Scattered Morning Thoughts

The corruption trial of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (R) moves forward today. Accused of accepting bribes in the form of home improvement work, his honest-to-god defense today is apparently going to be "I asked him to bill me every cent and that darned contractor only charged me X." Good luck, Uncle Ted.

Speaking of Alaska politicians who have no business running for election in 2008 - no, not Don Young, silly, but I've got plenty coming on him, too - Sarah Palin's debate chances are getting better everyday, the way I see it. Why? The moderator of the debate is Gwen Ifill.

Oh, that doesn't tell you the whole story? My fault. Allow me to explain. See, Gwen Ifill is a woman. That's good for us. The right wing can't complain about how sexist the moderator was. However, Gwen Ifill is a black woman. And not just any black woman. She's a black woman who's releasing a book on the day of Obama's (hopeful) inauguration as president that is titled The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. I mean, seriously? Everything she says is going to get criticized, but thankfully the American public has really turned on Sarah Palin. Gear up the spin machines, this one's gettin' ugly.

Speaking of Palin and the VP debate, it just occurred to me yesterday that I drive by the Field House at Wash U everyday on my way to work (in fact, I have to find a different way tomorrow because of the debate). I wish I could get a seat, but they're reserved for students. Apparently the CPD usually gives out about 150 tickets, and this year 7,500 students registered for them (Wash U has 6,000 undergrads). That's our record, and it's only for the VP debate. Holy cow.

Hey, when's the last time NYU hosted a debate? Because Wash U has been chosen for five straight elections. (Notice the careful phrasing - we didn't host one in 1996 because Bill Clinton decided there were too many so he cancelled)

(And speaking of the debate: I thought this was priceless)

Finally, 538 has an article today about favorability ratings and the debates. I noticed yesterday that there had been a sharp change in favorability ratings in the last couple days, and he shows that Obama didn't gain independents as much as harden his support among Democrats. I thought it highly likely, and later in the article he agreed, that this could be the Hillary Clinton voters (PUMAs) finally coming over to our side (in a separate article it turns out health care was one of his most significant lines - who knew?), which would probably throw the election into - my new favorite phrase - "minor landslide" mode. Perhaps I could use the phrase "Clinton landslide" since it looks like it may mirror Bill's EV figures, but either way, that's the path we're on at the moment.