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.