The United Blue States of America

Yesterday was kind of a television feast for myself. I got back from work, did a quick work-out, ate some dinner, and then settled down to watch the Barack Obama half hour TV program. As you read yesterday, I didn’t have high expectations but I came away very impressed. As a pupil in the history of political science, I could not help but be reminded of how similar Obama’s “infomercial” was to Ronald Reagan’s way of campaigning. Reagan almost never made personal insults directed at his opponent and instead inspired America with positive rhetoric. Don’t get me wrong. I think Reagan was an atrocious president, but I admired his style of campaigning. After the Obama infomercial, I watched the movie Recount, before catching a little Timberwolves/World Series. It was a good night.

1. Wow! I LOVED the movie Recount. Starring Kevin Spacey, Ed Bagely Jr, and Dennis Leary, Recount is a moved based on the 2000 Presidential election between the time the voting concluded, and Bush was sworn in. I give the movie an A+. The acting was superb, and despite me knowing the ending, I was mesmerized and inspired. I also learned quite a bit about how slimy Florida politics were and how Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, and others basically handed Gore his defeat. I had read great things about Recount online but I didn’t know much about it. It was an HBO movie a few months ago and because I don’t have HBO, I couldn’t see it. Please go rent it. In case you are wondering, because of the 2000 election, the McCain/Obama teams have hired 4000 attorneys to make sure everything runs smoothly.

2. As all of you know, I love hot weather and I could move to many Southern states including Florida, North Carolina, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and possibly even Tennessee. However, I could never live in the Deep South. CNN polled the state of Texas to see what religion Obama practiced. The heavy majority got his religion correct, but 23% erroneously said he was a Muslim. How is that possible! How can 1 out of 4 Texans think he is a Muslim? I could never live in the Deep South because of the people. Obama has talked openly and proudly about his Christian faith and yet a quarter of Texans think because he has an African name, or because he is not white, that he must be a Muslim. The South just continues to amaze me.

3. I received an interesting email that mocked the idea of what would happen if the South won the Civil War. That email has inspired talking point number three. I used some of their statistics as well. I actually thought about this last night quite a bit. I will call us the United Blue States of America vs. The United Red States of America. Here is kind of how the Blue States vs. Red State countries would look. We get Hawaii, the North East, and all of the Blue States in between. You get Oklahoma and your other slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Microsoft. You get Worldcom. We get Harvard. You get Ole’ Miss. We get 85% of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. Our divorce rate is 22% lower; we get happier families. You get sexually repressed bible thumpers. We will be pro-choice and anti-war. So we are going to need our kids back from Iraq… now. With the blue states we will have 80% of the fresh water, 92% of the fruit, 95% of the wine, 90% of the cheese, 90% of the tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans, most of the coal, redwoods, sequoias, IVY League schools plus MIT, Cal Tech, and Stanford. You will get University of Alabama. Oh c’mon Red States, you will get something. 88% of all obese people, 92% of mosquitoes, 90% of the hurricanes, plus 99% of the televangelists, and Rush Limbaugh live in your states. We will keep Berkeley. You can have Bob Jones University. I think we will keep Yosemite and Hollywood thank you very much. 38% of Southerners believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale. 44% say evolution is a theory. 53% say Saddam was partially responsible for 9/11. Red States, I do wish you look on your continual quest to find Weapons of Mass Destruction, but we here in the Blue States we will spend our Tax money protecting the environment, giving our citizens adequate health care, and providing exceptional education. Enjoy your NASCAR.

4. You can't make it up. Mike Singletary lost his debut as 49ers head coach, getting waxed by a Seattle team that entered the game with only one victory. Yet Singletary's post-game rant and his decision to send Vernon Davis to the showers was cheered from coast to coast, resonating with a nation of football fans tired of all the thugs, punks and bonus-baby divas in the NFL. The whole story is even more bizarre. At halftime of that game, Singletary called for the attention of his players. He then dropped his pants, turned around and pointed to his backside. He used this occasion and that visual to describe what happened to his team in the first half. A NFL source inside the room confirmed the story with my radio partner, XTRA 910 football guru Mike Jurecki, and added that Singletary then addressed the team for 3-4 minutes with his pants around his ankles. The 49ers trailed 20-3 at halftime. They would lose the game, 34-13.
-- Arizona Republic

Rosa sat so Martin could walk so Barack could run so our children could fly.

I wanted to start out by thanking everyone for their really nice voicemails, texts, and emails. I am feeling much improved and I am finally back on work, making the Man some much needed money.

1. There is no doubt that Barack Obama has a huge money advantage over John McCain. Generally, I think he has done a marvelous job spending his money and his campaign has been nearly flawless. I am unsure though of the effectiveness of a nationwide 30 minute “commercial” today. Tonight, Obama has bought 30 minutes of airtime on CBS, Fox, and NBC. (Poor ABC) Is this Obama being too extravagant and doing the ol’ putting the cart before the horse? I don’t know.

