Wishful thinking on your part, I'm afraid, driven by the common mistake of thinking other people pay attention and view the issues as you do (for instance, most voters couldn't tell you, nor would they care, that Obama was ranked the most liberal).

There is no evidence that voters are going to closely look at Obama, nor any reason to think that those who do will react negatively. Neither is there a reason to think that voters consider McCain the best option; Obama being ahead in the polls is evidence that most votes don't consider McCain the best option.

CY: I agree with you, though I don't believe that the average voter will think along these lines. Instead, I think the constant drone of negative polling results has turned McCain into an underdog, and the average undecided voter likes cheering on the underdog -- thus breaking for McCain. McCain wins with a razor thin popular vote and electoral margin.

For me, I just want to play a drinking game where every time a pundit says "racism" or "this isn't what the polls told us," it's time for another shot.

I should be staggering drunk by 9:00pm Election Night.

In either case I'm pretty sanguine. McCain campaigns far to the right of his record. So does Obama. So does every aspiring Democrat looking to knock off an incumbent of whatever party. The rhetoric of class struggle and entitlement seems quite dead while the reality of entitlement grows. Odd. Except that we know that the vast majority of folks give nearly NO attention to politics. Barry can run as a tax-cutter and deficit hawk while planning a new Greater Society. That cannot work and if it cannot, it will not. Finally Americans will get some real exposure to socialist realities. They will not like it. McCain is a late bloomer on many issues dear to the Righties. Is he a convert or, like Barry, saying what sells? In any case reality will intrude and sooner, not later. Even Hawaii could not make single payer healthcare for just children work. It was abandoned after just 7 months. The grandiose schemes of Obama or McCain, if he has them, will suffer likewise. One thing you never have to worry about with socialism is success.

It would be nice if you were right, but I'm not counting on it. I've pretty much resigned myself to a repeat of the Carter years at this point. If I turn out to be wrong, great -- but the conversations I've had with people recently suggest that most Americans don't follow politics in any depth beyond what they see on the T.V. news. And given that fact, they won't know ANY of the several good reasons not to vote for Obama.

Note that I'm not letting pessimism discourage me from doing my part. I've already voted in early voting in my district. (Yes, I voted for McCain). And you should too, whoever you are reading this -- don't let pessimism keep you from the polls. But I just don't think we're going to pull this one off, given how thoroughly the MSM has covered for Obama. :-(

As often happens..our neighbors celebrated the birth of their baby...
As often happens there is a gathering of family and friends. It just happens that the father is a naturalized citizen from India, and his wife is a direct decedent of slaves...
But...their baby is as cute as any baby.
I had the opportunity to talk with the mother's great-grandmother ...who was 85.
She understood how difficult is was to vote for a President of a different race. She had been doing it all her life. but she also said..
"If I can get over that..so can others."

As children we are often afraid of what is under the bed...or in the closet..then we come to realize...our fears are misplaced//
We are adult now...
Can you move beyond childhood fears?

If it were not for Palin, I would not even vote in the coming election.
As it is, I will be pulling the big R at the top of the ballot.

nogopostal, I am sorry--truly very sorry--that you have been unable to move beyond your own racism, but is it necessary to project your inadequacies and biases onto others?

I agree with you CY. I think McVain has a chance to win. Like 1sttofight, I will be voting for Palin.

I think that Joe the Plumber may have given the election to McCain with the concept of share the wealth.

In addition, people are discounting the residual in the US. I know for certain that a number of nursing home individuals who haven't voted in years are making the effort to get to the polls even if it kills them and the only reason is race. You might consider this wrong but Obama has played every card in the deck and has started the concept of class war.

If some neanderthals vote for McCain due to race I can live with it because it is beyond a certainty that millions of people are voting FOR Obama because of it. But I'm also tired of people using this as some kind of cudgel. Especially those morons Rendell and Murtha in Pennsylvania. You'd think Fast Eddie would be especially hesitant since the people he's pointing his finger at pulled the lever for Lynn Swann against him.

Awww............

Nogopostal, that was so sweet. Did you make that up by yourself? Or did the Obama campaign just tell you to post it?

Seminar Blog Commenter alert!

Bob, this means they fear you, and us!

"Obama being ahead in the polls is evidence that most votes don't consider McCain the best option."

Wow, aren't you a genius? What you're trying to do, as a loyal Obamaton, is depress the vote on our side -- nice try. Undecideds will go for McCain, and in significant numbers too:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/30/AR2008103004365_pf.html

Obama being ahead in the polls is evidence that most votes don't consider McCain the best option.

Then why did Obama underperform his poll numbers by as much as 8 points in the primaries?

Maybe the polls aren't really the predictor your wild Obamamania fantasies would have it.

The entire world demands that Barack Hussein Obama be the next President of the United States.

If the racists and Islamophobes steal this election, they will suffer the consequences of their actions.

The long struggle is at an end. Renounce your false religions. Embrace Islam now and live in peace in submission to the will of Almighty Allah (swt).

Your grandchildren will be Muslim.

