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Archive for September 2008

Nevada: Up Close & Personal

Proudly cross-posted at C4O

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Last weekend, I was lucky enough to see the state of the race for myself. I traveled to the heart of Battleground Country. Because Nevada’s 5 electoral votes are up for grabs and two Nevada Republicans may lose their House seats this fall, I wanted to do something to help. That’s why I packed my bags, took some spare change for my favorite slot machines (NOT!), and made sure my family in Henderson had an extra bed for me to crash on.

I went to Vegas, baby, and I’m giving you the full report on what’s happening there!

First Two Tracking Polls of the Day

Rasmussen has numbers out today that suggest Obama must have had a good day of polling yesterday.  For the first time in this poll, he moves past 50 percent:

Obama 51

McCain 45

Rasmussen observes that this is:

the first update with results based entirely upon interviews conducted following the first Presidential Debate.

They’ve Got the Fear

That’s right, the GOP is terrified. They’re skittish, they’re nervous, they’re running scared. Not from Obama, of course.

No.

They’re afraid of Sarah Palin.

Honestly, can we blame them? Her record is sad enough, but her performance in interviews is abysmal. Anything unscripted, and she’s in trouble. Here we have Ms. Palin seeming none too sure about what that mysterious “Bush Doctrine” might be:

Two Reactions. One Leader.

In light of the historic–and troubling–events that transpired on Capital Hill, I believe it’s worth looking at how our presidential candidates responded.  In a moment of crisis in which the people are anxious and Congress cannot overcome partisan bickering, how did Senator Obama and Senator McCain react?

Trillion Dollar Open Thread

The Bailout Bill failed today, the Dow fell a record 777.68 points – losing $1,200,000,000,000 ($1/second for nearly 40,000 years) in value, the whole thing has turned into a political hot potato and credit effectively ceased to exist.

Is this good?  Is this bad?

What else is on your minds?

What part of the difference between a spider and a bunny don’t you understand?

I read an interesting article in Newsweek last week. (For the article, click here.) It discusses a study among people, self-described as having strong political beliefs, who were shown a series of images, and had their physical responses to the images measured. The people who believed in a conservative agenda had a much more pronounced, visceral reaction to negative images (spider on a face, maggot-filled wound, etc.) than did those who believed in a more liberal agenda. (They also showed them nice images – bunnies and toddlers and such.)

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This made absolute sense to me as I read it. It explains why, when asked a direct question about the logic behind the war in Iraq, or health care, or the economy, Giuliani will form a sentence of “[subject], [verb], 9/11”. I watched the debate between McCain and Obama last week, and was ready to punch my beloved television, as Obama gave serious, reasoned answers, while McCain waxed poetic about how much he loves veterans. THAT’S NOT AN ANSWER! I felt really bad for Obama, because he had to weather the ridiculous tone coming from the opposite side of the stage and react to McCain’s non-answers seriously.