THE DEBATE

My friend Eric and I just couldn't watch it.

It was two men playing defense, trying NOT to err, but not really taking any chances.

Each seemed to take on the best parts of the other: Barack Obama taking a little of McCain's feisty nature; John McCain trying to have some of Obama's calm intelligence.

So the result? A zero-zero tie.

I am quite happy that Obama seems to have "won" in the eyes of those talking to pollsters. Truth is I shake my head at the idea of people deciding to vote for McCain/Palin. But I'm as...ahem..."elite" as they get. I'm a gay guy in a big city who has, at times, worked in the mainstream media. But on the other hand, I'm also an unemployed guy who worries about the economy just like any American.

I guess I just worry that racism will win...that Obama will have to poll 15 points ahead to win by 5.

I've had a great time playing with CNN's Electoral Map calculator

I play the "what if this is like 1980?" scenario...where, in the last week before the election, voters finally say, "OK, enough is enough" and decide to vote for Obama... and then I find Obama taking around 400 electoral votes.

But if the electoral zeitgeist hasn't changed...then I fear that Obama loses and McCains squeaks out another victory for the GOP and their politics of fear and loathing.