Allahu akbar!

Hey American Muslim,

Have you guys ever lost an election you DIDN'T claim was stolen?

No, what is best for America is NOT a balanced government. What is best for America is government filled with men and women who are dedicated to preserving our personal liberties and national security. In other words, America needs a government with as many Republicans as possible--and I'm not talkin' RINOs.

Don't believe all the marxist propoganda the MSM is touting. It's all smoke and mirrors. It's like saying "Resistance is futile" so why bother. GO VOTE for McCain/Palin! Defeat the marxists and Islamic Jihadists. God has given you the liberty to vote. Sober up! This isn't a time to sulk in your beer but get up and resist the highjacking of our country. They played the same nasty game in the last election. This is the ultimate 9/11 if Barack Hussien Obama gets into office of the POTUS. Like the patriotic people of flight 93 resisted let's get up and vote and this in droves my fellow American people. Vote NOBAMA! Vote NO to every Socialistcrat trying to get back into office or is new on the scene. Their brand is seen on the sleeve of their marxist canidate which is godless and seething with hatred against this nation as founded by our fore fathers. Have no doubt this man will chum with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Russia, North Korea, China, Cuba, Venezuela and every radical group that's out there who hates the USA just as much as he does. Barack Hussien Obama is NOT JIMMY CARTER. He is far and away to the left of him. This guy sought after the likes of William Ayers and Rashid Khalidi and Jeremiah Wright. This guy was promoted into politics by William Ayers and it wasn't because he was "the nice neighbor down the street" but because he was like minded and a perfect demagogue to front their collective radical groups into office. Their not shy about openly calling themselves radical marxists and anarchists and jihadists nor ashamed of wanting to destroy the USA and Israel for good and laboring tirelessly for it. They're bringing down our education system, they're sabotaging our economy, they're infiltrating our goverment, they're in our churches. There is absolute zero morales with them and will do what it takes to hold power once seated. This isn't just another election. GO VOTE WHY YOU STILL CAN!

Bill,

Look at the email for american muslim, am@nowhere.com. Even just reading his post it was an obvious parady. Actually a pretty good one, IMO.

Our President is responsible for the defense and welfare of the nation. He wields enormous power and makes important decisions when no one is watching. We have a right to judge a Presidential candidate based on our level of trust and our faith in his integrity.

In my view, Barack Hussein Obama will do whatever he can to advance his personal ambition. He breaks the rules if he can get away with it. His word is worthless.

McCain's integrity runs off the page. I'm voting McCain-Palin

With over 70% of those polled refusing to answer any questions, it is reasonable to ask just how accurate these polling numbers reflect real voter intent.

Historically, conservatives were more likely than lefties to refuse to be polled. Getting a handle on that percentage currently is rather hard, since the people refuse to respond! Stories about McCain supporters being hounded by the press, assaulted by crazy Obama supporters, and persecuted by government officials doesn't help to increase the participation of conservatives either.

So it seems extremely likely that these trends might have Obama with as much as 7 fewer points in many states. And the concerted effort by Obama campaign and the press (but I repeat myself) to dispirit Republicans by skewing polls also would lead me to disbelieve the current poll numbers.

OTOH, maybe some of these poll numbers are based the Obama campaign adding a million fraudulent voters to the rolls...

Icono, let me share this bit from National Review Online (largely quoting Iowahawk) about just how un-scientific polling is:

You take a simple random sample of 1000 balls from an urn containing 120,000,000 red and blue balls, and your sample shows 450 red balls and 550 blue balls. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the true proportion of blue balls in the urn.

…Works pretty well if you’re interested in hypothetical colored balls in hypothetical giant urns, or survival rates of plants in a controlled experiment, or defects in a batch of factory products. It may even work well if you’re interested in blind cola taste tests. But what if the thing you are studying doesn’t quite fit the balls & urns template?

* What if 40% of the balls have personally chosen to live in an urn that you legally can’t stick your hand into?
* What if 50% of the balls who live in the legal urn explicitly refuse to let you select them?
* What if the balls inside the urn are constantly interacting and talking and arguing with each other, and can decide to change their color on a whim?
* What if you have to rely on the balls to report their own color, and some unknown number are probably lying to you?
* What if you’ve been hired to count balls by a company who has endorsed blue as their favorite color?
* What if you have outsourced the urn-ball counting to part-time temp balls, most of whom happen to be blue?
* What if the balls inside the urn are listening to you counting out there, and it affects whether they want to be counted, and/or which color they want to be?

(And what, I wonder, if all around you, every day, you are told by all of the coolest, hippest, prettiest balls that your color is mean, irrelevant, unpopular, un-cool, evil, old, incompetent and probably racist? Would you stick to your guns in the face of that, or keep your mouth shut and show ‘em when the curtain closes?)

I can't explain it better than that. And that's why, though I may take note of polls from time to time, I don't put a lot of stock in them.

