600,000 Americans have lost their job in the year 2008.

It’s hard not to read the papers and get sad for my fellow working Americans. Almost 100,000 Americans have lost their jobs in the past couple of weeks. I see headlines of Hewlett Packard laying off 25,000 people. Lehman brothers laid off 20,000. AIG is next on the chopping block and there is literally video on CNN right now of people walking out of AIG in a line with cardboard boxes of their personal stuff. Gannett, who owns USA TODAY, just laid off 100 people last week. 100 people is nothing compared to 25K. As usual, both campaigns are acting like buffoons and putting complete blame on the others. In reality, it’s hard to blame Bush, Obama, McCain or the rest of government for this one. A series of unfortunate events (i.e. the real estate crash) mixed with greed by top management has left many Americans out on the street. We will have to see how this plays out. Right now, John McCain is still doing exceptionally well in the polls. Recent data I have analyzed has suggested that even traditionally liberal states like New Jersey and Washington, Obama is only enjoying a couple point lead in the polls. In addition, former battleground states like the Dakotas, Missouri, Georgia, and North Carolina, Obama has 10-20 point leads in. There is no doubt that the momentum two weeks after the Republican National Convention is all with John McCain. The first debate is in two weeks and Obama is going to have to have a dramatic, decisive victory to regain momentum. The politico has a great article about how the “drill now drill baby” sentiment is very popular all across America, especially as our economy gets sicker and sicker. This plays right into the hands of the Republicans. Does Obama “flip-flop” and now do a 180 on his position on drilling and now be in favor of it for purely political purposes? Or does he remain with the “drilling is not the answer” crowd but realize only 30% of Americans agree with him. This is a tough problem for Obama. If I were him, I would suffer the wrath of flip-flop comments and get on board to drilling.

1. I saw two movies yesterday. The first movie I saw was the dark comedy, In Bruges with Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell. I thought it was boring and difficult to follow. I also rented Cloverfield. Cloverfield, at its most basic level is a movie about a giant monster that attacks New York City. I had very low expectations but I came away thoroughly impressed. Jim Winstead highly recommended this movie and he was right. The movie was suspenseful, exciting, and also quite funny. I would definitely recommend it. I regretted last year that I didn’t take more days of vacation when it was nice out.

2. Some friends and I are going to Las Vegas tomorrow. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

3. To plagiarize from the, Wisconsin Advertising Project: "Despite much talk about an expanded playing field, by and large, states receiving advertising in 2008 look similar to the states targeted in the 2004 presidential campaign. The Obama campaign aired ads in seventeen states from September 6-13, while the McCain campaign aired ads in fifteen of those same states." "McCain and Obama are roughly even in spending in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Obama is out-advertising McCain by nearly 3:2 in Missouri and by nearly 3:1 in Virginia. McCain has aired virtually no ads in Indiana, Montana and North Dakota. McCain's campaign is, however, out-advertising Obama by over 3:2 in Pennsylvania and over 2:1 in Iowa. McCain is also out-advertising Obama by a wide margin in Minnesota - a state where Obama has spent just $18,000." Said project director Ken Goldstein: "Where the campaigns advertise tells us a great deal about the candidates' electoral strategies. Post-convention ad buys give us the first insights into the campaigns' assessments of where they think they are competitive as the fall campaign heats up."

4. I am a depressed Vikings fan. There is no shame in losing to Green Bay, a team that went 13 – 3 last year, at Lambeu Field by less than a touchdown. They then followed it up by losing at home to the 2006 Superbowl champs, Indianapolis Colts, with Adam Vinateiri kicking a game winning field goal. What depresses me is that both of those games, the Vikes played terrible and they should have won. Now, Coach Childress is benching quarterback T. Jack for 38 year old Gus Frerotte. The Vikings have no one to blame for their quarterback issues than themselves. They had lots of opportunities the past three years to draft someone different (Jay Cutler, Aaron Rodgers) or trade for a solid quarterback like Byron Leftwich, Matt Schaub, David Carr, and Jeff Garcia. Yet, they remained loyal to Tavaris Jackson. And now, Jackson is benched for a slow quarterback with an arm that can’t throw more than thirty yards. Sigh.