2. I rented the movie Mr. Woodcock last night. I give it a C+/B-. It’s not a bad rental. Billy Bob Thornton is fantastic as the asshole P.E. teacher and Amy Poehler nailed the role as a neurotic publicist. However, the movie moved really slowly.

3. I read an interesting piece this morning online about how John McCain has actually been too nice during the campaign. Let me explain. Karl Rove is in my opinion the most brilliant political tactician in the American political history. He had an uncanny ability to figure out regional wedge issues and drive them home successfully. He was smart enough to know that if there were actual policy debates that John Kerry and Al Gore would win. And by all accounts, Kerry and Gore dominated Bush during the presidential debates. In 2008, John McCain has unsuccessfully so far tried to battle Obama about the “real” issues. Let me give you an example. Some states like Tennessee, Virginia, and Iowa were states that John Kerry could/should have won. In 2004, Mr. Rove blasted John Kerry on issues like gun control daily. I should know, I was a student at Iowa State during that time and received several pamphlets about how John Kerry would take away my right to own a gun. This is of course blatantly un-true but the truthiness of a fact never mattered much to Karl Rove. Rove was really good at convincing rural and small town Americans that Bush was one of them and Kerry was an out of touch, big city, elitist. Barack Obama is liberal… quite liberal in fact. John McCain has not hammered him on the issues that make conservatives and independents leery of liberals – Gun Control, Abortion, et cetera. Not that I mind one bit. But I have a feeling this type of “mistake” will not be repeated in 2012.

4. If you enjoy politics, then please go to NBC.com and see the latest SNL’s skit, “Barack and Michelle’s Variety Show.” It’s also very good. As is the latest jibjab.com skit, “Time for campaigning”.

5. I could not believe my ears. I was flipping channels last night and I saw Bill O’Reilly on Late Show with Dave Letterman last night. I don’t want to say that he endorsed Barack Obama (he has a policy of not endorsing any candidates) but he said Obama is sincere, honest, and a good man. O’Reilly doesn’t say that about many politicians, let alone liberal politicians. I was actually really impressed with O’Reilly yesterday. He was modest, humorous, and a good sport while being the butt of many of Dave’s jokes.

6. The Minnesota Vikings are done. Two of their starting defensive linemen, Pat and Kevin Williams, who both went to the pro-bowl last year, were suspended for four games for testing positive for an illegal substance. Kevin Williams is the best defensive tackle in the league. To me, it’s not even a debate. His loss will be huge. It doesn’t help when our starting middle linebacker, and his back-up, are both out with season ending injuries. Every team will easily run up the middle. Thank goodness basketball season begins soon.

7. If there is any further question of how big of idiots the Minnesota Twins are, take a look at what is happening in Philadelphia. By idiots, I mean the Twins are building a new baseball stadium that will open spring of 2010 without a retractable roof. Baseball is a warm weather game. It is not meant to be delayed because of Sleet – like what happened in Philadelphia. Baseball is not football. If the ball becomes slippery, or pitchers’ arms get cold, it could really mess up the game.

The disclaimer

I need you to pray for me. Saturday night, I went to the ER in an ambulance. It could be a problem with the medicine I am having or it could be something else. I have appointments with specialists this morning and tomorrow. I ask for nothing but your prayers that I continue to get better as soon as possible. My family has a history with gall bladder and kidney issues and I will get more testing done tomorrow. I am extremely grateful and fortunate this past Saturday that I was surrounded by tremendous support from my friends. Their unselfishness and benevolence was noted and appreciated. More to come I am sure.

Another brick in the wall

I have moved back from optimistic to just cautiously optimistic that Obama will win the presidency. As usual, the races continue to tighten. Let’s not forget that a month before the election, John Kerry had a ten point lead and Al Gore had a 16 point lead with only weeks left. Polls have a history of tightening. That is exactly what is happening right now. Andrew even sent me the most recent Associated Press poll showing Obama with only a one point lead. Here are the new updates: Obama will win every state that John Kerry won. Former battleground states like Wisconsin, Michigan, et cetera, Obama has at least a ten point lead in. I figure it is too late in the election to make up ten points unless “The unthinkable happens”; which I will get to later. John Kerry won 252 electoral votes. As we know, you need 270 votes to win the presidency. In addition, John Kerry has a ten point lead in New Mexico and a twelve point lead in Iowa. Those are both states that George W. Bush won. That puts Obama’s new total (Kerry’s 252 + Iowa’s 7 + New Mexico’s 5) at 264. I think for sure that Obama will win at least 264 votes. However, that’s not good enough. Despite their being 50 states, it will only come down to Nevada, Colorado, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. If Obama wins one of those states, he is the president. If he wins 5 or 6 out of the 7 remaining, the pundits will declare the election a landslide. I think he will win at least one unless the “unthinkable” happens.

