We like to complain about Dems rolling over for the Repubs but I don't see it happening in this sort of situation and- MSM or no MSM- I have enough faith left in humanity that most people, probably even most traditional Republicans would never go for this. They may be upset that Romney lost the election but most people know outright thievery when they see it. Public opinion would be on President Obama's side if Romney and his minions were to try to change things. Come to think of it, it's actually pretty amazing that they haven't already tried to do this along with their other voter disenfranchisement schemes

like they've been cheated, wronged, victimized- while they cheat, wrong, and victimize everybody else. They will never accept the fact that their candidates, as well as their policies, are just increasingly bad and that people don't accept them and that with things like Facebook and Twitter and other social media it's MUCH harder to fool people into voting against their own interests and/or keeping them barefoot and ignorant about what the Republicans truly stand for. For a party that preaches "personal responsibility", it never actually practices it!

no matter how badly people like Brown screw up, they have an unwavering knack for landing on their feet time after time again. They always seem to have a good gig waiting for them after they resign/are fired. There's always some right-wing think tank opening their doors to them, or there's some hate radio station that can't wait to give them a megaphone to spew their venom. Failing that, there's always some book publisher that's ready to offer them a chance to write their "memoirs" about their time in office when they were screwing up.

Then you have the average person who shows up at their jobs every day get pink slipped, loses their house, can't put food on their table, has to declare bankruptcy and ends up at a homeless shelter (where people like Paul Ryan show up for shameless photo ops pretending to wash dishes ) through no fault of their own.



How the hell does this stuff happen? How do the Cheneys, the Rumsfelds, the Brownies, et. al keep getting all of this free publicity when they should be at home cowering under the beds and praying that none of them ever get hauled off to Gitmo or the Hague for their incompetence/war crimes? Can somebody please explain this to me?

I like the polling in most of the swing states and some of the reports regarding early voting, particularly in Ohio. I'm still a little anxious about what shenanigans the Repubs might pull out at the last minute that *might* tip the scales to Romney, as well as this "True the Vote" teabagger group that's supposed to be flooding urban (read: minority) polling places with their minions to mess up the works. Hopefully, they get kicked out or not even allowed to enter in the first place. How what they are planning to do is remotely legal is beyond me.


Overall, I'm pretty optimistic that President Obama will pull off a decent margin of victory. He's got so many routes to 270 EV that Romney would have to be doing much better at this late stage to pull off one of his narrow routes to victory. I just can't envision a total Obama collapse on Election Night and Romney upset. I just can't- absent some serious and widespread vote manipulation. I also don't believe that it will be close enough to trigger a contested election either. My map at 270towin.com, based on current polling averages on TPM suggest around 303 EV: http://www.270towin.com/

I have no clue. Remember, they think they OWN the WH (they've occupied the WH for 20 of the last 30 years!) so, at least to them, a Democratic victory is always a "bug" not a feature.

They offer a helpful "snapshot" in terms of the overall mood of the country towards the candidates but given that elections aren't won or lost on a national popular vote, what's their overall significance? Why does the media focus mainly on the national polling as if it's the most important thing and not talking more about the individual states that will actually determine the outcome of the election? I'm assuming- based on my own cynicism and skepticism about the media- that the media is focusing mainly on the national polls, particularly ones that have Romney ahead in order to help feed the "ZOMG! Romney has momentum and could win this election!" narrative. It's about the only explanation I can think of at the moment. This entire election this year, frankly, has been a surreal experience- where an oddball plutocrat is in serious contention for the highest office in the land and an intelligent, competent incumbent President whom has shepherded the country through one of the worst economic disasters in recent history is frequently derided by said plutocrat and his minions as a "failed President" and that the recovery we're in isn't a "real recovery".

The line between reality and fantasy is getting pretty thin these days- to the point that the Onion could almost be considered "real news"!

for his efforts to help coordinate the federal emergency response to Hurricane Sandy is that there are people like Chris Christie and various members of the MSM whom are surprised that we actually have an intelligent and competent person in charge of the country right now- despite all of their efforts to paint him as a failure, screw-up, or simply not being good enough for the job.

He's going to have to have a VERY good night next Tuesday or he won't pull it off. He's going to have cover the US in a sea of red. Odds are this is not likely to happen. If he isn't leading in most of the states by now in most polls (and he's not), then I don't see people suddenly changing their mind next Tuesday.

Just heard on the news that early voting is up over 2008. I don't know if that is a good thing or not for us as they won't count the votes until Election Day. Mitt Romney, unfortunately, looks to have a solid lead here in Indiana and Mike Pence seems favored to win the gubernatorial election but it's looking very promising for a Democratic Senate pickup after Tea Party favorite Mourdock shot his mouth off Akin-style about rape last week. Between his pronouncements about bipartisanship (his idea is that the Democrats agree with the Republicans all the time) and kerfuffle over his rape comments, the Indianapolis Star FWIW has endorsed Democrat Joe Donnelly for the Senate seat and it remains questionable that Mourdock will win over the crucial "Lugar Republicans". My guess is that he will not and that those votes will likely go to Donnelly (or maybe to nobody). Lots of people here are really unhappy about Lugar's defeat and Donnelly is conservative enough to win here in Indiana.