Interactive Graphic: Swing States on the 2008 Electoral Map

I manage a senior apartment building and I am so pleased to hear so many of my residents are voting for Obama! The RNC claims to have a lock on the seniors...I am not a believer, I see proof that older americans are just as eager for real change and I'm stoked about that!!!!!

Dear Mya, I must thank you for your kind words regarding my post directed towards Rexy, regarding racism. Personaly, I thought that it was badly written, mostly because of the fact that it was typed into a tiny box. This is hardly a place that I would chose to write. Given your reaction, perhaps I should try to write those ideas out properly, so that more people might grasp the concept of big picture thinking. I will give that some thought. Thanks again. ...Ya know what is really depressing to me? Well, one of the things i find depressing these days, is reading the "opinions" of people, in places like this one, or hearing them on the street, and seeing clearly, that people in America, much to Carl Rove's glee, have been listening, often excusively, to the opinions of media personalities, or should I say "Stars !" It's always so clearly evident, and through out the last two presidential terms , mostly from the right. You hear people say things like "cool-aid", "progressive taxing", well the list is nearly endless now, and you know exactly who you're speaking with, a person who is not able to look at our world and make decisions about how to learn the facts, the realities, about how to find the facts about the world we live in. No. That would be too difficult. In fairness, I need to remind myself that most people are pretty short on time these days. It's difficult to get to the bottom of things if you only have 30 minutes per day to do so. So, Americans have been turning on their TV's, and saying "MAN!! I can't believe how much news I get with my excellent satellite dish!!" They see all these STARS!!, who are working "24 HOURS A DAY!!", and they think "I'll be able to stay informed now !." But there's a problem with that. They still only have half hour, so they wind up latching on to one show or the other, one where the STAR!! often says things that they like to hear, and , trust that they are getting the whole story, the entire picture, of what's going on. These news networks are good at what they do, and they tell you so. "We're fair and balancd!" or, "All the news!! All the time!!" ,or whatever. So people walk around talking like parrots, and it only takes seconds to know whether a person is a republican or a democrat. The sad part is, you also know that that person is not a free thinker in regards to world or national affairs, but rather, a fan, and an uninformed one at that. Is it Wolf? or Hannity? Mathews? or O'Reily. Be patient...AH! There it is, "KOOL-AID!!! and you have your answer. I must admit, I was once a FAN!! too. Perhaps sometime I'll write about that experience. For now, trust me. No one is FAIR AND BALANCED. NO one, has ALL THE NEWS. It's a little harder than that. Pull your heads out of the feeding troughs America. Your not eating what you think you are.
Gleason.

Less than 24 hours left to vote.

Obama/Biden! Yes! We! Can!

Lets everyone remember its not over until its over!!!! Lets see who really stands behind there President to be tommorow with the large lines and posibly bad weather. This vote is for a President and not just some average joe this person should be PROUD of His country and be proud to be a American of the UNITED STATES.....

Experience, trust and service to country are the prime factors to choose president of our great nation AMERICA. Let wisdom be the judge not our emotions. Take care, be healthy. Jagan Nov 3rd 2008

ebradley23,
You must be naive to think that God would be pleased with either candidate. In most instances, a true Christian, defined as both born again believer and acts like Christ, will vote with the lesser of two evils. We vote because a true Christian is following a civic and religious duty as mandated by God, Romans 13. Furthermore, a true Christian would never be allowed to run for an office like President. They would be crucified for what would be called dogmatic, intolerant, hate monger, and true maverick beliefs. The Christian would be right and would please God for these beliefs but the candidate would not please a good majority of the people. This is because a nonbeliever doesn't understand why people go to church 2 or 3 times a week, why we give 10% of our hard earned income, why we pray, sing, and get excited about what the world calls phony or why we stand unapologetic for things like the sanctity of life and marriage. It would never make sense and the Bible even tells us not to expect nonbelievers to understand (I Corinthians 2 . Politics by it's very nature requires the individual to compromise in some areas. Most true Christians would not compromise and thus would be voted out by the opposing side. As for who would God want us to vote for, it is dependent upon how close you want to get to God's principles. Once again remember that most of the time we are holding our nose and voting for a candidate. If you look into the instruction manual for true Christians, Bible, two things are evident from the very beginning. The sanctity of life and the institution of marriage. No where in the Bible does God look favorable upon the unlawful taking of a life and the degradation of the marriage. Man and woman from the very beginning were put here to procreate. To "be fruitful and multiply" within the confines of marriage. Put all other things aside and true Christian that want to line up with God's Book could only vote one way. Before you blast my stance please realize i am not calling into question any belivers salvation. Read again and you will see I am talking to those that are born again and act like Christ, aka Christians.

