It's unanimous!

On Fox, pollster Frank Luntz asked his group to raise their hands who won, and overwhelmingly, the group gave the victory to Obama. "This is a good night for Barack Obama," Luntz said.

Debate Night in America

Tonight, the Presidential candidates will share the stage at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. With the polls continuing to shift in favor of Senator Obama, look for Senator McCain to try a "game-changing event" to stop the bleeding. Recent Real Clear Politics show Obama making gains not only in national polls but in state by state polls as well. Look for McCain to continue to attack Obama on his associations with people like Williams Ayers & Jeremiah to compromise his credibility. Look for Obama to continue to hammer the economy again and again. If there are no game-changers advantage Obama, if there is a game-changer it means that either McCain is on the comeback or Obama is headed toward a landslide victory. Stay Tuned.

Public Expression or Propaganda?

Doctored pictures of John McCain that recently surfaced on renowned photographer Jill Greenberg's website have started a furor and sparked outrage from the GOP nominee's supporters and the "independent"media. The pics, shot for the October cover of the Atlantic Monthly, were later "photoshopped" capturing several very unflattering visuals (see above) of John McCain and caused one helluva firestorm in the process.

The text below is from Slate.Com

"The Atlantic offered an apology to John McCain this week after the photographer for the October cover, Jill Greenberg, posted doctored pictures of the Republican nominee on her personal Web site. It also emerged that Greenberg, a fierce anti-Republican, had photographed McCain for the magazine while he stood over a deliberately unflattering green light. In 2006, Jim Lewis discussed whether "the photographer who makes kids cry" unfairly exploits her subjects."

This a sample of what the Atlantic Monthly had to say about it:
Editors' Note

"We stand by the respectful image of John McCain that we used on our cover, and we expect to be judged by it. We were not aware of the manipulated and dishonest images Jill Greenberg had taken until this past Friday. When we contract with photographers for portraits, we don't vet them for their politics—instead, we assess their professional track records. We had never worked with Jill Greenberg before (and, obviously, we will not work with her again). Based on the portraits she had done of politicians like Arnold Schwarzenegger and her work for publications like Time, Wired, and Portfolio, we expected her, like the other photographers we work with, to behave professionally. Jill Greenberg has obviously not done that. She has, in fact, disgraced herself, and we are appalled by the manipulated images of John McCain she has created for her Web site."

We're still 40-some days out and the circus has not even truly started.

Obama Hits Back

For all you Democrats that wanted Barack to hit back, you got your wish.

McCain up 10 in Gallup poll?

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/docs/2008_09_05topline.html

What the hell's goin' on out here?

Today's USA Today Gallup Poll has McCain up 10% among likely voters, up 4% among registered voters. This is an interesting turn of events when you consider a number of things:

- Obama's nomination speech vs. McCain's nomination speech
- The Obama campaign's VP search vs. the McCain campaign's VP search
- The Democrat's Convention vs. The Republican's Convention

Personally I am baffled. If you examine the three things I just mentioned, any reasonable human being would agree the Dems did better in all three areas. What does this mean? Is the GOP that good? Do they understand the psyche of the American people better? The real question is: Does Sarah Palin really boost the GOP's ticket? Based on recent polling it appears so. At the same time this could be an aberration, but if not the next 50 some odd days will be a helluva fight.

Barack Obama's to do list to wrap up nomination.

Last night, Barack Obama continued his momentum, propelling his "improbable" campaign closer to a historic nomination. With a favorable campaign calendar ahead before upcoming battles in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania; the junior Senator for Illinois can close the door on Hillary Clinton's once inevitable and invincible candidacy. If I was Senator Obama this would be my to do list for the month of February.

1. Harness the momentum and quietly begin to convince the voters and insiders the race is over.
   
2. Talk up NAFTA, job losses and the economy to rust-belt voters in Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
3. Correlate economic tough times in the rust-belt to the costs of the war.
   
4. Win Wisconsin decisively.
5. Talk like the underdog, walk like the nominee.
6. Show your toughness.
   
7. Convince John Edwards to endorse you.
   
8. Decide whether Ohio or Texas is more winnable and go win one of them.
9. Study up and nail the Ohio and Texas debates.
10. Lay groundwork in Pennsylvania now in the event Clinton wins Ohio and Texas.
11. Continue to draw contrasts with John McCain, giving voters a preview of how you'll aggressively take on the GOP.
12. Get more and more specific as the weeks go on.

So get to it Senator, below is a tutorial how to do one on your I-Pod Touch. (If you have one.)