Encouraging News

Looks like if the Republicans want to win the White House they'll have to do it the old fashioned way, unlike 2000 and 2004, by actually winning instead of disenfranchising voters.

High court rejects GOP bid in Ohio voting dispute

Maybe This Could Really Happen

I have been the most cynical of all my friends about the possibility of Obama getting elected. Most people I hang with have been convinced for a long time that he will do this. I tend to have a lot less faith in the American people, the same people who put our current idiot in office the last two elections (OK, so the Supreme Court put him in the first time and voter suppression in Ohio put him in the second time, but it shouldn't have even been close enough to be able to steal).

With the McCain camp's smear machine making up malicious accusations out of whole cloth about Obama and the racist core that our country has still not shaken off, I have been convinced that they would find a way to beat the "uppity nigger" and prove me right. Not that I want to be right on this. If there is one thing I would love to be wrong about, other than thinking the Cubs will find a way to blow it, this would be it.

There appears to be signs of hope. Quinnipiac University put out their newest swing state poll today and they have Obama up in the three big states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida, and by significant amounts in all three. You can read Quinnipiac's summary here, but here is the important part:

"Florida: Obama up 49 - 43 percent pre-debate and 51 - 43 percent post-debate;
Ohio: Obama up 49 - 42 percent pre-debate and 50 - 42 percent post-debate;
Pennsylvania: Obama ahead 49 - 43 percent pre-debate and 54 - 39 percent post-debate.
Pre-debate surveys ended at 8 p.m. Friday with post-debate surveys Saturday-Monday."

I think the most encouraging part is the big jump he took in Pennsylvania after the debate. A state that John Kerry had no problem winning, Obama has been treated with a lot of suspicion by the white working-class voters there and has been having a hard time pulling ahead of McCain there. Maybe people really are hearing the truth through the muck that McCain has thrown out to distort and distract from the issues.

Could it be that I can allow myself to hope?

I'm not exactly sure how to deal with that emotion....