Exactly, CCG. More correctly, there is little reason to believe the distributions of those refusing to be sampled matches the distributions of those willing to be sampled. Add in agitprop efforts from the Obama campaign hoping to use poll results as a way to depress McCain voter turnout with a liberal dash of press bias and you have a set of very unreliable results.

I think McCain is definitely in range of winning right now. Palin has really fired up the base and McCain--no matter how uninspiring and occasionally disappointing he can be--is anything but a quitter. I like what I see in both McCain and Palin as they have fought for the right to be elected. It compares very favorably to the increasingly reclusive and angry behavior of Obama and Biden.

Are you ready for eight years of Obama? Yes?
You're voting for Obama? Cool!

A vote for Obama is a vote for:
1. The war against "negative" liberties
2. A Heavier Tax Burden (for everyone)
3. Marxism & Socialism
4. Obama's Unsavory Friends
5. Unchecked Beltway Power
6. Disdain
7. A Charismatic Demagogue
8. 143 Days of pre-campaign Senate Experience
9. A Bonehead (paraphrased from Obama himself)

*Final Note: Obama is ahead in the polls. Sitting out the election is a vote for Obama. You don't even have to get out of your chair to help Obama win!

rightklik.blogspot.com

Jason

Another pair of reasons to vote for Obama:

1. We get a cool new paramilitary internal security force equal in strength and funding to the US Military. Love those brown shirts!

2. We get pay billions more for bogus green energy efforts while bankrupting coal and nuclear. Love shivering in the dark while I wait for my government check!

You have to read this blog:
http://stolenthunder.blogspot.com/

He analyzes the polls according to historical norms, not pie in the sky assumptions that the pollsters are doing this year...don't forget, pollsters have CLIENTS who pay them, so when you see NYT/Rasmussen poll, you can take that poll with a grain of salt.

Anyway, the analyst in the link above PROVES his numbers against historical turnout norms, and early voting exit polls show that turnout ratios this year are very similar to 2004 ratios. Yes, those youth voters that NEVER turn up at the polls aren't turning up this year too, at least not in the groundswell necessary for them to offset the PUMA's and the pissed off republicans.

The blacks are turning out higher than they did in previous elections, but increasing a 90% vote to 92% vote for an electorate that's only 20% of the voting population doesn't add all that many voters to BHO's numbers.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TURNOUT! BHO's strategy was to reduce the spirit of the conservative base, and with the selection of Palin, the older and wiser McCain threw them for a loop; she rallied the base and gave them hope for the future and they are booking on 4 years from now as she uses the VP to give her experience on the national stage.

So, just go VOTE and things will go our way!

The only people I know who are voting for Obama are Lawyers. Theirs wives, friends, others, are not voting for him, but most likey for McCain.

This concerns me when many lawyers express so much desire to stick two never-done-much-of-anything lawyers into a very high office.

As an engineer, I would not vote for someone just because they had a technical bakground. We probably need more people with technical backgrounds as too many lawyers have been in office.

Interesting thoughts on the coming election. I have a different thought on each candidate and how their actual plans would help the current and future crisis.
I believe I have not heard any mention from posters as to their personal thoughts on these subjects, but rather, comments based on rhetoric minus any facts. I get the impresion that most, or all, on this sight are well educated and would prefer facts from fiction, in making such a decision that would impact the whole country as well as ourselves.

See this election is about my daughters and their kids, not about me. I have worked long and hard to support my family and country, as most, and would like my country to return the favor, as I have.

I do not need a hand out, that is not what I am suggesting, but rather in representing my family to the world. It is no secret that our standing in the world has changed dramaticly, we have exposed our weaknesses internationally, and it's time to shift the focus domesticly.

I believe that in order for this to happen, we need diplomacy, not the military, in order to achieve any kind of success.

We will no longer be safe, 9/11 has shown us this, and the false illusion and belief that we can overpower to achieve this, is proving false. We succeed in only making things worse, by imposing our might on others, in the way that it was done. This will not gain respect of our friends or allies, only distance the ground between us.

EJ

I would take the time to take apart your inane argument, but instead I will let the election results do it for me.

That being said, though there are a lot of really ridiculous claims on this website, there is also a lot of well reasoned argument.

As a liberal (be warned this may be my vegetative state getting the best of me) I believe Obama will really reach out to Republicans despite having a majority in the house and senate. You wont see him claim that he has political capital and he intends to use it ( a la W).

Anyway, I know a lot of people who visit this site are likely going to be pretty mad tomorrow. Be mad, but then please try and encourage cooperation. Here is one liberal who hopes to work with you.

I can't wish your party good luck tomorrow, but I can wish you well.

This is coming from the middle. I consider myself a moderate that leans towards TRUE conservatism and TRUE fiscal responsibility.

If McCain had not picked Sarah Palin, I could've
taken him seriously. With that choice, I no longer can. He is clearly pandering to the religious base, which I personally think give the Republicans a bad name. Who can argue with political conservatism? No one. Its when you get the social conservatives or "theocons" in the mix that you alienate good people.

I voted for Barack Hussein Obama this morning and was happy to do so. Sarah Palin erased any doubts of my vote for Obama.