., where he lives, and Washington. And the acquisition of his waterfront property a decade ago involved wealthy businessmen and campaign supporters, some of them bankers with an interest in legislation before the Senate, who bought his old house for top dollar, sold him four acres at cost and lent him $500,000 to build his new home.  Read Article Here.

Worst Script of Cribs Ever.

Clinton vs Palin

But Palin's gender is at the center of another set of reactions I've been hearing and reading among women who don't support her ticket, filled with ambivalence over how bad she is. Laugh at the Tina Fey parodies that make Palin ridiculous just by quoting her verbatim. And then cry. When Palin tanks, it's good for the country if you want Obama and Biden to win, but it's bad for the future of women in national politics. I'm in this boat, too. Should we feel sorry for Sarah Palin? No. But if she fails miserably, we might be excused for feeling a bit sorry for ourselves.

Palin is the most prominent woman on the political stage at the moment. By taking unprepared hesitancy and lack of preparation to a sentence-stopping level, she's yanking us back to the old assumption that women can't hack it at these heights. We know that's not true—we've just watched Hillary Clinton power through a campaign with a masterful grasp of policy and detail. Clinton lost in part because she was the girl grind. Complex sentences, the names of Supreme Court cases, and bizarre warnings about foreign heads of state invading our airspace weren't her problem. The fear now is that Palin is the anti-Hillary and that her lack of competence threatens to undo what the Democratic primary did for women. Palin won't bust through the ceiling that has Hillary's 18 million cracks in it. She'll give men an excuse to replace it with a new one.  Read Article Here.

It is hard to argue with this piece.  Palin is the anti-Clinton.  Hillary Clinton is academic, well spoken, has the best education possible, and probably was President during Bill's impeachment trial.  She pissed off Republicans, and just about everyone else, because she was so accomplished and is able to beat men at their own game.  She is a high end brand, only something the elite and powerful get to enjoy and understand.  Palin, on the other hand, comes off as pedestrian, has fallen apart in interviews, went to five colleges that are not known for academics, and has no experience in government.  Before she became Mayor and Governor, she was a beauty queen and a TV personality.  Unfortunately this seems to sum up women in media right now: the librarian vs the playboy bunny.

India - A Nuclear Power

The Senate last night approved a historic agreement that opens up nuclear trade with India for the first time since New Delhi conducted a nuclear test three decades ago, giving the Bush administration a significant foreign policy achievement in its final months.

The bill, which passed 86 to 13, now goes to President Bush for his signature, handing the chief executive a rare victory that both advocates and foes say will reverberate for decades. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who first conceived of the deal, have pushed hard for it from the earliest weeks of the president's second term.

The agreement, which sparked fierce opposition from nuclear proliferation experts, acknowledges India as a de facto nuclear power, even though it has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. India until now has been barred from worldwide nuclear trade, leaving its homegrown industry hobbled and short of uranium fuel to run its reactors. The administration said that the deal would bring a substantial portion of India's nuclear industry -- though not the facilities that produce materials for weapons -- under international observation.

Supporters, moreover, argue that the deal will help India become a responsible world power and will forge ties between two large democracies that have had an antagonistic relationship in the past. With an agreement in hand, India has said it plans to spend $14 billion on reactors and other nuclear equipment next year, though France and Russia are also expected to be key suppliers.  Read Article Here.

I have to imagine both McCain and Obama voted for this bill for different reasons.  McCain because he supports nuclear energy.  Obama because he knows that if he attacks al-queda, then he will have to go into Pakistan, and if he goes into Pakistan he better be supported by India.

Bailout - Passed in the Senate

In stark contrast to the House rejection of the plan on Monday, a bipartisan coalition of senators — including both presidential candidates — showed no hesitation in backing a proposal that had drawn public scorn, though the outpouring eased somewhat after a market plunge followed the House defeat. The Senate margin was 74 to 25 in favor of the White House initiative to buy troubled securities in an effort to avoid an economic catastrophe.

