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- At the time of the Palin VP pick, a few of us wondered whether it might backfire on McCain. Then a couple weeks went by as Palin-mania grew. Now, as Sam summarizes below, it does appear to have been a high-risk, high-reward pick, consolidating the conservative base and turning just about everyone else off.
- Ezra refers to the "creeping Cheneyism" in Todd Palin's decision to blow off a subpoena over the state trooper-firing legislative probe in Alaska, but I'm a bit more concerned about Sarah's inability to answer what branch of government the vice president is in. At any rate, the lead investigator in Alaska assures us that a report will be filed before Election Day, regardless of whether any of the thirteen principles who have ignored subpoenas appear before the legislature.
- Speaking of government transparency, Sarah Palin has a novel idea: Put the federal government's spending online for all to see. Yeah, just one problem: It's already been done, and the man responsible for the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act? Barack Obama (with Tom Coburn co-sponsoring).
- This Time story on early voting in 36 out of 50 states does make one bizarre observation: "In years past, candidates stayed on alert for an 'October surprise' that could alter the race at the last minute. In the brave new world of accelerated elections, any October surprise would come too late." Actually, no. Those who are voting early are those who are engaged with politics and have already made up their minds. It is undecided -- my favorite euphemism from the political science literature is "low information voters" -- voters who are most likely to be swayed by an October surprise, but they're not voting early, so I'm not sure what point the article is trying to make.
- Amid the fallout in the financial markets, what's a conservative think-tank fellow to do? Marc Ambinder displays the angst in e-mail form.
- Joe Biden, who admirably refuses to back down from his "taxing the rich is patriotic" comments (see Jonathan Cohn for more on this), gets in a zinger at his upcoming debate opponent. Asked by CBS News how he's preparing to face Sarah Palin, Biden responded, "It's hard to prepare because I don't know what she thinks."
- News you can Use: an AP/Yahoo News poll finds that a bare majority of respondents (50-47) would rather watch football with Barack Obama than John McCain. Now normally, I hope and expect news to educate, but did we really expect the opposite of this line? "Obama roots for the NFL's Chicago Bears, McCain for the Arizona Cardinals." Seems a bit like political suicide not to root for the home team, no?
- Nate Silver has a great post on "Bad Math and the Bradley Effect," observing that The Next Right's Sean Oxendine "purports to find evidence of a Bradley Effect in the Democratic primaries, something which I also looked for and did not find. The difference between my study and his is that I include all the states, whereas he excludes those which do not fit his argument."
- And finally, maybe McCain was onto something when snubbing our Spanish NATO allies. If this Onion piece is reliable -- and I'm sure it is -- then the Spanish Armada is poised to "Once Again Decimate Population Of New World." ¡Ay caramba!
--Mori Dinauer
