Elections

Are certain pollsters trying to drive the narrative instead of being honest?

I am not sure whether all polls should be taken at face value. I've been quite suspicious ever since I saw the ridiculous PPP national poll - 
Romney 23, Santorum 38, Gingrich 17, Paul 13  - from 2/11. It was not even close to the 2 other major national polls. Fox News from 2/10 has 
Romney 33, Santorum 23, Gingrich 22, Paul 15 , while Gallup Tracking has been in the field every day and on 2/12 is showing 
Romney 34, Santorum 27, Gingrich 16, Paul 8 .

My Kind of Conservative: Mark Sanford

...only he doesn't seem like a real conservative in common usage of the term. (He seems more like the L word ;))

The governor from South Carolina has credentials...at least on a cursory level...to get me to finally vote GOP for President for the first time in my life.

Reason's Matt Welch has the story about new expose' on Sanford at the American Conservative magazine.

Highlights that caught my eye:

A New Political Party Is Needed

A New Political Party Is Needed

Joel S. Hirschhorn

Set aside any Obama euphoria you feel. The other important news is that third-party presidential candidates had a miserable showing this year, totaling just over one percent of the grand total with 1.5 million votes nationwide, compared to some 123 million votes for Barack Obama and John McCain.

Anti-Incumbency Movement Is Dead

The Anti-Incumbency Movement is Dead Joel S. Hirschhorn Voting out congressional incumbents failed this year, showing the anti-incumbency movement to be a clear letdown. For some years many groups and their websites have been advocating voting out congressional incumbents as an effective means to reform government and make it work better. Two of the better ones are Vote Out Incumbents Democracy and Tenure Corrupts.

Congratulations Obama and the Dems / Wednesday Open Thread

You did well. Use your power wisely. You have it all.

Edit by stinerman:

The Republicans may have dodged a bullet in the Senate races.  Coleman looks like he's going to be in a recount situation with Franken in MN.  Smith is up in OR, and even Ted Stevens might end up winning in AK.

Official Prediction Thread

Ok guys. It's not too early or too late so lets all go on record. Actually you can revise your prediction in this same thread later on, up until the night before the election. Let's do it!

Feel free to include anything you want like the popular vote percentages, electoral votes, state surprises, senate and house results, etc.

McCain's ACORN conspiracy theory

McCain: We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.

McCain made this serious accusation during the third presidential debate . It has also been propagated by television advertisements , and extensive editorializing by Obama's opponents. However, if we look into the specific accusations against ACORN (let alone the actual evidence), they do not add up into the grand conspiracy theory that McCain is promoting.

One More Candidate Than Communism?

Ballot access expert Richard Winger's blog is an invaluable resource to a minor party/indy enthusiast like myself.  Lately he's done some work detaling the large amount of unopposed incumbents for state legislature this year.

So Joe's the one who's qualified?

Even after a day of mulling, Joe Biden's remarks at a Seattle fundraiser a few days ago are still troubling to me because they say something about both Joe Biden and Barack Obama.  Here's what Joe the Politician said:

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy."

Electoral post-mortem in advance

If there is any politician who has a right to blame George W. Bush, it's John McCain.  In 2000, the one man standing in the way of McCain's quest for the presidential brass ring was Bush.  In 2008, the one man standing in the way of McCain's quest for the presidency is Bush (and his sub-30% approval rating and 90±% nation-going-in-the-wrong-direction rating).  Sure, McCain's opponent this time around is Barack Obama, but the Bush legacy of incompetence and cronyism--ladled with a big helping of economic crisis--is going to crush the McCain campaign into little tiny bits.  A good debate performance won't change a thing.  I'd like to be wrong, but the electoral map paints the picture .

Final Presidential Debate Thread

This thread is for the final Presidential debate. We'll be starting the live-blog at 8:45p EST. Readers without laptops (is that like Doctors Without Borders?) may want to know that the debate will be available on Hulu.com . Post questions you'd like the candidates to answer, your thoughts on who might win the debate, what each candidate needs to do to win the debate, etc.

I Just Can’t Put My Finger On It

Lois Coar, the mother of two grown children, supported Mitt Romney this year and is undecided for November. She cannot see voting for Obama -- "not because he's black, but I just can't put it in words." She likes McCain as a person, but "I can't understand why he keeps talking about this Ayers guy" -- William Ayers, the 1960s radical who became an occasional colleague and supporter of Obama in Chicago. "He should be focusing on the economy and real terrorists; that's what people worry about," she said.

An example of the dangers of the echo chamber

Take a look at this diary from Redstate.

Today is the first day of his polling track that includes all polling after the VP debate. 70 million people watched that debate, and the results are that Obama's lead increased to 8 points? How does that make any sense in a sane universe? Giving the MSM spin, at best it can be called "Biden held his own", which should have resulted in the tracking poll holding steady.

Bias in the worst way by AP

Associated Press just slapped down the race card in its latest "analysis" by Douglass K. Daniel.

By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.

And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.

Post-debate fact check round-up

Edit by Brendan: added table with links to text for easier access to information. This is just my formatting, content and viewpoint is BD's.

Some Palin errors Some Biden errors
  Hezbollah in Lebanon
McKiernan's name McKiernan's position
Positions on Iraq Afghanistan spending
  VP role
  Hamas elections
  Precondition
  Legislation
Obama's tax plan McCain's tax plan
  Gay marriage
  Anecdote

First, factcheck.org compiled the factual shortcomings of both candidates:

The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: A Review

I thought it might be fun to take a look at the Sunday Show's;

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