FIRST BITE The suspense starts in Indiana. Most polls close at 6 p.m. and others at 7. Indiana is a ruby red state where Mr. Obama has been running closely with Mr. McCain. Be wary of results that do not include Gary, a city with a substantial African-American population. If Mr. Obama wins it, Indiana could be the canary in the coal mine predicting disaster ahead for Mr. McCain.

from this story in the New York Times.

John McCain is coming to Indy later today, which is hilarious.  The day before election day?  The Republican candidate for president is coming to Indianapolis?  I still have my doubts about Indiana going blue, but yesterday I saw the lines of people wrapped around the block to vote early at our City-County building.  And the line was just as long in the morning as it was in the evening.  And now McCain is spending precious campaign hours in Indianapolis today?  Wow.  It's hard not to be a little bit optimistic. 

Jonathan Martin dissects the significance of McCain's final day itinerary pretty well here.

Later in the day, McCain will hold his first campaign rally in Indiana. No political observer thought this summer the Hoosier State would be contested, but two polls there last week show a dead heat.   McCain may still pull it out on the strength of a huge margins in the southern, heavily rural swath of the state, but that he is being forced to stop the day before the election in a state that Bush won by 20 points four years ago offers the best evidence for how the degree to which the GOP has been forced on defense. And, incidentally, note where McCain is visiting — Indianapolis. Not only is it the largest city in the state, but Obama has pulled into a tie in the state on the strength of his effort in the capital's Marion County and its surrounding suburbs, especially fast-growing Hamilton County.

 

McCain Indiana Campaign Headquarters

1 comment

(from Ken Bode in today's Indy Star)

Some closing thoughts on the long election of 2008.

First, John McCain says we're in for a long night Tuesday, that this election is close and going down to the wire. I offer this alternative thought. The polls in Indiana close at 6 p.m., except for those 12 Central time counties. If it is not too close to call here, we'll be the first state on the network tote boards at 7 p.m.

If they call it for Barack Obama, you can go to bed.

Second, I have never written about women's clothing. But I am puzzled by Sarah Palin telling a rally that they will be returning most of her new $150,000 wardrobe. How does this work? Do you just walk back into Saks with a month-old $2,500 leather jacket and turn it in? Does Saks then sell it as used? This kind of reminds me of the governor who went into a friendly auto dealership and took out an Oldsmobile for a test drive. He brought it back four years later.

However, it really was Cindy McCain who got my attention.

A millionaire from birth, she chose to wear three-carat diamond earrings worth $280,000 on convention night, with an Oscar de la Renta dress, a Chanel wristwatch and a four-strand pearl necklace, bringing her wardrobe price tag to more than $300,000. With 13 cars and eight homes, what do the McCains know about Joe the Plumber?

Which brings me to thought number three. For McCain and Palin to hang their final message to America's voters on Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe, an unlicensed plumber who fails to pay his taxes, is borderline ridiculous. Now they're expanding the repertoire to include Cindy the hairdresser, Fred the mechanic and Rudy the schoolteacher. They are like two cocky teenagers giving a "shout-out" in the high school assembly. Meanwhile, standing in the wings in their Gucci loafers are top aides Charlie, Rick and Steve the lobbyists.

Obviously losing his marbles.

I am so sick of Joe the F*&king Plumber!  Maybe he was away attending to his record deal!  Seriously!  Isn't his 15 minutes up yet?

UPDATED:  Or maybe Joe was driving the bus?

A local school district official confirmed after the event that of the 6,000 people estimated by the fire marshal to be in attendance this morning, more than 4,000 were bused in from schools in the area. The entire 2,500-student Defiance School District was in attendance, the official said, in addition to at least three other schools from neighboring districts, one of which sent 14 buses.

With presidential race too close to call, 'every vote counts'
By Mary Beth Schneider and Bill Ruthhart
mary.beth.schneider@indystar.com

Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama are locked in a dead heat among Hoosier voters, according to a new Indianapolis Star-WTHR (Channel 13) poll.

More than ever, that means Indiana's 11 electoral votes will go to whichever candidate does the better job of making sure his supporters cast ballots by Tuesday.

The poll, by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, showed Obama backed by 45.9 percent of those polled, and McCain by 45.3 percent. Given the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, the race is a toss-up.

Before the Democratic Primary in Indiana, the polls showed Hillary Clinton with a 10 - 12% lead, and she ended up winning by just 2%, so while I'm trying to stay pragmatic about Indiana voting Democrat, I still find this very interesting. 

Check out the nutty Palin wannabe!

This ain't what it looks like!

Watch the suit Buddy it's from Saks

Oh, and the Anchorage Daily News endorses Obama!  Heeeee!

The candidates on Equal Pay:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama outlined an economic plan especially for women (PDF), and made passage of the Fair Pay Restoration Act part of the proposed economic changes that would help women explicitly. He also co-sponsored the bill. The plan also outlined raising the minimum wage, requiring employers to provide seven days of paid sick leave, and expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. Obama said at a speech geared toward working women in New Mexico this June, "As the son of a single mother, I also don't accept an America that makes women choose between their kids and their careers. It's not acceptable that women are denied jobs or promotions because they've got kids at home. It's not acceptable that forty percent of working women don't have a single paid sick day." McCain voted for the original Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993, but his campaign has not proposed any initiatives to expand or support paid family leave or sick days.

from RH Reality Check.

Here in Indiana, our Governor's campaign slogan is "My Man Mitch."  Some of his detractors sport bumper stickers in the same color and font that say "Not MY Man!"  Now, with regard to John McCain, I'm wondering of a "Not MY Friend!" bumper sticker might not be a good idea.

Nice to see the McCain campaign is keeping it klassy!

McCain's brother says N. Va. 'Communist country'

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain's brother made an apparent joke at a campaign rally this weekend that might not play well in parts of newly competitive Virginia.

Joe McCain, speaking at an event in support of his brother, called two Democratic-leaning areas in Northern Virginia "communist country," according to a report on The Washington Post's Web site.

"I've lived here for at least 10 years and before that about every third duty I was in either Arlington or Alexandria, up in communist country," Joe McCain, a Navy veteran, said at an event in Loudoun County, Va.

Oh, say it ain't so, Joe!  I guess the Democrats = Communists line is just another one of those new tactics the campaign is using to whip people into a hate-soaked frenzy.  This, from a Palin rally yesterday, is downright chilling.

The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Penatgon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.

 If Gov. Palin had actually read the New York Times article she was referring to, she would have maybe noticed this:

But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called “somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.”

The tagline for the McCain/Palin campaign is "Country First," but this seems more fitting:  "McCain*Palin - How Low Can You Go?"