Okay, John, what is “The Unthinkable”. What is John McCain’s greatest strength? It is clearly not the economy. His greatest strength would be dealing with a world conflict, military issues, or national security threats. Funny, John Kerry had a big lead and then about this time four years ago, Osama Bin Laden released another video. What timing Mr. Bin Laden has! If something major happens in the world, like Russia invades Georgia again, or Israel and Palestine go at it, or there is a major terrorist attack on America or one of our allies, immediately all of the media will turn their attention away from the economy and on to that. Guess who will benefit greatly? John McCain. If something major happens in the next few weeks, I could see McCain sweeping the battleground states and winning the White House. Not only is that McCain’s greatest strength; it is probably Obama’s greatest weakness. Please pray for world peace… at the very least to last another 12 days.

1. Do you remember about a year ago when the Conservative press just ripped John Edwards to shreds for using $400 of his campaign funds for a haircut. That is a laughable offense now that we have found out that Sarah Palin has spent $150,000 of campaign funds on clothes and $20,000 on make-up. In case you were wondering, all of the other candidates use their own money on clothes; apparently Sarah Palin thinks that the wealthy GOP donors should fun her $800 Neiman Marcus blouses. During the Republican National Convention, she spent $75,000 in one trip to Neiman Marcus in downtown Minneapolis. That amount just boggles my mind. In case you are wondering, the big GOP donors are not amused: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14840.html or http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102202187.html?hpid=artslot or http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/22/morning-buzz-palin-expenses/. In case you were wondering, Palin’s annual salary as governor: $125,000. www.politico.com has a full list of what she purchased as every cent that the Republican Party or Democrat Party has to be submitted to the Dept of Treasury and becomes public record. My favorite thing that Palin purchased and charged the Republican Party: A $98 pacifier. You don’t find a lot of hockey moms or Joe Six-Packs with that amount of money hanging from their closets.

2. In case any of you were wondering, Bill O’Reilly will be around for a long time. He just signed a long term deal at a cool $10,000,000 a year!!

3. Currently listening to “Times like These’ by the Foo Fighters. Album: One by One

Bachman Turner Overdrive

When I was a freshman, I devoted one section of my wall to what was referred to as “The Wall of Shame” or “The List”. This list had several people that I absolutely cannot stand including Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, the now deceased Jerry Fallwell, among others. On the opposite side of the wall were pictures of all that were good in the world – like the good reverend Al Sharpton and a cut-out of Ms. Butterworth’s Maple Syrup. I love maple syrup. Anyway, if I still had my wall of shame, there would be a new picture added. That would be Minnesota congresswoman, Michelle Bachman (R) – who represents central Minnesota, primarily the St. Cloud area. Ms. Bachman was elected two years ago and she has continuously embarrassed the state in myriad ways. Let’s not forget her infamous smooch to George W. Bush about 18 months ago. I think what bothers me the most is what an attention whore she is. I don’t know if it is because she is a Republican woman, or if it is because she is attractive, or if it is because she is a fireball, but she is on TV all the time. In fact, she has been interviewed on National Cable TV programs 23 times in 2008 alone. In the past week, she has been on Bill O’Reilly, Hardball with Chris Matthew, and Larry King. That is unheard of for a freshman congresswoman. She is also one of the most conservative members of the house. She has won elections by staging “Bring Ten Commandments back to school” rallies at the state capitol. She opposes any more funding for education. She has demanded that creationism be taught as a scientific theory in the classroom. How could I forget her saying that homosexuals suffer from a “sexual disorder” and her famous quote “Gays our specifically targeting our children. Our children are the prize for this community.” I mean c’mon. Are you kidding me? What is wrong with the people in the Sixth district of Minnesota that they would elect this crackpot?! She made national headlines this past weekend when she said Barack Obama was un-patriotic and had Anti-American views. She concluded by saying that the national media should investigate liberals in congress for Anti-American activities. I am praying to the Good Lord that she is defeated in two weeks.

1. I have said this before. It is not easy being a Minnesota sports fans. In the past four years, look at this list of future Hall of Fame Players that have been traded – Johan Santana, Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett, and there are more. Today, star of the Minnesota Wild, Marian Gaborik, has requested a trade. He is a top-five NHL player and I will be sad to see him go. Minnesota has tried all off season to resign him including offering him a 10 year, 90 million dollar contract that would have made him the third highest paid player in the NHL.

