A question was just asked on CNN if voters seem more enthusiastic or energized than in previous election years. The simple answer is yes.  But I was musing exactly why the voters are more energized and I realized that it’s more complicated than it appears.

Here are the top reasons I think people are more enthusiastic this Presidential cycle than in the past:

1. Finally seeing an end to the Bush reign.
2. Voters are excited to elect the first African-American President, Barack Obama.  There’s a few key words being thrown around:  momentus and historic.
3. Second to electing an African-American as president is electing the first female Vice President.  It’s definitely a factor especially considering that Sarah Palin’s running mate, John McCain, has one foot in the grave already.  Which leads me to….
4. Electing the oldest man to take the presidential office.
5. Lastly, although my gut tells me it should be higher on the list, some voters are excited to elect AGAINST the first African-American president.

This combination of race, sex, and enthusiasm to change the current Presidents policy is making it the most exciting election year in U.S. history. I’m proud to be a part of it. Vote!

Is the push for Florida paying off for Obama?

A new poll commissioned by researchers at New York University reveals that American Jews favor Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama over his Republic rival, John McCain, by a 67 – 33 percent margin.

The survey, which sampled the opinions of over 3,000 respondents – half of them being Jewish – also found that Jews as an ethnic group will support Obama by almost 30 percent more than other white, non-Hispanic voters.

[haaretz]

It’s a strange vow to promise a tattoo of the New Hampshire state slogan “Live free or die” if her father wins the Presidency.I mean, no one makes this sort of wager unless they’re 99.9% sure they’ll win the bet. Which makes me rationalize that even Meghan McCain doesn’t think her father will win the election?

If Sen. John McCain wins the presidency in a little more than three weeks, his daughter said she’ll tattoo “Live Free or Die” somewhere on her body.

Of course, he would have to win in New Hampshire, too, said Meghan McCain, who was in Nashua yesterday thanking volunteers at the McCain-Palin campaign office.

The tattoo, which would probably go on her wrist, would be her way of commemorating her father’s run for the presidency, she said. It was in New Hampshire that McCain revived his faltering presidential bid during the presidential primary in January.

“New Hampshire is so important to me and my family,” she said.

Earlier, McCain told a supporter that she would be “extremely depressed” if her dad loses in New Hampshire.

…and she has her own blog too!

Is anyone paying attention to this? Republican voters? Undecided voters?

No, this isn’t an “Onion” headline:

Palin pre-empts state report, clears self in probe

On the eve of a report on a legislative panel’s abuse-of-power investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report clearing her of any wrongdoing.

Palin, running mate to Republican presidential nominee John McCain, is the subject of two inquiries into whether she abused her power by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner says he was dismissed for resisting pressure to fire Palin’s former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

The “Troopergate” case is closed everyone. We can all go home now.

And the lesson learned here is that the next time you’re being investigated for abuse of power, simply absolve yourself. If Sarah Palin can do it, why can’t we?

John McCain ceded Michigan yesterday in a move that looked defeating to both Democrat and Republican voters.

Apparently it looked defeatist to Palin too:

In an interview with Fox News Friday the Republican vice presidential candidate appeared to be disappointed with the decision and said she still wants to take a stab at wining the state that hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate in two decades.

She also said she made her disagreement known to top campaign officials:

“I fired a quick e-mail and said, ‘oh, come on! Do we have to call it there?’ she said. ” Todd and I would [be] happy to get to Michigan and walk through those plants [with] car manufacturers.

“We’d be so happy to get to speak with the people there in Michigan, who are hurting because the economy is hurting,” she added. “Whatever we can do and whatever Todd and I can do in realizing what their challenges in that state are, as we can relate to them and connect with them and promise them that we won’t let them down in the administration.”

Are McCain and Palin communicating at all?  This can’t possibly be another campaign stunt… can it?

This is one of the larger issues between the two U.S. Presidential candidates, McCain and Obama.  Should the United States have direct talks with Iranian leader, Ahmadinejad?

McCain says,  “Absolutely not.  The guys a terrorist!”  Obama says, “Absolutely yes.  The guys a terrorist!”