Only Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is being treated for brain cancer, did not vote.

The presence in the Senate of both presidential candidates in the final weeks of the campaign gave weight to the moment. The political tension was clear as Senator Barack Obama walked to the Republican side of the aisle to greet John McCain, who offered a chilly look and a brief return handshake.

Mr. McCain did not make remarks on the legislation. Mr. Obama, in his speech, said the bailout plan was regrettable but necessary and he referred to the stock market drop after the House vote. “While that decline was devastating, the consequences of the credit crisis that caused it will be even worse if we do not act now,” he said.  Read Article Here.

This should help the market tomorrow.  It would surprise me if the House did not pass it.

VP Debate - Social Issues

It seems unlikely that social issues will be discussed this debate with all the economic and foreign turmoil going on currently.  If they are discussed though it should be interesting.  Slate has gathered up past answers Biden and Palin have provided on gay marriage, abortion and more.  Check it out here.

Incase you are tired of Classic and Indie Rock

Jay-Z will preform a pair of free voter registration shows in the swing states of Florida and Michigan.  I would guess he supports McCain, since the two share so much in common and McCain mentions that he has HOVA on his ipod, but I could be wrong.  Read About it Here

Bailout Redux - More Info

To calm voters fearful of bank failures, the $100,000 cap on federal insurance for deposits would also be raised to $250,000—a concession backed by both parties but also aimed at community banks who can be helpful in building small town support for the larger bill.

With each permutation, the bill has steadily grown in size. Treasury’s initial plan was about three pages long. The House version, which failed, stretched to 110. The Senate substitute now runs over 450 pages. And tucked away in the tax provisions is a landmark health care provision demanding that insurance companies provide coverage for mental health treatment—such as hospitalization—on parity with physical illnesses.

Really a bill onto itself, the mental health parity measure has been a bipartisan priority for top lawmakers in both chambers but has stalled because of disagreements again over how to pay for its estimated $3.8 billion five-year cost. In the current climate, that seems to be no longer a stumbling block, and if the Treasury plan becomes law, it will also.  Read Article Here.

I like the idea of adding to the bill to help Americans.  The new bill has provisions for mental health and education.  I do not like the fact that it will add several Billion dollars to the deficit. I am not sure this bill will pass the House.  It sounds like it will certainly pass the Senate, but there is a lot in this new bill that both Democrats and Republicans will dislike.

Early Voting

Yesterday opened Ohio's unusual week-long window in which voters can register and cast absentee ballots at the same time. Hundreds arrived in steady streams, part of a first wave of people already voting across the country, five weeks before Election Day.

Given Ohio's pivotal role in presidential races, its one-stop registration and voting drew attention -- and legal challenges.

But nationally, early voting, by mail or in person, is becoming more common and is likely to account for one-third of all votes cast in the November elections, up from 14 percent in 2000, predicts Paul Gronke, a researcher with the Early Voting Information Center in Portland, Ore.

That projection tracks with growth that three other election analysts have noted, with the rate of early voting rising from 20 percent in 2004 to 25 percent in 2006. Experts and state election officials have followed the growth in early voting for more than a decade.  Read Article Here.

Tossup States, Swing States, and You

You've heard of most of the battleground states before. Ohio and Florida are the two most famous, making all of the other swing states jealous because they've had movies made about them. Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico are also among the traditional swing states that have supported candidates from both parties in recent elections.

The number of battleground states is not fixed. Different news organizations have varying counts. NBC, CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Mark Ambinder, and Pollster.com, all see it slightly differently. The slight distinction among the different analysts is about which new states will be accorded the coveted "swing state" title and which traditional swing states should fall off the list. Indiana and North Carolina are new states flickering in the desirable "tossup" category, whereas Iowa, a state George W. Bush won in 2004, appears to be headed out of McCain's reach.