2. Currently listening to “Bruises” by Chairlift: Album – Does You Inspire You

The Bu

What a great weekend. Friday night, I went to the University of Minnesota’s Midnight Madness event for their men’s basketball team. I had a lot of fun. The team looked REALLY good. They were sharp, focused, serious… everything that I would expect from a Tubby Smith coached team. They welcome a top ten recruiting class (including the Canadian High School Player of the Year and the National Junior College Player of the Year) and the season will depend on how well they improve as the season goes on. My guess is they finish 5th in a good Big 10 behind Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin and have a seven or eight seed in the NCAA tournament. That would not be too shabby considering they finished LAST in the Big 10 only two years ago. After the basketball event, we all went to a bar near the “U” called The Library. Oh my goodness I forgot how nice college bars are. The bar itself was average to above average but tap beer and rail drinks were $1 each. I miss those type of prices at the watering holes I like to frequent. Saturday, I woke up and watched Iowa State lose 35 – 7 to Nebraska… at home. After that, Elyse mentioned she had never been to Stillwater, home of the infamous Aaron Robbins, so Elyse and I spent the lovely afternoon walking around downtown Stillwater. Sunday was pretty casual. I went on a walk, worked out, watched the Vikings put 41 points on the board and still find a way to lose, and then had dinner with my parents. Also, during various points of the weekend, I watched Season One of the NBC show, Chuck. I really like it. It is funny, smart, and has a little bit of action too. It definitely is show that has something for everyone. The only problem is now I have yet another show that I am going to have to start watching. No more shows! I watch too much TV as it is.

1. I just got back from the gym at 9:00 Sunday morning, I was reading Men’s Health Magazine and the TV is on in the background. I have always enjoyed the show Meet the Press. I hear the Colin Powell is on. I put down the magazine and listen intently as this retired General, former Secretary of State under two different Republican Presidents, and lifelong Republican comes out blasting the McCain campaign and says he is endorsing Barack Obama. I was, of course, pleasantly surprised. However, he did say he will not do any campaigning for Obama.

2. I stand by my assertion that Sarah Palin will be the Republican nominee for President in 2012 if Obama is elected. Saturday night, Sarah Palin was on Saturday Night Live and they had their highest rated show in decades.

3. The Gophers are ranked in the AP Poll, Coaches Poll, and the first BCS standing. Who would have ever thought that a team that had one win a year ago would be ranked?

4. I cannot wait for the World Series. I really did not want to see the Dodgers play the Red Sox in the World Series and I got my wish. Take note Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, Angels, and you other teams that think you can buy a world series. This World Series is a testament to teamwork, good coaching, good scouting, chemistry, and tenacity. Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tampa Bay Rays have never won a championship before. The Tampa Bay Lightning won a NHL championship a few years ago… but that was hockey so does that count? The city of Philadelphia has not won a championship since the Phillies won almost three decades ago. They are due as well. LA and Boston have more championship banners than they know what to do with. As I had mentioned before, the Boston Celtics won like their 18th NBA championship last year and they are still only the third most popular team in that city behind the Red Sox and Patriots.

5. Have any of you heard the story of Division II offensive lineman for Mesa State College, Trevor Wikre. He might be the biggest idiot I have ever read about in my life. It is his senior year. There are a half a dozen games left. He loves football but knows there is no NFL in his future. At some point during game 5, he severely dislocates his pinky finger. The doctors say it will require surgery and he will miss the rest of the season. Instead of taking the advice of doctors, he decides, what the heck, just amputate it. A long story short, his pinky is amputated and he can now play the remaining six games on the schedule. I am all for love of the game. I am all for toughness. But c’mon!

6. Currently listening to "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys. Album - Pet Sounds

And the sky is a hazy shade of winter

Excuse me for almost dislocating my shoulder patting myself on the back. Wednesday’s debate went exactly as I thought it would go. John McCain came out like one of Michael Vick’s pitbulls. He was passionate and fiery. Barack Obama’s strategy was not to dominate or even win the debate. His job was to remain calm, “look presidential”, mature, and basically not do anything to screw up. Of all the debates I have watched, this was by far Barack Obama’s best. I thought he did terrific. He had two snotty remarks, but beyond that, he absolutely aced it. John McCain did what he had to do. He is behind in the polls and he knew this might be his last chance to regain the lead. He took calculated risks and he did excellent. I just think Obama did better. I also thought that moderator Bob Schieffer of CBS did a great job. The only criticism I would give to Schieffer was to ask why on earth he would bring up abortion. That is such a dangerous topic and I absolutely cringe when it is brought up during a debate. Fortunately, Obama has learned his lesson from the terrible Saddleback Church debate where he danced around the topic and looked like an idiot. On Wednesday, Obama basically said abortion is a necessary evil and he is pro-choice. There are 18 days left in this election and I am officially moving from cautiously optimistic to firmly optimistic that Obama will win. Let’s first take away all of the other battleground states like Colorado, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, et cetera. I will give these to John McCain. Obama has a 10-12 point lead in Iowa, New Mexico, and Virginia. These are all states that George W. Bush won. If Obama maintains the lead in those three states (and how could he not barring some major surprise) than Obama will have secured enough electoral votes to win the presidency. Plus, it would be hard not to be confident he will not pick up another state or two among the battleground states. Plus, money does buy elections. It is hard to argue that theory. Obama has a very sizable money advantage and in the state of Virginia alone, Obama is outspending McCain by a 3 – 1 margin. Minnesota is the only battleground state that McCain has outspent Obama in. I’m not getting cocky; just confident.

