I was wondering how long this would take.

"I was personally offended at the approach taken that was not only misleading but unnecessarily hurtful," said Mrs. Clinton, Democrat of New York. "And I have made that clear to many people in the last several days."

Charlie Stenholm spoke tonight in Congress for the last time (so he said) while speaking out against the raising of the debt ceiling without any accountability. I can't find exact info about the "Stenholm Amendment" that Congress was debating tonight, but it would have apparently brought some "pay as you go" accountability to this travesty, but I don't think it passed. (If I'm wrong or if anyone knows more about this amendment, please let me know.)

He received a very very long ovation after his amazing final speech. I wish I had a transcript. Pelosi also spoke about him glowingly and at length.

OK. I'm not in the Kerry campaign. I don't know anyone who is. I'm just a young musician in Texas who still can't quit obsessing over this damn election and get back to writing songs. I can't let it go because of a deep-down bad feeling that the balance of the universe was thrown out of whack by the final outcome.

Or as Obi-Wan would say:

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced."

Yeah that sounds about right.

OK, its about time somebody took a serious look at the wacked-out exit poll results from this election.

And who is it?

Yes, its our hero, Keith Olbermann. He's going to discuss the two conflicting university studies we've been reading about and hopefully make sense of them.

New "Bloggermann" here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/

Go Keith Go!

I've been wondering about this ever since I first read Olbermann's Sunday night blog, where he was basically telling the online community that he knows there's a story here and will be following it. The tone of that blog, I thought, was almost that of "man on a mission". He was so ahead of the curve on this story, and so sure that there was possibly something very significant there, that I have to wonder if someone in the know didn't tip him off. If you have watched his show in the past, you know that he is a fair-minded guy who hasn't drank the right-wing kool-aid. You think the Kerry people didn't notice?

I think that Bev Harris should not be dismissed, and frankly, the issues raised by paper-less voting machines are of the utmost importance.

But geez, that story that they've run with for the past few days about certification....its presented so unprofessionally that it makes me wonder about the whole website they are running.

UPDATE 8:04 PM EST: KEITH IS CURRENTLY DELIVERING THE GOODS! WOO HOO!

It appears that there is at least one TV journalist out there who understands the scope of the situation that we are dealing with. His name is Keith Olbermann. There is an epic "Bloggermann" that was posted early Sunday evening that may make you jump for joy. In it, he discusses some of the very problems we are discussing and hints that there may be something to all this.

SarahLee brought this to my attention and i find it very startling...enough to repeat it now.

From:
http://www.thegeneralconversation.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=3059
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:32 pm

A Kerry campaign strategist who 2 days ago was dismissing the voter fraud issue has just sent us this -
Quote:
My take on the voter fraud situation I don't know more than I've told you about the position of the Democratic Party or KE04, but I do know this:

We should be looking at every possible instance of fraud and fighting tooth and nail to bring it to light.

cont....

*CORRECTED HEADLINE* Is that better?

Say what you will about Kerry, but this guy has never walked away from a battle in his life, and surely he wouldn't walk away now. We all know there is some striking evidence of, lets just say, "something funky" in several states. Surely Kerry's team knew beforehand the danger these voting machines presented, as well as the blatant disenfranchisement going on pre-election day in some states. My feeling is that they knew something like this was a possibility all along, and planned accordingly. If I'm wrong, this campaign was much more stupid than I imagined.

But they aren't stupid. And if you believe they aren't stupid, you must believe that the early concession happened for a reason. We shall see.

This is from the kausfiles section of Slate.com, Nov 10, 2002.

"The VNS' exit poll in the Florida governor's race, kf is told, showed the contest too close to call. In the actual vote count, Jeb Bush won by 13 points. ... Florida was not the only state the VNS got wildly wrong. Kf wrote an enthusiastic item about the prospects of Bill Curry and Erskine Bowles based, it turned out, on VNS estimates that were completely out of whack..... Why keep the VNS? Seems like we did fine this year without it. Academics say its data are useful for studies of voters. Then let the academics run it, and pay for it, without letting it gum up election coverage."

Anyone see a pattern?

This may not be a new idea to anyone, but it seemed like a great idea to me. And a natural progression. Edwards is such a talent, and still so young (and young-looking!) that losing him now to the dustbin of history would really be a tragedy. His term as senator and run for VP could very well just be an overture for something bigger down the road. I think we all agree that this man could be president, but he needs more experience. I don't live in NC so I don't know enough about the current situation there...who runs the state now, if they are popular, when the term for that person ends. Maybe someone can fill me in.

Then, if it works, who knows? With that kind of added experience and natural political talent, could anyone stop him from the presidency 8, 12, 16 years from now?

Thoughts?

It seems strange to me that the Kerry camp has been so silent. Yes, Edwards came out briefly...and what did he say? He said they were going to keep fighting until every vote is counted. Did he just mean Ohio? Or does the overall eerie silence from the Kerry people for the last few hours suggest that they are trying to get a grip on an unforseen situation? You know, Bush is leading the popular vote by 4 million, yet is just going to (maybe) barely squeak out an electoral win. It doesn't compute that a big popular vote win would end in an electoral sqeaker.