To determine the states that are truly competitive, we start with the states that historically have been close and then look at the current polls, which are now quite favorable for Obama. Statewide polls can be unreliable, though, because of small samples and crazy methodology, so analysts also look at other cues like party registration. If the party that is traditionally the underdog is signing up lots of new voters—perhaps enough to make up for the 2004 margin—it might hint that the state is really in play. In traditionally red Colorado, for example, Democrats have seen the number of registered voters grow. It's also worth checking who or what else is on the ballot: Anti-union initiatives in Colorado might help McCain, while popular candidates like Mark Warner, who is running for Senate in Virginia, might help Obama.  Read Article Here.

Republican Party - RIP?

Percentagewise, the Sept. 29 crash was one-third the size of Black Monday, the stock-market crash of Oct. 19, 1987. As I write, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen more than halfway back up (though stock prices remain volatile). It's still possible to believe that the economy will return to normal in a year or two. For Republicans, though, the events of Sept. 29 could well be remembered as the start of a decadeslong exile from power—much as Democrats remember Nov. 4, 1980.

That's not to say that John McCain is certain to lose this year's election to Barack Obama. As I've noted before, this race has experienced so many abrupt reversals that we're all starting to suffer from "game-changer" fatigue. At the moment, though, things seem to be going the Democrats' way, with Obama up five or six points in national polls and swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Missouri trending toward him. Meanwhile, the GOP has virtually no hope of retaking Congress; indeed, it's projected to lose seats in both the House and the Senate. Even if McCain wins, his past record of unpredictability combined with the likely imperative of working with a Democratic Congress suggest he'll spend much of his time fighting with members of his own party. That would seem especially likely given the current banking crisis, which has forced the Bush administration, the House and Senate leadership of both parties, and McCain himself to practice lemon socialism.  Read Article Here.

Bailout Redux

In what is shaping up to be yet another historic vote, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain will return to Washington for a late Wednesday night vote. 

But unlike the tumultuous House vote, the Senate roll call is expected to go more smoothly. While nothing is a slam dunk at this point, there is an expectation on both sides of the aisle that the bailout could receive 60 votes in the Senate, enough to overcome any potential filibuster. 

The decision to hold this vote Wednesday in the Senate comes after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) spent much of the day pressuring the Senate Democrats to put the bill on the schedule. Late Tuesday, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) relented and agreed to schedule the vote after sundown on Wednesday, when Rosh Hashana ends. 

“The voters sent us here to respond to crises, not to ignore them," McConnell said. "And if you fail the first time, you get back up, and you work with each other.”  Read Article Here.

Not sure if I support this new legislation.  It added tax breaks for businesses and does not pay for revenue increases.  I think that we should stop giving business so many tax breaks, especially the ones that we have to bailout.

Palin and the Debate

Yet a review of Palin's experience during her 2006 campaign for governor, when she engaged in a long series of debates with her opponents, suggests she is a more formidable adversary than is widely thought.

Unlike her opponent Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, who has considerable presidential-level debate experience, Palin has never been involved in a debate where the questions were national and global in scope.

But she is familiar operating in a high-stakes debate environment against older, more seasoned pols who seemingly have better command of the issues.

In 2006, with no experience as a statewide officeholder, Palin ran what amounted to a debate gauntlet, beginning in the Republican primary against incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski and former state Sen. John Binkley, and then in the general election, against former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles and former state Rep. Andrew Halcro, an independent.

Against that experienced opposition, Palin proved herself to be a comfortable and confident debater, not exactly deeply versed in the issues but unusually adept at dodging controversy and quick to take advantage of opponents' missteps. Not one to throw an unnecessary punch, Palin took a patient approach, waiting for her rivals to expose their weak points - and then striking fast.  Read Article Here.

At this point, I think I know more about Palin than Biden.  The media has focused on Palin but largely ignored Biden.  I know that Biden has lots of foreign policy experience, has been in Washington almost as long as McCain and is a Senator from Delaware, other than that I do not know much.  He is a big reason why I am watching the debate.  I want to see what he brings to the table.