Presidential Race

They tell us we’re dropping about $10 billion a month in Afghanistan so we can catch that Bin Laden guy...but eventually, we’re gonna catch him, and as soon as we do you can imagine that folks will be wondering why we’re still over there – and I gotta tell ya, I’m one of those people.

I mean, we’re over here talking about how we're so broke that we have no choice but to cut a couple of billion from heat assistance for the poor, and a billion-and-a-half from the Social Security operations budget, and money from food stamps and childcare assistance and tornado forecasting in Alabama…but every single month, just as regular as clockwork, we seem to be able to find another $10 billion to spend in Afghanistan, even as we have an economy that could badly use another round of truly productive stimulus.

And I don’t think y’all even realize just how much money $10 billion really is – but today we’re gonna see if we can’t fix that with a bit of a thought exercise.

Imagine if we set up a program that took that Afghanistan money and spent it right here at home for a year or two – and it was spent in the form of a lottery, where we stimulate the larger economy, help fix the mortgage crisis, and create a more energy-independent nation, all at the same time.

I got all we need except a catchy name; with that in mind let’s move on to the description of how the Happy Super Fun Day Peace Lotto Stimulus Thingy works.

(An email from Charlie Dee. To call him a longtime Milwaukee activist doesn't begin to do him justice, but it will have to suffice. -- Xoff)

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Anne and I were sipping drinks, talking excitedly to friends, surrounded by a huge multi-racial crowd in the grand ballroom of Milwaukee’s HyattHotel.  We had that feeling of euphoric happiness that doesn’t come often in life: maybe the birth of a child or a wedding. 

Herewith, a quick rundown:

Let's start with Chuck Pruitt of AB Data, who's quietly headed Obama's direct mail fundaising effort. We've all read about the huge amounts of money Obama's raised, especially on the Internet.

But it's gone almost without mention that the direct mail campaign has raised something in the neighborhood of $100-million. That's unprecedented, and that money comes in very small checks. Pruitt, a longtime Democratic player, is just fine with the lack of attention. In fact, after outing him here I may have to pick up the lunch tab next time.

He's self-effacing and makes it sound like all you need to do to raise money for Obama is send people an envelope, and they put a check inside and send it back. It is not that simple, and the mail campaign, like the Obama campaign overall, has been brilliantly conceived and executed. (Maybe Chuck will buy lunch, after that).

We'll be starting coverage of the election returns at 7 PM.  You can join in with live blogging and commenting then. We're still moving around the information and looking for new sources - you can see the preview here.  

Reports on voting waits are starting to come in, and so far things seem to be looking good. - Well, they'd be looking good if the votereport.org servers were actually working - it looks like they've been clobbered by load and our maps are not updating.  Sigh.

"In the White House, there is no time for speeches and on-the-job training. Sen. McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, and Sen. Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002."

I fully expected it would be in a television commercial to try to drive a wedge between Clinton Democrats and Obama Democrats.

Instead, it came in an autocall from the GOP and the McCain campaign to millions of voters in swing states.

The response from a Clinton spokesperson:

"Senator Hillary Clinton does not approve this message, and as she crisscrosses the country, she has said time and again that the choice in this election could not be more clear. The McCain/Palin ticket offers only more of the same failed policies while the Obama/Biden ticket offers the vision, leadership and positive solutions we need. I wonder why the Republicans aren't using those words?"

And I wonder why she ever said the words in the phone call, knowing they'd be used against Obama if he became the nominee. And when she said them, there was an excellent chance that he would be.

(Guest post from Jeff Bentoff, Milwaukeean about town, recovered newsman, consultant, flack, sometimes musician, music aficionado and Wilco enthusiast.  For today, we'll just call him Jeff the Blogger.)

Jeff Tweedy, leader of the revered rock band Wilco, and two colleagues from the group, kicked off a vote-early drive Saturday aimed at getting UW-Madison students to the polls before Election Day.

Playing a free, nine-song set at the UW Memorial Union Theater in Madison Saturday afternoon, the mini, mainly acoustic version of Wilco turned in a riveting performance under a large “Obama-Biden” banner, wowing the capacity, mostly student audience of about 1,300.

Following the “Concert for Change,” attendees were planning to march to Madison’s City County Building, to encourage early balloting there. Speaking to the crowd, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold and U. S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin emphasized the importance of getting out the vote for Barack Obama. They noted that while Democrats John Kerry and Al Gore carried the state in recent presidential elections, they did so by very small percentages.