1. I think I have mentioned that I can’t stand watching local news. It is all negative. Today’s headline in Minneapolis is about four Northfield, MN men who were arrested for kidnapping a mentally handicapped man and tying him to a tree before burning him, torturing him, and eventually beating him unconscious where he was left to die. Fortunately, some people found him and he is recovering in a hospital. Those four men should be shot.

2. I am little tired because I did want to see what the John McCain on David Letterman’s appearance would be like. To my pleasant surprise, John McCain took it like a man. He basically said he made a mistake, asked Dave to accept his apology, and then they moved on. One of my pet peeves is when Republicans constantly talk about the Liberal Media. That is just not true. John McCain has been a media darling for years. He has been a frequent guest on the daily show since 2000. Yesterday was his 13th appearance on Dave Letterman. I don’t doubt that many of the media like Barack Obama but the media also loves John McCain. Plus, my response to Republicans saying that all media members are elite is to remind them that as rough as they have been on W, try to remember how ruthless they were against Bill Clinton. During the late 90’s, we were at peace, we had no national debt, the stock market was doing wonderful but that didn’t matter to the media. The media was obsessed with destroying Clinton’s character and considering we still hear almost daily Clinton jokes, I would say it worked.

3. I have mentioned this before. I like John McCain. I think there is place for him in the senate. I think he is smart, brave, and is a good representative of the United States while abroad. But I can’t stand Sarah Palin. Everything about her drives me nuts. However, I better learn to deal with this because Palin is not going away anytime soon. I can guarantee you that Sarah Palin will be the Republican nominee to run against Barack Obama in 2012. Palin might not be loved by Democrats and Independents but she is LOVED by Conservatives. Three and a half years from now, when it is time for them to decide what Republican to vote for, I have no doubt they will go for Palin. Plus, she will have four more years of experience. If the economy is not doing well then I would expect Mitt Romney to still have a chance. I have also heard a lot of scuttlebutt suggesting that the Republican Party is already prepping Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, to run in 2012 (or 2016 if McCain wins.) Bobby Jindal already is doing a lot of “campaigning for John McCain” in battleground states Iowa, New Hampshire, and North Carolina. I highly doubt it is a coincidence considering that those are three of the first five primaries in the election season.

4. Damnit Rays! Switching to baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays had a 7 – 0 lead in the seventh inning and somehow lost last night to the Boston Red Sox. I really want to see a Tampa Bay vs. Philadelphia World Series.

Nightmare scenario

While doing my daily analysis of polls in battleground states, I stumbled across a very real nightmare situation. As we know, for a candidate to win the white house, he needs 270 electoral votes to win the election. There are a total of 538 electoral votes. However, 538 divided by two equals 269. What the heck happens if after the election, we end up with a 269-269 tie? Despite what the national media is recently indicating, I have no doubt that this will be a very tight election. For instance, Al Gore had about the same lead over W. in 2000 at this point and we all know what happened there. Let’s say that Barack Obama wins almost every state that John Kerry won plus he takes Colorado, New Mexico, and Iowa. But, John McCain wins New Hampshire, which John Kerry won. McCain is very popular in New Hampshire and the state has a lot of independents and political “mavericks”. That would lead to a 269-269 tie. That is only one of countless different ways we could end up with a tie. Under this scenario, called the “unit rule”, the House of Representatives would vote to decide who the next president is. Before you Democrats start rejoicing, it is not that simple. Right now, the Democrats have an advantage in the house and it looks like they are going to pick up about a dozen seats in the 2008 election. So this means Obama wins? Again, slow down my friends. Under the Unit Rule, every state would get one vote. That means that the state of California with 53 U.S. representatives will all huddle together and cast a single vote. Other states like Wyoming and Alaska, have one representative. Which means Wyoming is just as important as California under the Unit Rule. Also, the current house will not vote, the newly inducted class will vote on the next president which means it is way too early to predict how certain states would vote. Can you imagine what a political nightmare this would be?! It would be a political firestorm like we have never seen!! Only about half of the states have laws requiring the electors to cast their vote exactly as indicated by the population of the state. You might be saying so what? Here’s the problem. A state like Arkansas has more Democrat US representatives than Republicans. However, the state will probably go for McCain by a huge margin. Do they satisfy their party and vote for Obama and anger their constituents and risk not being re-elected or do they vote for McCain, despite being Democrats, and basically have the Democrat leadership punish them by withdrawing any future campaign funding and take away any leadership positions they may have. If the Unit Rule were to happen, the vote would be January 6, 2009. That would mean over two months of chaos! A part of me is fearful but another part of me is drooling with excitement. Needless to say, I would be plenty happy if Obama won by a comfortable 50 electoral votes and we don’t have to worry about this. I just want you to keep in mind that this is a possibility.

