the 941

The Obama-Biden Transition Project (not a rock band name, and not a mad scientist experiment) has a new, official website up, aptly named change.gov. After suffering through a post-election bit of funk, maybe this is my chance to catapult into our glorious future world of happiness and light (and in the process flee journalism) by applying for a job with The Man Himself.

Maybe I can supervise the White House dining rooms. Or walk that new puppy dog. Or clean the toilets. I’ll do anything!

Bookmark to:

It has begun. If you have any news, saw anything interesting or janky when you voted, or just want to holla at yer boy (whoever that may be) give us a comment.

Hundreds of voters forced into provisional ballots because phone verification system is down. (H-T)

BREAKING NEWS (2 p.m.) — Just cruised a few polling places during the lunch hour. No waits. Most of the poll workers said that things have been very slow after a brief morning rush. If you still need to get your vote on, try leaving work a little early and you’ll be home in time to cook dinner. Pictures after the updates.

Thoughtful blog post on voting from Nada Surf frontman Matthew Caws.

Voting machines break at two precincts. (H-T)

WSLR will have live election coverage starting at 5 p.m.

Voters tricked into signing up for absentee ballots having trouble at polls. (H-T)

Start your election night right, or, uhm, left, with CL’s Election Night Drinking Game.

Speaking of drinking, here are some Election Night Parties around town.

Vote for Benson, or Benson?

Flash your sticker for free stuff at these places.

McCain and Obama supporters: getting along, playing with a tiny dog and hanging outside the demarcation zone of a polling place on 12th Street.

Poll volunteers on Bahia Vista, just a tad bored, waiting for the post-work rush.

And here’s the MSNBC Election Widget, just in case you’re too lazy — or too scared — to watch the TV or cruise other sites.

Bookmark to:

Check out the asterisked p.s. in this election eve post from Matthew Caws, lead singer of power pop trio Nada Surf.

And a p.s. of our own: Have you voted yet?

Bookmark to:

The thrifty folks at dealnews.com provide this handy rundown on how to cash in by casting your ballot tomorrow. From morning java and doughnuts to a chicken sandwich and happy hour scoop of ice cream, it’s democracy in action.

No word on what gyms are offering similar deals for how to take those LBs off.

Bookmark to:

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock the last couple of days, Suncoast residents have a chance to participate in a damn near historic moment this morning. Senator Barack Obama visits Ed Smith Stadium (2700 12th St., Sarasota) today in an 11th hour campaign rally. Gates open at 9 a.m., the program starts at 11, and tickets aren’t required for entrance to the free event.

If you’re still undecided, curious or just keen to witness one for the books, you know where to go.

On that note, did you watch Sen. Obama’s half-hour infomercial last night? As primetime offerings go, what popped to mind? Deal or No Deal? The Amazing Race? or Dirty Sexy Money?

A couple of comments, courtesy of posters at Defamer.com:

“After Obama’s term ends, he has a real career in infomercials. He could sell ShamWows like nobody’s business. He’s THAT smooth.”

“I just hope I get to see what happens on this show next week. They set up a really good cliffhanger at the end.”

“Like ‘Who Shot Joe the Plumber?’”

Bookmark to:

I’m nominating Larry Flynt’s new Sarah Palin “biopic” — Who’s Nailin’ Paylin? — for an early Oscar bid. Not because of the dirty, dirty Alaskan sex scenes (mainly because I haven’t seen any). And not for the obvious political import that comes part and parcel with featuring a dim-witted vice (heh, heh) presidential candidate in flagrante delicto. Nope, this masterpiece should be up for writing, and maybe best supporting actor from the two Russian schlubs. Here’s an example:

Palin: Can I get you boys a drink?
Russian 1: No thanks, we’re already pretty drunk.
Palin: But you need to make a call?
Russian 1: You know, if I could re-arrange the alphabet, I would put U and I together.
Palin: If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you guys were flirting with me.
Russian 2: Excuse me … I think I dropped something … my jaw.

It’s a brilliant parody of common porn tropes, with a buxom veep impersonator to boot. And then the sex happens. Watch this clip of the first minute of this modern masterpiece — it’s totally safe for work. Unless you work for Fox News, or maybe the Amish.

Here’s a link for more pics, albeit of the less work-safe variety.