And the early exit polling being completely wrong? And the massive democratic turnout in Florida results in a clear loss? Are there SUDDENLY just a bunch more Republicans in the country now? Did Democrats, at the last minute, decide they didn't hate Bush enough to vote?

99% chance Bush has won this thing. But something weird seems to be happening.

Then I see THAT photo of the truck loading votes with a Bush/Cheney sticker.

I just don't know what the hell to think.

Anyone share my thoughts?

A better result than Zogby!

Saturday October 23, 2004--The latest Rasmussen Reports Presidential Tracking Poll shows President George W. Bush with 48% of the vote and Senator John Kerry with 47%. The Tracking Poll is updated daily by noon Eastern.

When "leaners" are included, the President leads 49% to 48%. Leaners are those who initially do not express a preference for Bush or Kerry. We ask them a follow-up question to determine which way they are leaning at the moment.

Or maybe I'm missing something here.

I guess it's very possible someone has written on this before, but I was struck by something in the Democracy Corps poll again. Its now the second poll of theirs to show the same thing.

It has to do with that question down at the bottom asking who they voted for in 2000. The same sample of voters who now are choosing Kerry over Bush by 2 points voted for Bush over Gore by 6 points in 2000. This seems to strongly suggest that among the people sampled, for 2 polls in a row...Bush's support has severely eroded from four years ago, and a good chunk have shifted to Kerry.

I was able to catch the CBS Evening News tonight, and they played the CNN footage. Also, there was no mention of Teresa saying anything funky. I was wondering if anyone saw the other newscasts tonight, and if so, did they play the quote too? Is it being played up on the cable channels?

I only ask because I have a good feeling about this story. I'm probably not alone.

What does "meme" mean?

It's not in my dictionary.

I feel like its one of those things I should know, but I don't.

I'm a dumbass.

Firstly...I have an idea. On the very off chance that this issue actually grows legs this week, Kerry should just say THIS and be done with it:

"I made a mistake in how I talked about this issue, but George Bush made a mistake in pushing for an anti-gay constitutional amendment. Which is worse?"

But here's what I'm actually here to write.

No....my hair is not on fire. If yours is, this diary is for you. I've thought about this a lot, and here's what I believe.

I know where the fear comes from...it comes from being brutalized by the Wellstone Memorial, and expecting more of the same this year. It still hurts, doesn't it? It does.

It strikes me that this issue probably bruised Kerry on Thursday, and yet for the 4 days that have followed, TV talking heads have wondered how MUCH it's hurt him. The polls show that he took a hit right after the debate, but it seems to have already dissipated and it appears things are on the upswing.

If you make a point of listening to right-wing radio, or watching Hardball, Hannity, and Paula Zahn every night, you may well believe its the number one issue in the campaign. But you gotta think that the vast majority of regular viewers are political junkies with nothing else to watch, who have already made up their mind anyway. And of course, we don't have to worry what the obsessive FoxNews watchers think. These people have to fill up an hour or more of idiotic talk, so its bound to come up. Its all political junk food, but we eat it because we're obsessed and have no lives outside this damn election. They only serve to make us fret. But do the voters that MATTER really care about this?

Ask yourself this question: If you're a reasonable undecided voter, worried about health care, the war in Iraq, jobs, or whatever, do you really think that a true and positive comment by Kerry that came out sounding "bad" would make you turn around vote for Bush? Seriously, think about it. If swing voters forgave Bush of a freaking DWI right before the 2000 election, don't you think they'd be reasonable now? I think so.

And I believe the Kerry people know this too. They have focus groups to figure this stuff out. You know they gave Bill Clinton a call about this too. If the evidence suggested it was toxic, I believe they would have apologized right away. Kerry let the "Swift Boat" ads fester on the advice of his staff and it really cost him. Do you really think he would allow that mistake to happen again? I don't.

I work in a big office with a lot of what I would call "average" working people, and politics does come up a lot. No one has brought this up in a negative way. If this was BAD, I know it would have. I had a good talk about the last debate with an actual swing voter, and her thoughts were "Bush was on the defensive". Nothing about the unnamed topic. It doesn't matter.

Yes Kerry sounded awkward. Yes it amounted to a stinky fart in an otherwise great performance. It matters to us because we're obsessively following this thing, and we're pulling our hair out over every little thing that isn't going perfect. And that's not going to change until Kerry wins, and he will.

Furthermore, I get the feeling that if the Bush campaign really thought this was a winning issue for them, they would be trying A LOT harder to make it one.

If so, what would their campaign slogan be?

Bush/Cheney '04: "We don't discuss lesbians on TV"

yeah yeah, i know its another post on the topic. forgive me.

but i tuned into Hannity and Colmes tonight expecting there to be wall-to-wall Mary Cheney, like the Swift Boat thing all over again. Didn't happen. They devoted one segment to it late in the show, and it seemed to me to have already run its course, and there was nothing left to talk about. Hannity couldn't make it into a big story despite his efforts. If Hannity or the Fox News people thought this was really significant, they would have devoted the whole show to it. You know it.

Later, on Aaron Brown, it was briefly mentioned in an overall election story, and was put in its proper perspective. More time seemed to be given to Kerry's great speech at the AARP.

If I were to guess, I'd say the hubbub is just about over. Now its time for the Kerry people to hit HARD on the Osama quote from the debate.

NOW!