1. I am definitely getting excited for the start of basketball season – both NBA and college. I have low expectations but I am still excited. All three of the teams I cheer for are in the same boat. The Cyclones suffered many losses this past off season to graduation and transfer. They welcome seven new players at almost every single position. Will Diante Garrett or incoming freshman Dominique Buckley prove that they can be the point guards of the future? We have heard a lot of shooting guard Lucca Steigger. Will he live up to the hype? What about the junior college big men transferring in? Will they be able to at least equal Jiri Hubalek? There are more questions than answers for the Cyclones. The goal is to be on the NIT bubble this year. The gophers welcome in a top ten recruiting class in the country. They have four incoming freshman who were top 100 recruits. The big question will be can the new freshman live up to the hype so the gophs can make a run in 2010. The Timberwolves had the 3rd worst record in the NBA last year. However, they have made some great moves this off-season. They have got rid of a lot of bad contracts that were weighing them down (Mike James, Marko Jaric, Juwan Howard, Trenton Hassell, Antoine Walker, and Troy Hudson) and have a nice young nucleus of Randy Foye, Rashad McCants, Rodney Carney, Corey Brewer, Kevin Love, Mike Miller, and Al Jefferson. This team will be vastly improved. Most importantly, they have FOUR first round draft picks and three 2nd round picks next year. The future is finally starting to look bright for the Timberwolves. I hope that they can trade some of those picks for talent.

The ice garden

Life is good. It is a pleasant 68 degrees out, most sunny skies, and I feel well rested. On Friday, I finished off the last season of the comedy How I Met Your Mother? It was excellent as expected. Saturday morning consisted of a little college football viewing in the morning and visiting friends in the evening. Jim and Sarah were in town from Chicago. A bunch of us ate dinner at Sarah’s house and then spent the rest of the night chatting about politics, and the meaning of life by a roaring fire place with classical music in the background. Throw in the fact that a lot of this happened while we sipped wine, ate appetizers, and talked about the decline of the American education system, I think we fit the profile perfectly of the elitist liberals. By the way, I am not embarrassed by that title and I want liberals to proudly reclaim the title of liberal. Sarah’s friend Norah had a good quote. I want a president who can relate to normal Americans, not a president that is a normal American. She hit on something very important. Why is it bad that Barack Obama spent his childhood traveling the world? Why is it bad that Obama got his diplomas from Ivy League schools Columbia and Harvard? Why is it bad that right before Obama became a politician, he was a professor at University of Chicago instead of being a carpenter or welder? I want my presidents to be smart, gifted orators, but also have the ability to relate to normal Americans. I do think Obama’s travels, and the fact that he was raised very modestly, give him that. C’mon Liberals; Own that elitist label and be proud of it! Study after study has shown that liberals are better educated and informed than their conservative counterparts. I am proud of that.

1. I will be in Mankato today. I can’t wait?

2. I just don’t understand the stock market. I see that the market is up 500 points today! Why is that? What happened over the past weekend that would make investors so incredibly optimistic? Don’t get me wrong; I am thrilled but flummoxed. My only guess is that gas prices continue to plummet. Gas prices are down about 75 cents a gallon. That could be it.

You are either onto something or on something.

I have spent the last few days in Duluth, MN for business. I really think Duluth is one of the most underrated cities in the Midwest. Let me preface that by saying only during the months of April – October. Duluth is Minnesota’s third biggest city behind Minneapolis and Saint Paul. It is a hilly city right on the shores of Lake Superior. Because it is up North, plus it is always windy because of the lake, Duluth is perpetually cold. I have spent many days in January in Duluth and it is almost unbearable. However, it is a fantastic city to visit in the summer. It has great restaurants, lots of history, a bustling nightlife, unique shops, and of course it is a very visually attractive city with all of its lake front property. The best bang for your buck is the Holiday Inn. You get to wake up looking at Lake Superior, it is right in downtown, and it is only $79 a night.