Bookmark to:

Sarah Palin drops another hint at her awesome fitness for the presidency, once McCain’s glands get the best of him about six months from now: “He’s got experience based on many, many years in the Senate and voters are going to have a choice about what they want for the next four years.”

Oh, wait … she’s talking about Joe Biden! Looks like baby’s got a new sugardaddy, John. Watch this excerpt from the Palin/Couric interview. Please.

As an aside, what the hell is Tina Fey going to do with this on SNL Saturday night? Just run the video from CBS, or use the actual word-for-word transcript of the interview as the script for her parody? Does that even count as parody?

Oh yeah, which newspapers and magazines did Palin read in preparation for her run at the Veep seat? “Um, all of them.”

Thanks to TPMtv.

Bookmark to:

There’s a lot of hype surrounding McCain’s recent bounce in the national polls. A quick reminder: the popular vote means absolutely nothing. George W. Bush eked out a 271-266 victory in the electoral college while losing the popular vote to Al Gore by about 540,000 votes. We all know this election, like the last few, is going to come down to a small number of swing states.

So how is the electoral map shaping up?

FiveThirtyEight.com, the most sophisticated polling analysis website out there, broke down the numbers and found the election is essentially a dead heat. They suggest McCain will win 274-264, but practically any shift in the map towards Obama would put him over the top.

And new polls have Obama looking good in Virginia, Florida, Ohio and North Carolina; McCain appears to be gaining ground in Wisconsin, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey. Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada have been polling all over the place and are complete toss-ups. In other words, this is anyone’s game.

Personally, my money is still on Obama. I reckon polls are underestimating his ability to get the vote out, and an ailing economy will hurt McCain. Both candidates will be playing hardball in the upcoming debates, and my guess is Obama will look and sound better to undecided voters.

Any takers?

edit: I spoke too soon - Obama’s already back on top in the polls.

Bookmark to:

Obama’s recent pick made a town hall-style appearance at the school last night. Pictures courtesy of CL intern Kerem Ozkan. Look out for his commentary in an upcoming post.

Bookmark to:

It’s always important to do what you think is right. Unless you can predict that doing what you think is wrong will bring about an event that is more right than your initial wrong was wrong. And, uh, consult a psychologist beforehand. A team of psychologists, and a panel of ethical philosophers.

Let me start over.

I cringe whenever someone’s personal life is brought into the political arena. I don’t think Obama’s pastor, Clinton’s blow job, or George Bush’s history with alcoholism/cocaine should have anything to do with their electability. My feelings on the subject are expressed nicely by Noam Chomsky:

 ”If we had a free market of the kind economists discuss, in which informed consumers make rational choices, General Motors would post on television the characteristics of the cars they’re selling. They don’t do that. What they do is try to create illusions, using complicated graphics, a famous actress driving up to heaven, or something like that. The point is to delude and marginalize the public, so that uninformed consumers will make irrational choices. When you market candidates, it’s the same thing - keep away from the issues, that’s too dangerous because the public doesn’t agree with you on the issues. So what you have is character, trivialities, personal issues - somebody’s pastor says something, Clinton made a mistake when she talked about Bosnia.”

So part of me wants to spraypaint “Who cares?” over every headline about Bristol Palin’s extramarital pregnancy. That’s what I think is right. Sure, it exposes some hypocrisy when it comes to ultra-conservative issues, but we should hope Sarah Palin doesn’t have absolute control over her daughter. Besides, we’re not electing kings or gods, idols of perfection who will bring us into the next decade like Jason leading the Argonauts. We’re hiring people to do the things we asked of them on election day — servants, basically. If I run an Apple store and I hire someone to sell Apple computers, I don’t care if she uses a PC at home as long as she knows her stuff.

So I don’t think the pregnancy should matter. But, I do want McCain to lose, and I know that the (specious and irrelevant) appearance of hypocrisy could alienate conservative voters. So when I see those headlines, I feel that they’re wrong but I still want them to succeed in their missions. It’s like hiring brutal mercenaries to help you overthrow a brutal tyrant. Or stealing from the rich to help the poor. Or pulling out a terrorist’s fingernails. No wait, I’m actually against that. Goddamn, ethics are hard.

Bookmark to: