17 DAYS AND THE DIE HAS BEEN CAST FOR THE CAMPAIGN

In a way, there's not much to say.

McCain and Palin are going to mix nasty attacks with forward looking promises.

Obama and Biden are going to do the same, with less emphasis on the nasty stuff.

But assuming all the polling is correct, then McCain has to catch up not only in the battleground states, but he also has to grab a couple of states off the blue side.

I guess anything is possible, but it does seem like a difficult row to hoe: win Ohio, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana, Colorado, Nevada...and then also take Virginia and, say, Wisconsin.

And McCain/Palin has to do it while being outspent 3-1. Plus let's face it, Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri and Colorado aren't supposed to be swing states.

You gotta love the new GOP Majority...

I guess I still believe that in the week before the election, a number of folks are gonna come around to Obama. I think that, after the debates, what many people came away with is a comfort with Obama as our President. I never look at the debates as winner/loser black and white things. To me they're more about subtle perceptions. Sure McCain came off as feisty in the third one, and that makes Republicans happy. But I still think that many voters came away with the idea that Obama CAN be President. And I think that's a very big deal.

I believe that McCain has long been thought of as Presidential caliber. So what would he have to do to win this thing now? He has to knock Obama off that perch and sit up there alone. I think it's pretty obvious that he managed to waste whatever opportunity he had to do that. Do Ayres and Wright speak to independent voters? Unless something new comes out, I don't think they do.

I think that, if Obama wins, people will look back at a couple of things to see why McCain lost and first and foremost will be his choice of Sarah Palin. She's a product of the base, and once again, the GOP base showed itself to be a bunch of angry intolerant assholes who, generally, live in a wide arc between El Paso, Texas and Norfolk, Virginia with wings heading northwest from Texas through Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, due north through the Great Plains and one little wing called Indiana. So yes, she draws big crowds, but to what end anymore?

It's funny to think of Colin Powell endorsing Obama tomorrow. I have this feeling that he's too cautious and military-minded to step out on such a limb. But it would be funny if he did. Is there a bigger "fuck you" to the GOP?