(Cross-posted at Clintonistas for Obama)
Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe had one of his periodic talks with reporters about his assessment of the state of the race. Halperin reports that Plouffe believes McCain’s challenges in Pennsylvania are daunting:
The Obama camp manager says McCain would have to win 15% of the Democratic vote, 95% of the Republican and 60% of the independent vote to take the battleground.
I am not sure how parts of this this will be received, but here goes.
The story of Powell and Todd.
Gallup is looking at early voting trends. It currently estimates that 11 percent of registered voters have voted. They anticipate that 19% of registered voters will have voted early by the time early voting concludes. Currently, 69% of registered voters intend to cast a ballot; were that to happen, this election would have unprecedented turnout.
(Cross-posted at Clintonistas for Obama)
(cross posted at kickin it with cg)
The AP is reporting that Malaysia’s main body of Islamic clerics has issued an edict today banning tomboys in the Muslim-majority country, ruling that girls who act like boys violate the tenets of Islam.
The National Fatwa Council forbade the practice of girls behaving or dressing like boys during a meeting Thursday in northern Malaysia, said Harussani Idris Zakaria, the mufti of northern Perak state, who attended the gathering. Harussani said an increasing number of Malaysian girls behave like tomboys, and that some of them engage in homosexuality. Homosexuality is not explicitly banned in Malaysia, but it is effectively illegal under a law that prohibits sex acts “against the order of nature.” Harussani said the council’s ruling was not legally binding because it has not been passed into law, but that tomboys should be banned because their actions are immoral.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a law or not. When it’s wrong, it’s wrong. It is a sin,” Harussani told The Associated Press. “Tomboy (behavior) is forbidden in Islam.” Under the edict, girls are forbidden to sport short hair and dress, walk and act like boys, Harussani said. Boys should also not act like girls, he said. “They must respect God. God created them as boys, they must behave like boys. God created them as girls, they must act like girls,” he said.
Council chairman Abdul Shukor Husin said the ruling was prompted by recent cases of young women behaving like men and indulging in homosexuality, according to the national news agency Bernama. He did not elaborate. Malaysian media have reported on recent incidents of school bullying among girls, which have been caught on film and circulated on the Internet. In one film, some girls are seen beating up another girl in a bathroom. A well-known Malaysian Muslim actress caused an uproar last year when she shaved her head bald for a film. Harussani and other muftis urged Muslims not to watch the movie, arguing that the actress had violated Islam by making herself look like a man.
Muslims make up some 60% of Malaysia’s 27 million people, and are subject to Islamic laws and the council’s edicts, even if the rulings have not been enshrined in national or Shariah law. As was noted, it was not immediately clear what kind of punishment awaited those who violate the tomboy edict.
Obama continues to enjoy a comfortable lead in this morning’s tracking polls.
Forget more stock market falls (for a moment). Always good to wake up to some happy news. No, I don’t mean the polls, which continue to show a constant improvement for Obama. No, I’m talking about the hilarious skit on SNL broadcast last night
That Tina Fey is uncannily like Governor Palin. And the answer to the question “Are abortion Clinic Bombers also Terrorists?” had me rolling in the aisles.
“Don’t know”
Comedy Classic.
This is so funny I just had to share.
According to Ben Smith on Politico, Joe McCain called 911 – why?
Because Palin had spent all the campaign funds on shoes?
Because his brother had suffered another attack of extreme Maverickiness?
Because a damned librul was threatening to steal the White House?
Barack Obama stopped in Indiana today on his way to Hawaii to be with his ailing grandmother. There were 35,000 Hoosiers who came out to see him.
John McCain has 12 news cycles to grab the attention and momentum from Barack Obama.
Or, does he?
The following is a wholly subjective break down of the news cycle for the next 12 days.
Being new to this diary malarkey, I figure I should introduce myself. I’m an 18 year old, the son of Moose Brit, and am currently in the USA working with Clean Tech for Obama.
It’s been two weeks, three days, and twenty three hours since I stepped off one of the fastest trans-atlantic flight I’ve ever been on (thank you Virgin) and onto American soil, to help in any way possible Barack Obama get elected.
Well not quite. I first had to brave the longest, most illegal immigration line in history. First off, a guy who didn’t speak a word of English had obviously not realised he needed to fill in Visa forms. Cue a would-be-funny-if-my-body-didn’t-think-it-was-3am moment where the immigration officer tried to explain to him what he had to do by pointing to the Russian language form, obviously without being able to speak a word of English.
Next, an elderly Asian woman tried to get into the country using only very bad English, and… her drivers license. I kid you not. She was promptly carted off to some anonymous grey room where she was probably hired as a Visa form writer, considering how confusingly they’re worded.
Anyway, after this rather strange welcome to the US, I hopped in a cab an arrived pretty quickly arrived at the apartment where I would be staying. I got out, paid the driver, walked up and rang the buzzer. No answer.
So, there I was. An