Obama set up a site today that is dedicated to his agenda and plans - it would appear his stated objective to set up transparency in government is a very real commitment.

Change.gov is the site, and it is a branch of the office of the President Elect.

I have never before seen such a powerful move to transition government or to succeed in the initiatives a candidate promised to deliver - even before that candidate takes office.

The site is pretty cool. If you want to work for the administration, go there. I've already thrown my name in the hat!

Here is my educated guess at the short list of people in the running for Secretary of State -  Which do you think is going to win? Is this list complete? I know all of these guys are good people.  One of them was an ambassador, and a cabinet member , and also from a state that went from red to blue. Another is sort of a blue blood, with lots of foreign policy experience ... Not sure about a few of the others..

• John Kerry


• Bill Richardson


• Richard Holbrooke


• Chris Dodd

Who do you think should be chosen (poll below as/ well) , and why?

Clearly what we're seeing with the new electoral map is a repudiation of the received wisdom that certain states simply don't matter anymore. Case in point, in the south, Obama's victory in Florida secured his win - and gains in Colorado, and Virginia helped his campaign to turn a corner.

So, the 50 state strategy worked. Dean was right.

Whats interesting is not whether it worked, given that there was 600 Million dollars from the largest donor base in the history of American politics - fed into the system. Instead, I would argue - why.

America is no longer a collection of Red and Blue states.  Thats what Obama said. But there's more. We are also a country that utilizes the Internet to help guide our voting decisions.

Think for a second , how the internet so easily traverses borders. If we write a good post here at MyDD, it could be read in restrictive areas of Communist Nations, argued about by someone in North Korea, with comments from London, Germany and Australia to follow.

Why not, the 50 states? Here in Atlanta, we see alot of people from Florida flying through to their destination. Georgia does alot of business with Florida.  

My point is that the United States, is now like the Internet.  Although different states follow different ideas, a bit like different websites focus on different things - the idea of a "blogosphere" where the facts are ferreted out and subjected to fact-check and scrutiny - has caught on in a big way. Just as inter-state voting patterns - such as Colorado, and New Mexico- can affect even places like Arizona (which ultimately went to McCain, no surprise - but by how much - this was the Senators +home state+ no less). Every campaign here on out is an internet campaign, every voter an internet voter, and every presidential race, a 50 state strategy.

What do you think?

The GOP decided it was smart to print up bumper stickers and send them out to the faithful. They said "Drill, Baby, Drill!"

Barack, in the same cool way that he dismantled Clinton - simply stated that there isn't enough oil there to make a difference.  And then, maybe it dawned on everyone - after Barack clearly stated "Families are off limits" (actually defending Sarah Palin) - that the  Alaskan governor that was picked to VP, had something to do with backroom oil deals by big texas lobbyists that wanted to drill under the polar bears and pines of the ANWAR.

Drill Baby Drill. What is its place in the lexicon of political slogans, of campaigns past? What does this statement really mean to a candidate like the 'Maverick' John McCain. How did this slogan end up, in the pages of history?

What do you think?

McCain is rising up ever so slightly in the polls, however, today a CNN poll showed that 93% of all voters have already made up their mind.

How is it, that McCain is gaining ground if so few people are changing their mind:  because McCain is gaining on a small group of people that haven't actually cast their votes yet.

Early voting is happening in record numbers, the people who are left over are the ones who have not yet decided.  A significant who say they are going to vote for Obama, already have voted, and they're becoming scarce to the polling methodologies out there. Honey? Its the pollsters - want to take the call?... No thanks, dear.. I have some odious household chores to do..

Another interpretation, and the one you should likely keep in mind - is the typical, tried and true GOP tactic of blatant lies broadcast in the AM band. Here are some I sampled.."McCain is leading the race, 127 ev to 88 ev"... "Obama is a Liberal Fascist" ... wash. rinse. repeat.

The talk radio people in question are simply entertainers who failed to make the cut, for Hollywood. They are either morbidly obese,  drug addicts, or a combination of both. And they are using a really interesting technique - they say to their audience "we will be taking your calls" and then, they set up a shill to call them and then they rave on and on, after the shill places the call. Their screening of calls is intense. They are throwing away massive numbers of callers.

But they are projecting that this is the "voice of the people", and that they "took the call, when America called". Its an insidious form of Bush Republicanism that shows up now in the 11th hour, and it works well on evangelicals, who can be easily scared.

McCain is rising because there aren't many voters left who haven't made up their mind, are simply... the kind of voter that, in this election - can't figure out who's telling the truth. And thats a smaller, and smaller number of people - every year. Thanks to the internet.

Dear Mr. Obama,

Sir. You may be aware that your opponent, in this race, is a member of a party known for ground campaigns that turn out a surprising number of General election voters to the polls. With campaign statistics flying, I agree with you regarding your assertion that now is not the time to rest upon our laurels.

Now, hear my plea: the opposition turns out those voters precisely because they energize their base. Mr. Obama, a trip to our fair city of Atlanta, would accomplish such an action for your campaign and your electoral chances.

I have been a supporter of you since the moments before your win in Iowa, having supported Bill Richardson in the primary. I am now a resident of the fine state of Georgia, and would like to offer that the Senate race is tightening here precisely , sir, because you have long coat-tails. Those coat-tails would lengthen should you arrive, and appear onstage with the Democrat that will guarantee your party a filibuster-proof Majority in the Senate.

It is my assertion that should you choose to rally your base, the juxtaposition of your speeches and presence in the home city of Martin Luther King , Jr. - would send an unmistakeable message to everyone that we have evolved as a country. Dr. King's message resonates deeply with me, as a white american voter, and I would be honored greatly if you should choose to visit our fair city.

Such a visit would accomplish a strategic win that would force your opponent to shore up his ever weakening base of support. I would also remind you, sir, that you were leading in the polls here in our state, 4 months ago, 44 percent to 42 percent, and you are currently leading early voting by 6 percentage points.

Please visit Atlanta.

Thank you.

Ok, lets keep this simple. We're electing a guy, who will keep it simple.  Here's what we do now.

We vote. Any state that has early voting, go vote. Now.

And then, when Obama gets elected, its up to you. Because each of us will celebrate in different ways.

I'm going to light off fireworks.

What is interesting about the Scholastic Kid's poll , is that it is rarely wrong. The base methodology for this poll is to take submitted votes from either the Scholastic Kids News Magazine, that are in turn submitted through the schools to final tally - or through the registered votes from the Scholastic website and/or a similiar registered mechanism from twitter.com/scholasticnews. They take , in general, about two weeks to compile the results. In the past six election cycles it has correctly predicted the winner of the election.

Here are their results as/of 10/14/08:

Sen. Barack Obama, 57%
Sen. John McCain,  39%
Undecided,          4%

Of course, this doesn't take into account McCains soon-to-be stunning debate performance where I am told that he will attempt to tie Sen. Obama to William Ayers.  McCain's brilliant campaign that somehow seems to avoid discussing real issues, or even, for that matter - their own candidate to be able to look into the camera - may have the effect of making Sen. Obama's margin of victory even higher.

So. What do you think? Is this accurate?