Everyone has a story, and here's mine.

I got to the polling place right around 8 AM... I was running a little late, but the line to the Ballantine VFW in Uptown, Minneapolis was two blocks long already.

Everyone in line was quiet, contemplative.  The sky was clear and blue, the sun warm on our faces as I... or rather we... reflected on where we had been as a nation, and where we were going.  

I closed my eyes and let myself go for a minute, basking in the  sunlight, wishing for a nap after this huge drain on my emotions, energy, and free time (during the primaries I was spending at least 2 hours a night on my favorite message board just catching up to all the day's political details).  When I opened my eyes, the line had moved up ten feet, but nobody behind me had said a word or even gotten agitated about it.

We have an enemy besides McCain and the Republicans, and it's not Barr or Nader.  

I work facilities for a major financial institution, taking calls from advisors and their staffs who are too hot or too cold, have spilled something, broke their desks, or the like.  Most mornings I take my break with some of the furniture guys; they're decent folks: blue collar fellas who are wary of politicians.

This year, though, things inevitably turn to politics, because it seems like it's all anyone ever talks about.  An older guy I sit with has seemed to be in favor of Obama, but I suspect that he just wanted him to knock off Clinton; the race issue quietly makes a difference to him and he sometimes gets his news from FOX.  We're all pretty respectful, for the most part, though, and don't let disagreements get in the way of our friendship or work.

Which brings us to today.  Today the manager of the furniture team was there, which is unusual.  He doesn't usually take breaks with the plebians.  When politics eventually came up, he was going on and on about how all politicians are crooks and liars who had no conception of the troubles of the average person, and that included Obama.  I said that that my research suggested otherwise and I wanted Obama to win, he laughed in my face, said, "I'm really sorry," and walked away.

I don't have a lot of time at the moment, but I thought that this article was remarkable as much for where it comes from as for what it says.

The Politico is a right-leaning website.  How right?  I couldn't really tell you (it's not as right as most of the people who fill its comment sections, seemingly), but Bush did an interview for them earlier this year, and Bush barely acknowledges the existance of the internet.  More significantly, though, they're pretty good journalists and I often go there when the sweet, cloying liberal bias of places like this blog or the Huffington Post threaten to override my sense that we need to keep working hard to ensure victory and, perhaps, landslide, for Obama.

That said, when Jonathan Martin on GOP starts to look like Ben Smith on Dems with good news for Obama and bad news for McCain, there's something going on.

Let's have a look at their explanation.

I got surprising hope for taking out ultra-conservative creationist Bush groupie, Representative Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) this morning from her challenger, Elwyn Tinklenberg:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced today that El Tinklenberg has been added to their top-tier Red to Blue program as a candidate for change. The announcement follows Tinklenberg's financial report which shows $469,000 raised in the third quarter and $1,000,065 raised this cycle. Tinklenberg filed with $356,631 cash on hand.

The DCCC suddenly took another look at Tinklenberg after realizing that his last three month haul was twice what he'd picked up in the last two quarters combined.  His problem so far has been that it's hard to get his message out.  Now he hopefully can.  We may have a race, people.

In my diaries, I've been following the Minnesota Senate race between Democratic humorist and friend of the late Paul Wellstone, Al Franken, and incumbant Republican beneficiary of relaxed lobbying rules Norm Coleman, but recently things just got weird.

Joe Lieberman (Himself-CT), former Democrat and McCain supporter, wrote an op-ed for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in which he extolled the virtues of Norm Coleman's position on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI).

Let's have a look at what he said and try to figure out what he's really saying, shall we?

Today's Rasmussen polling places DFL candidate Al Franken at 43% of the vote, incumbant Republican Norm Coleman at Coleman with 37%, and Dean Barkley, founder of the Minnesota Independance Party and comrade of former Governor Jesse Ventura, is coming in third with a respectable 17%.  For reference, Rasmussen has Obama leading McCain 52% to 45%, which might suggest to some that Barkley is taking 9% from Franken and 7% from Coleman, but I don't really think it's that simple, since both major party candidates' favorables are very low and, while I've been databasing for Obama, there's massive levels of undecideds in the Senate category, and even quite a few who are for Obama that still, mysteriously, favor Coleman for Senate.

Looks like someone either didn't do their homework or is covering for a lobbyist-sponsored candidate.

Full context can be found HERE

Man, these guys work fast.

Out of curiosity, I typed in "www.thatone08.com" in my web browser just to see if McCain's condescending gaffe... you do know the definition of "gaffe," right?  Telling the truth by accident.  There's little doubt McCain feels that Obama has very little to recommend him, if you look at their history together).  Combined

Anyway, so it turns out that somebody was damn fast in getting a site with "That One '08" merchandise up... is it Obama?  They do provide the address to the That One's website in their header graphic.