Catching up

I've been out of town and missed the discussion on wealth redistribution, socialism, and Ayn Rand. I'm just as happy to side-step that one, though if I had to choose it would come closer to socialism than to Ms Rand.

I went to visit my sister, and I can report that the Obama campaign is alive and well in small town, Middle Georgia. This county went decisively for Obama in the primaries, has a large African-American population, plus a small but dedicated group of enlightened white folks, both young and of a certain age. Obama has had campaign workers there organizing volunteers and get out the vote activities for some time. Still, there are a lot of McCain-Palin yard signs.

The nearest daily newspaper is the Macon Telegraph, which reprinted a morning-after-debate article from the Chicago Tribune. It began: "They were in the same room Thursday night, but Joe Biden and Sarah Palin often seemed to be participating in separate debates. . . . One debate dealt with issues. The other served as a platform for Palin's unique brand of Alaskan-bred populism and twangy asides." This is not the usual red-state fodder we see in the local papers.

So, don't count us out yet. The latest polls in Georgia show a sharply declining lead for McCain. In SurveyUSA polls on 9/14-9/16 and 9/28-9/29, he dropped from +16 to +8. In Adv/Polling Position he has dropped from +18 (9/10) to +8 (9/17) to +6 (9/30).

Democrat Jim Martin, contesting incumbent GA Senator Saxby Chambliss, says an independent poll has shown the difference between them within the margin of error.

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthhammer has essentially conceded the election to Obama. In a sort of backhanded compliment, he says: "Obama has shown he is a man of limited experience, questionable convictions, deeply troubling associations (Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, Tony Rezko) and an alarming lack of self-definition. Nonetheless, he's got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president."

McCain really has no options left except to go super-negative. So far, though, the smears seem to be warmed over stuff (Wright-Ayers-Rezko), and I'm not sure those carry much impact anymore. The attempts to distort his statements and voting record are also not new. But who knows what they might be saving or invent? And where are the Swift-Boaters? Waiting until the last minute, or have their funders given up?

Sarah Palin was a 2 week wonder, and with her winks and "you betcha's" she can still excite some people, mostly those who would vote for McCain anyway. She seems to have turned off more than she's bringing in, since independents went against her decisively in the debate.

I don't want to get over-confident and be surprised; but today I can't help feeling pretty optimistic.

Ralph