1. I think I will stop cheering for baseball teams. First, my Twins were knocked out and I publicly said then that I wanted to cheer for the Chicago Cubs. Naturally, they get swept out of the first round. Look out Tampa Bay, you are the next team I am cheering for. One thing that has bothered me about the Cubs is all of this curse nonsense. Do you really think Carlos Zambrano is on the mound, or Derrick Lee is batting, and they are thinking, “I wonder if the Billy Goat curse is real… Oh shit! Damnit!” I don’t think so. Speaking of worthless distraction. I hate when some sports teams do not put their names on the back of jerseys. Last week, I was watching the Iowa State game but I couldn’t tell who made the catch, or who had the big block, because their names are removed. I understand this is for team loyalty and you are supposed to play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back. Give me a break. Sports are for entertainment and they shouldn’t be taken so seriously by these ridiculous coaches. I highly doubt a wide receiver is running down the play and he is so distracted by his name being on the back of his jersey that he drops the ball. It really bothers me. By the way, if it turns out to be a LA vs. Boston World Series, I will not watch one game. I am not a Boston fan and I cheer against them. I don’t like LA either.

2. It could have been the Blackstone Pinot Noir I was sipping, or it could have been the boring product. Needless to say I fell asleep during the Obama/McCain debate. I am starting to once again become optimistic about the election again. We are exactly four weeks away from the election. Elyse will be in Nevada during the election so this past weekend; she filled out her absentee ballot. (One vote for Obama by the way.) One thing I did not like at all came at the bottom. There was a question regarding giving me funding for the Plymouth school system to upgrade their failing auditoriums. Naturally, I support almost all public education funding requests and so does Elyse and she voted yes. However, while reading the small fine print, I saw that not voting in the referendum will count as a no vote. No wonder no referendums get passed. Think of how many people just vote for the president, or just the senator, and ignore all of the voting for judges, sheriffs, et cetera? This is absolutely terrible and saddens me. Chock that wording up to a victory for the fiscal conservatives.

3. I am not proud of this but I watched a lot of TV this weekend. Friday night, I finished up the third season of Weeds. I really like that show. Saturday I watched a lot of football. Who would have ever thought that the Golden Gophers would be 5 – 1 after starting 1 – 11 last year? Their only loss is at Ohio State. Sunday, I watched two movies. I rented the 1988 classic, Rainman, with Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. I give it a B. I liked it but it is not in my top 10 list. I also rented the George Clooney, John Kraskinski, movie Leatherheads. It was not good. I give it a C-. Not worth the cost of headphones on an airplane.

4. It is hard for me not to feel terribly sad about the economy. Selfishly, I am angry. My 401K is now pathetic and my personal stocks are almost worth nothing. However, I am 23. I feel terribly for the people who are retired or close to retired and have seen their savings vanish. The cover of USA Today this morning said that, America has lost over $2 trillion dollars out of their retirement accounts in 2008. Try to wrap your head around that number. In addition, 150,000 Americans have lost their jobs just this past quarter. This is a very sad time for America. We are in multiple wars, the economy is the worst it has been since the Great Depression, our health care system is failing, the national debt is getting out of control, gas prices are up about $1.00 more a gallon than even a year ago, et cetera et cetera et cetera.

Style over Substance

I did watch the Vice Presidential debate yesterday. I thought both candidates did quite well. Joe Biden at his worst had a few moments where he basically laughed at Sarah Palin which could be mistaken for being condescending. However, he was also knowledgeable, relaxed, and confident. Sarah Palin did not screw-up. For that reason alone, it was a major victory for the GOP ticket. I think the reason she did better in the debates and she struggled during interviews is host Gwen Ifil did a poor job of asking tough follow up questions. She asked important, but predictable questions like, “What are your thoughts on the bailout? What should we do about Iran? How would you say the Iraq War has been going?” Katie Couric asked similar questions but she also pushed harder. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. When Gwen Ifill asked brought up the terrible mortgage crisis we have in America, Governor Palin said: "Let's commit ourselves--just everyday American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation--I think we need to band together and say, 'Never again.'" Wait a second here. Gwen Ifil should have said, “I completely agree Governor Palin. Specifically about the mortgage crisis, what are your thoughts?” But she didn’t and she let Palin off the hook. Here is what I think. Ifil has been blasted by the Republican media in the past few weeks. Those ratfucks at the Drudge Report uncovered that Ifil is currently writing a book about African American political leadership. Naturally, she has a chapter, a positive chapter, about Barack Obama’s presidential run. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dennis Miller, and Bill O’Reilly and other Conservative radio hosts have basically said that there is no way that Palin could win because the host is clearly in the Obama camp. I think host Gwen Ifil was so terrified of being labeled one of the “liberal media” members that she was overly nice to Sarah Palin. I give Gwen Ifil a D+ for her job as host. Any idiot could have asked the questions and it was embarrassing how soft she was to both Palin and Biden. All in all, I still am optimistic about the election with 32 days to go. The rumors are buzzing that John McCain has pulled his people and advertising dollar out of Michigan, a state with a lot of electoral votes, to Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Yes, I said that last week Obama pulled out of North Dakota and Georgia, but McCain had a much better chance in Michigan than Obama ever would have had in ND or GA.