Experience, service to country, trust and wisdom to face , difficult days and steer the country towards proeperity and peace . May God help America to choose a deserving candidate. Take care, be healthy. Jagan.

Tanin, It is incorrect and insulting for you to say that "nobody supports abortion, " and, people who support abortion "see only black and white." Please see my post below addressed to "rexy", and then take this conversation to a religous site, so that people who are interested in dicussing THIS ELECTION might have a place to do that. Thanks and good luck. Gleason

THE RACE IS NOT OVER!!! Both Rasmussen and Masion/Dixion saids race in ALL BATTLEGROUND STATES are TOO CLOSE TO CALL. We are all in for a late night. DONT BELIEVE THE LIES.

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!!

MCCAIN/PALIN 08

I'm having some computer problems here, so I'm going to make some quick comments.
edbradley? Ya took the words right out of my mouth!. The election is TOMORROW!!! Why are you all wasting time on this blog talking about an issue that has nothing to do with the most important election of our lives? Please move on. Gleeson

I think the world is really waiting for America to "put-up or shut-up". Either we are the nation we profess to be, or we aren't. "Change" was just a word until Obama combined it with hope and integrity. Yes, Sen. McCain did serve our country honorably, but Obama knows what it is to "put-up" or "shut-up". He is our future and should be our future because we are a melting pot or ideas and people. We are not a nation of bias, narrow-minded, race-conscious,old, white people. The Republicans had six years as the majority in both houses and the presidency, only losing the last couple of years to the Democrats. Therefore, it is only fair that the Democtrats have their turn. It is time for a change!

I must ask why people who vote Republican typically list the abortion issues as the primary reason for that decision. The decision of Roe vs. Wade was made in 1976. Since that point we have only had 12 years of so-called "evil" Democrats in the presidential office. That means that Republicans have had 23 years and to make a change to this controversial procedure - with no such luck. Furthermore, there are only two supreme court justices sitting that have been appointed by a Democratic president. So, I ask why you would place so much of importance on your decision over who you want leading our country on their stance on abortion? Apparently, even if we have a Republican president, nothing is going to be done to change it. So, isn't it more important to place your decision of who you are going to vote for on issues that the president truly may have an impact on such as our dependency on oil, the war in Iraq, etc.? And if your stance on abortion is based on your religious beliefs, dont' you think that God would want you to vote for a leader that he is proud of. Based on what I have learned in church, I'm not sure God would want us to vote for a man who committed adultery and does not give Him the glory for surviving his time as a POW. If religion is your reason for voting one way or the other, look at the man your are voting for not just the rhetoric that he spews to make Christians happy.

No one is "pro-abortion". There are simply those who see the world in black and white and those that see it for what it is. This doesn't have to do with gods, politicians or sex. In most civilized countries abortions in any form or period are performed mostly in life-threatening cases. Sometimes to relinquish women of the painful consequences of inhumane sexual abuses committed by either relatives or strangers. Of course there are the cases where people make bad decisions either because of ignorance or a lack of sexual education. The question there is should society give the latter group the opportunity to undo their mistakes if they so choose, or deny them that avenue in life. That there are people in the world like Sarah Palin that would deny the choice of abortion to all of the above cases boggles the mind and displays a lack of respect to the human rights of women and the social development of the civilized world.
-Tanin

