Rex Kickass

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 2, 2008 -> 04:09 PM) Why is just saying something is "Federalist" still a reasonable counterpoint? I really don't care how federalist the system is, right now the only ones who benefit from our current setup are the people who make money off of registrations and the people who benefit from stopping folks from voting. To make a national election, the way that you are advocating, would require a constitutional amendment.

Colorado looks more and more likely for Obama as well. If he grabs that, New Mexico and Iowa and keeps the rest of the Kerry states intact, the Dems win the Presidency. McCain's only hope really is in Pennsylvania.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 1, 2008 -> 01:22 PM) 1. Since this isn't a national election, the national polls are pretty irrelevant. This is 50 statewide, weighted elections. So its really best to look at the state polls. 2. Zogby is garbage - ignore his polls. 3. if you really want to look at national polls anyway, according to RCP, looking at the NON-Zogby national polls... they range from Obama +5 to Obama +10. 4. Looking at the states in play... only 2 Kerry states are even a possibility for McCain (PA, NH), and he is leading those by 5-10 points and 7-11 points respectively in the latest polls. 5. Of the Bush states in play, Obama leads in NV, NM, CO, IA, OH, VA and NC. And ND, MT, IN and possibly AZ are small McCain leads. Zogby's Friday Sample, McCain +1. Saturday's Sample, Obama +10.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 1, 2008 -> 07:36 PM) Here is an idea I'd like to completely endorse. A federally managed election registration system makes sense to me, seems completely weird to have each state having different rules about who is registered, who is eligible to vote, and how you go about getting that way. A federally managed election registration is anti-federalist and should not happen. Our government consists of 50 separate states, not 50 provinces of a greater country. Each state deserves the ability to push forward its elections in a manner they see fit, providing it agrees with the US Constitution.

Here are a couple things I don't understand: If holding our current President accountable for what he did or didn't do while in the National Guard in Texas in his 20s was immaterial in 2004, how does the action of a distant relative in the Democratic party's nominee who he met when he was 10 matter now? There's a few things about this story that makes no sense. If she "comes and goes" from Kenya all the time, how is she let back in the country when she has a standing deportation order? And if I remember correctly, she needs a visa to enter the US as a Kenyan national anyway. The story stinks to me. So does the Joe the Plumber stuff to be frank. Most of the stuff that came out about Joe the Plumber though is generally publicly available knowledge. Tax Liens and Plumbing Licenses are generally public record. This stuff shouldn't matter, and fortunately, neither event will shape the outcome of this election.

So Obama's aunt. They made a big deal this week that she was living in public housing. Turns out she requested asylum when she moved to the US. It was denied in 2004, but she was never deported. Makes her technically illegal. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081101/ap_on_el_pr/obama_aunt

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 31, 2008 -> 03:31 PM) Not sure if this is the ideal place for this, but... Passenger Rail in the US continues to gain traction. Congress authorized $13B for Amtrak and other competitive city-to-city rails, to put in new routes and make more corridors capable of high speed trains. Also, money set aside for the faster trains themselves. Chicago seen as a major hub for such a network. Amtrak set a record for passengers in the past year, and increased ridership buy 11% YOY. Obama is a major supporter of increased rail service. McCain voted against the rail money in this case. Bush, who had been a big critic of Amtrak (and with some good reasons), actually signed this bill. Article in Crains. With any luck, that means we'll start seeing more train service that makes sense in the US. Like a Three C corridor line in Ohio. This can be done with no additional track building as there are plenty of lines connecting Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 31, 2008 -> 11:56 PM) As someone who's rooting for Obama, how concerned should I be that McCain is leading in the Zogby one day poll? Polls don't win elections, votes do. If you're really worried, contact your local Obama office and get some call/walk sheets and do something about it.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Oct 30, 2008 -> 08:52 PM) Interesting, they said the same thing about audio CDs. The big difference about MP3 and audio CD and BluRay/DVD is the way that CDs are sold. Everything was 20 bucks at the Joe's Record Store. On iTunes, the album was 10.00 in mp3 format, and filesharing makes it much easier to download a fairly easy product. Downloading video? Takes a lot more time and know-how and memory. Not saying it won't happen, but it's years away. DVD's are sold at relatively reasonable pricing, and the download of video through piracy is a lot more difficult.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/c...0,2321576.story