1. Yesterday absolutely sucked for me. As I was driving home on Hwy 694, I ran over a rock that punctured my tire and bent my rim so badly that I have to get a new one. The damage? $275 for a new tire. No, not $275 for a new set, that is for just one tire. Apparently, the Scion has very special, rare tires that have to specially ordered and are about twice as much as normal tires. The real damage came from the rims. $475 not including taxes, labor, et cetera. Yesterday was an outrageously expensive day. I will become a cheap hermit for a while. Between Vegas, donations to Obama, the tire, the rim, and some let’s just say reckless spending on my part, I need to simmer it down with the spending.

2. Survey USA came out with a new poll that shows in Minnesota, John McCain has a small lead and Republican Senator Norm Coleman has a ten point lead over challenger Al Franken. According to Survey USA, "Minnesota behaves unlike other states in some respects. Among women, there is movement to McCain, at a time when McCain is losing ground among women elsewhere. Among voters younger than Obama, there movement to McCain, at a time when Obama is consolidating support among young voters elsewhere. Among voters older than McCain, there is movement to Obama, at a time when older voters elsewhere are sticking by McCain." I still am confident that Obama will carry Minnesota but he better put more of an effort. I am bombarded with ads for McCain everywhere and I have seen almost no Obama ads. If Obama continues to ignore Minnesota, while McCain continues to spend a lot of time and money here, then McCain could steal it. Let’s not forget that Minnesotans were blasted with all Republican all the time week during the Republican National Convention.

3. Currently listening to Motion City Soundtrack, “This is For Real” from the album Even If it Kills Me.

Fishing for Sarahcudas

I will start out by writing that I do think the Twins had a wonderful, “little engine that could” type of season. Let’s look at the facts. Of their five starting pitchers, Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey, Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins, and Scotty Baker, the oldest is 26 and the highest paid is making $600,000 a year. Let’s not forget this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. They traded multiple Cy Young award winner Johan Santana for basically a bag of peanuts. They also lost one of their top threats, Torri Hunter to free agency. Hunter also won four gold gloves. Their payroll is 20 million less than it was a year ago. In addition, one of their star players, 3B Michael Cuddyer missed half the season with hand injuries and their number one bullpen guy, Pat Neshek, had shoulder problems and was out for the whole year. Every expert picked them to finish 4th in the American League Central out of 5 teams. However, in typical Twins baseball, they scratched, clawed, and fought their way to a one game playoff with the Chicago White Sox and were one run away from making the playoffs. But this is where I stop crediting the Twins and start criticizing. They choked. In the last 35 games of the season, the Twins went 14 – 21. In the last series, the Twins were at home and lost 2 out of 3 to the lowly KC Royals. At the all star break, when other playoff contenders loaded up for a run with the Cubs getting Rich Harden, the White Sox getting Ken Griffey Jr, the Dodgers getting Manny Ramirez, the Twins did absolutely nothing. And again, they were 20 million under last year’s payroll so they had the money. They desperately needed a good designated hitter and another reliever or two. Instead, they watched as other teams got the necessary help. This is not a Twins team that deserved to win a Pennant but there was absolutely no reason that they couldn’t make the playoffs. The White Sox are a terrible team and despite winning the Central Division, they would finish in 4th place in the American League East behind the Red Sox, Rays, and Yankees. That is embarrassing. I am going to put down my Twins hat, stash away my Joe Mauer jersey, and put on my Cubs hat. It’s their time. It’s time for the lovable losers, who haven’t won the World Series, or the NL Pennant, to get their championship. Their have been four generations of Cubs fans never to see their team win. Even worse, they had to watch their baby brothers, the White Sox, win it all three years ago. Let’s go Cubs. It’s now or never.

1. I am anxiously awaiting the Sarah Palin vs. Joe Biden debate but I think I am heading for a monster disappointment. Joe Biden has huge expectations and pressure to not just win, but do well. Palin has been lying low for a while and has spent the past 10 days preparing for this debate. John McCain and Palin have been at McCain’s ranch in Sedona for the past week prepping. I have no doubt that Palin will be prepared. Plus, Joe Biden has a tricky case of criticizing her, but not coming across as condescending, or arrogant. My advice would be to only criticize McCain, and basically ignore Palin. Any attack on Palin’s background, or experience could end up disastrous.

2. After finishing up Season 2 of Weeds. I could be wrong, but I think Weeds is my second favorite show of all time behind Arrested Development. It is funny, well written, and there are plot twists in every episode. I can’t wait to start Season 3 tonight.

3. I want to be Vinny Chase.