No one is "pro-abortion". There are simply those who see the world in black and white and those that see it for what it is. This doesn't have to do with gods, politicians or sex. In most civilized countries abortions in any form or period are performed mostly in life-threatening cases. Sometimes to relinquish women of the painful consequences of inhumane sexual abuses committed by either relatives or strangers. Of course there are the cases where people make bad decisions either because of ignorance or a lack of sexual education. The question there is should society give the latter group the opportunity to undo their mistakes if they so choose, or deny them that avenue in life. That there are people in the world like Sarah Palin that would deny the choice of abortion to all of the above cases boggles the mind and displays a lack of respect to the human rights of women and the social development of the civilized world.
-Tanin

I think the true numbers are in Mccains favor with more like 246 for I beilieve the "yellow" tagged states are more likely to swing GOP

Dear Myafor Obama,
I have and always wil have a problem with individuals that question when life begins. It begins at conception. Let me put it another way, you have just taken a living egg and combined it with a living sperm to create a living human being. Multiplication has just begun. This isn't some cosmic mush that magically turns into a living human being after a heartbeat is detected. It is a life at conception. For those of us that it is an "all or nothing" we feel strongly that to believe in anything less is to devalue life and to put parameters on the beginning of life. To move toward the middle would ask me to devalue life. That will never happen and I am not a radical pro life individual. I am a person that believes in the sanctity of life and how can we as a "civilized" society devalue life. This means at the beginning as well at the end. To be pro choice you must first believe that life does not begin at conception. That to me is a devaluation of how God set it up or to what ever higher being you do or do not perscribe to. Even if you believe in evolution you will perscirbe to the idea that the fittest survive or evolve. Let nature take it's course and not you or your group. To a believer in God it would be "God is the giver and taker of life." To someone else it would be "the strongest or fittest survive and all others fall by the wayside." That is for nature or God to decide, not you and I playing God or messing with the Evolutionary chain.

Gleeson: Last night was my first jump into the foray that is the blogosphere. I was drawn in by a simple misstatement of fact with regards to where McCain went to school. Mackwheaton indicated McCain went to the Air Force Academy (my alma mater) when in fact McCain went to the Naval Academy. Mackwheaton, to his credit, corrected his error of fact and all was well. I was ready to go back to reading my books, but found myself fascinated by the discourse. Perhaps fascinated and ashamed at the same time.
What I found shameful was the apparent lack of critical thinking demonstrated on both sides of any given issue. Your response to my post indicating that "we the People", an obvious reference to the US Constitution, are really to blame was that I should quit "slobbering" (no idea what this was about) and admit that Republicans were the root of all that is wrong in the country today. In point of fact, my argument is that politicians (contrasted with statesmen/women) are the root of our problems and "we the People" continue to send more politicians to "represent" us in Washington. Unfortunately, it seems that very little time in Washington is required before there is not a nickel's worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats. Consider this: Each state sends senators and representatives to Washington. What is the first thing these elected officials do when they get to Congress? They proceed to divide the seating so that all Democrats sit on one "side of the aisle" and Republicans sit on the other. Sounds like a great way to begin the country's important work, huh? At least then, they can talk about "reaching across the aisle" to work together (a particular McCainism that has grown very tiresome).

Where does this leave us then with the Presidential election? I keep hearing how much people want change. How is sending a career (regardless of longevity) of either party a representation of change? An example here will irritate Obama supporters, but it still must be made. As a state senator, Mr. Obama voted "present" 130 times. Now I know the legal qualification of this vote is the rough equivalent of "no". Then why not vote "no" and remove any question? The answer is that any good politician, an oxymoron if ever there was one, requires plausible deniability. In this case, Mr. Obama can answer supporters of one side of an issue by saying he didn't vote for the issue. Likewise, he can tell the supporter of the other side of the same issue that he didn't vote against the issue. Technically, he is being truthful in both cases. This is precisely how any politician wants to be positioned to address the concerns of his constituents.

Straight talk will not come from any politician from either side of the "aisle". Unfortunately, "we the People" seem to have lost our stomach for tough talk on tough issues, so we contin