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 08:33 PM) Killing it as in doing well. I mean at this point the cult of personality for Obama is just taking over. Just the way this came off was really smooth. It could have come off as arrogant or ostentatious, but the way that they did it as a narrative of "normal" Americans made it come off really well (imo of course.) McCain should have spent every last penny buying the slot at 7:30, getting the last word after that would have been huge. Do you spend that 5 million that you have left on an infomercial in response? Or do you spend it putting boots to the ground? If I was McCain, I wouldn't bother with the infomercial. I'd pour the 5 million in Virginia, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 07:55 PM) I guess I didn't realize the Dem party was that bad before he took over. Dean did really one thing that was wonderful and I can't believe didn't exist previous to 2005. He opened a DNC office in every state and paid for at least three staffers in each state. This is the biggest reason why the DNC didn't have a ton of money to spend this year on ads, they'd already spent it building and strengthening the party the past three years so that the DCCC and the DSCC had new and better places to spend their money.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 07:09 PM) I have a very hard time believing Dean did anything to deserge credit for the turn around. It's pretty simple to me: Mix (1) very well-spoken young politician (boosting interest in all elections, not just the prez one) and (2) an old moron 2-term president that nearly everyone believes (either rightly or wrongly) has blown up the country and it's future (causing an association of all other people with "R" next to their name - 6 years of a Republican congress that did nothing but back him hasn't helped). Everything about the shift from Republican to Dem in the last 2 years is a result of Republican's becoming more and more extreme. I have a feeling that when government becomes all Dem, nothing will get done, as the extreme left and moderate left battles it out. They're Dems afterall (see: last 2 years). I'll give this 8 years tops before the country is back to true Republican values - smaller government, less spending, lower taxes. Dean had everything to do with this. Dean was instrumental in working hard to get a candidate in every district in Congress, a candidate in every Senate race. Dean went and helped the Democratic party start working with the people who make up the party, not the people who "funded" the party. Dean brought an idea to the DNC that had long not been the case - he wanted to see every state matter for the party. And by and large, these reasons are why states that shouldn't be in play, are in play. Obama became the nominee, in part because he represents the Dean wing of the Democratic party. If Clinton got the nod, Dean wouldn't be the chair, and we wouldn't really be talking about a hugely expanded playing field. Because that's not how her wing of the party operates.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 06:08 PM) thing is, i think this woman is hell-bent on power. she'll run in 2012. Lots of people end up running. Considerably fewer have a real shot. But who knows what happens in 2012.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 04:56 PM) I don't know a lot about Jindal yet, but, what I've read leads me to believe he's a lot better choice for their future than Palin is. It remains to be seen who the future of the party actually is at this point. The GOP is losing ground in so many states, that its quickly becoming a regional party almost purely southern in nature. I think Jindal may be the one person who may be able to change that mindset. I would say the future of the GOP rests in people like Bloomberg, but I don't necessarily see that either.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 04:44 PM) Isn't ACORn supposed to be a non-partisan organization? And Obama and Biden have both come out and said that they have no ties to ACORN. I guess they just give their donor list to anyone who asks, right? The degree to which Fundraiser lists are shared and sold would stun you.

The Geraldine Ferraro of the GOP.

QUOTE (Chet Lemon @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 03:46 PM) If McCain loses PA, it is over. Obama will win IA, NM, and CO. NM and CO are expected to fall for Obama, but I think that those states are by no means the lock that Iowa appears to be. If PA doesn't fall for McCain, there are literally about 10 different states that he needs to hang on for dear life at to have a shot at winning the Presidency, including AZ. Virginia would be the first of those states to start turning results in.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 12:16 PM) 1 min. 3 sec. 3 weeks, 6 days.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 02:37 PM) Hell, we know NOW, don't we? We know not much now. We know where the race will probably turn.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 01:40 PM) So someone who did 10 years for manslaughter can run for President but Arnold Schwarzenegger can't? Yup.

There's no clean criminal record required to run for office. Just to vote for one.

Tuesday is coming and its good fun and all to watch the results coming in, but with projections being what they are.... when will it become obvious who is going to win the Presidential election? Here's RexKickass's confusing prediction. The polls close in Virginia at 7p. If that state is called for Obama and PA and NH which close at 8 are called for Obama. We should know at that point. Obama seems to have a lock on Iowa. McCain really only has a shot at peeling PA and NH from the 252 electoral votes that Kerry got in 04. Once those three states are called, assuming everything else goes as it did in 2004, Obama will get a minimum of 272 electoral votes - and will be the next President. If McCain can pull a win out in PA, the picture will become much less clear. Obama would need to win in Ohio or Florida to recover solidly. Or could win by pulling ahead in New Mexico and Colorado (states he is expected to carry) plus any of the following states - Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada OR the combination of Montana and North Dakota. If McCain can pull a win out in PA or NH, the picture remains very similar to a victory in PA except Nevada or the combination of Montana and North Dakota would not give him the victory either. Here we would be looking at NM, CO + VA or NC or IN or MO or NV+MT+ND.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 09:55 PM) But the Republican model is basically just the same as the Democrats with slightly different tax decreases. Both are going to deficit spend out of this problem. Except the issues facing us now have become systemic based on long term deficit spending. So I would argue that we will not purely deficit spend out of this problem. Because it will only create more problems.

Clearly, you aren't a student of politics. Words do matter! But only when it helps your side. If its damaging to your side from your side, that's just idle chit-chat, or out of context meanings. If its positive from the other side, its empty promises and being all hat with no cattle. I'm reasonably confident that Obama will represent a return to some degree of normalcy that our government operated on under Reagan, Bush 41, and Clinton pre 1997. How sad is it that we've gotten so polarized as a country that I long for the day where disagreements in D.C. can just be civil again?