The Bush administration was prepping to send a diplomat to Iran considering the accelerated rate at which Iran was developing nuclear capabilities.

But now Bush has changed his mind and it’s gonna have to wait until a new president is elected:

The proposal to send US diplomats to Teheran for the first time in three decades attracted great attention when it was floated seriously midyear, but has been placed on indefinite hold as November’s election nears and Iran continues to defy demands to halt suspect nuclear activities, officials told the AP.

The officials said it had been decided to leave the decision to the next US president because it could be seen as a reward for Iran’s nuclear intransigence especially when Iranian policy has become a major part of the heated campaign between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.

My personal opinion? The Bush administration is a bunch of spineless pussies.

The American people sure do love a quitter.  Especially the blue collar folks in Michigan who’s unemployment rate is the highest in the nation at 8.9%.  America really needs a president who turns his back on one of the neediest states in the union:

Senator John McCain is giving up on his efforts to win the state of Michigan, his campaign said Thursday, in the latest sign that the faltering economy has reshaped the presidential race and cost McCain support in crucial states.

The McCain campaign has spent nearly $8 million on ads in Michigan, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, a company that monitors political advertising, and now it has no more plans to advertise there, campaign officials said. And McCain canceled a visit he had planned to make to Michigan next week.

McCain had long made it clear that the state was central to his presidential hopes, returning there to campaign again and again and bluntly telling a crowd at a factory in Belleville this July that “the state of Michigan, as it has in many elections in the past, will determine who the next president of the United States is.” His campaign announced its retreat on a day that the news of his ceding the state was almost sure to be drowned out by the buzz created by the much-anticipated vice-presidential debate.

You said it, McCain, not me.

Senator John McCain doesn’t.

But it’s all good, Senator. With a two front war raging for the last five years, it’s easy to confuse the two since they function the same these days anyway.

“Candidates spend a lot of time talking, and they all misspeak sometimes. But did anyone else notice this, from Wednesday’s much-covered McCain-Palin Town Hall event in Grand Rapids, Mich., where Palin answered questions from people in the audience?

“McCain said this near the end of the clip below, as he’s talking up Palin’s foreign policy/national security credentials:

‘I also know, if I might remind you, that she is commander of the Alaska National Guard. In fact, you may know that on Sept. 11 a large contingent of the Alaska Guard deployed to Iraq and her son happened to be one of them. So I think she understands our national security challenges….’

“The ceremony Palin attended at Fort Wainwright last week didn’t involve the Alaska National Guard. Palin’s son is in the Army, and his unit – 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division – deployed to Iraq.”

It’s not just a lack of McCain vetting Sarah Palin, it’s more like a lack of McCain caring to remember relatively important details…. like who her son is going to war with.

Sorry McCain, I gotta call you out on this one.

And for the record:  Army = Federal service.  National Guard = State service.

The New York Times “Most E-Mailed” articles in the last 24 hours says it all:

[pic] Click to enlarge.

Did anyone hear there was a hurricane in Texas?

In a recent poll done by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, roughly half of Americans polled said they’ve had about enough coverage of Prez hopeful Barack Obama, and most everyone said they’d like to know more about McCain.

Well hey, that’s cool America, you want McCain, you’ve got him.  Here’s what McCain’s latest campaign ad has to say-

hmm… It seems McCain likes talking about Obama as much as “the media” does.  Oh, and he also infuriated one of his campaign contributors by including their daughter in that last video.  You might’ve heard of her, her last name is Hilton?  Anyway, the daughter in question has her own campaign ad in response to the attention. 

Something else I wanted to add.  Since when would it be a bad thing for our President to be a bigger, more recognizable figure than our pop-stars?  I think that having such a high profile would actually be a very good thing, meaning people were at least paying a little more attention to politics than they are to the gossip rags about which superstar celeb got what body part altered when.  The president should be a celebrity, or at least get the same amount of news coverage. 

And if people want to hear more about McCain, tell McCain to talk more about McCain, and less about “he who we’ve heard enough about”.  That’d be a good start.