Wow, what a piece of work this woman is for a VP nominee. She missed her calling by not being a part of the Bush/Cheney administration that's for sure.

Palin Abused Power as Governor

Let's see how the Republicans try to spin this one 25 days before the election. I swear I've never seen a more self-destructive presidential campaign than theirs. She was a horrendous VP pick, and with new polls out showing Obama ahead in states like Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina, and statistically tied in Republican strongholds Indiana and (amazingly today) Georgia, you have to wonder how low their campaign can go.

I love how they always release news like this late on a Friday evening to try to minimize the damage.

Well, it was the bipartisian panel that decided when to release the report (the bipartisan panel in which the McCain camp is now declaring PARTISAN of course). That's their response....it's partisan...yea....that's the ticket.

Speaking of WV, I am not from there originally, but it's great to see the Mountain State making a break for Obama.

I think Obama severely underestimated WV's overwhelming traditional Democratic leaning. The DNC has not been advertising or has Obama or Biden been campaigning in WV. The new poll has Obama up 8 points in WV. That's astonishing mainly because Obama had written off WV because of the 2000 and 2004 election. WV'ians are conservative democrats and it should have been known they felt betrayed by GWB after giving support to the opposing party.



More interesting, Palin is taking a full day to campaign by bus ( yes, by bus) in WV on Sunday. No party was expected to campaign here... If anything, I am happy the GOP is playing defense and having to defend states they took for granted.


Don't be surprised if this Appalachia state goes back to it's union roots and comes home to where it belongs - To democrats. It could happen.

What a shocker! Palin abuses her power! Hey thats just the maverick thing to do!

Wow, I hadn't heard she was spending a full day in West Virginia this weekend. I know they had her scheduled this week for Nebraska and Indiana as well. Their internal polls must be showing they are in danger of losing everywhere and are having major troubles even keeping the base. When the Republicans are campaigning in West Virginia and Nebraska in mid-October, that says everything. Fivethirtyeight.com today moved its Obama odds of winning the election to 91%. Their electoral projection: Obama 348, McCain 190.

I wouldn't mind seeing an Obama campaign ad that combines the 'abuse of power' report alongside her debate performance in which she said she wanted the VP to have more power.

... and include Bush administration attempts to subvert the Constitutuion and other inconvenient obsructions to their arrogant assumption that they are the good guys and should be able to do whatever they want to "help" the country.

this bitch is a joke.

I just saw that poor schlub Tucker Bounds on MSNBC trying to put a spin on the report. Of course he went with the notion that this report vindicates Palin because the report says she didn't do anything illegal. Of course he didn't mention anything about unethical or immoral.

There has been some talk of impeachment proceedings beginning in Alaska to try and get her removed because of this.

Other Republican women are in election trouble right now too. The latest polls in North Carolina show incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole losing her senate seat to Democrat Kay Hagan. The McCain-Palin ticket is dragging down their whole party across the country. I even saw some forecasts yesterday that indicate it's possible the Dems could have a 100-seat majority in the House after November 4. While it's not likely, a lot of people think it's very possible.

Are we surprised by this outcome, really? Everything about this woman since the truth started coming out about her has been bad, bad, bad. She is totally unqualified to be VP, and McCain's selection of her is a slap in the face to everyone who isn't a neocon Republican true believer and one of the best reasons NOT to vote for him.

I hope the impeachment process does go forward in Alaska, since we cannot get our Congress to do so to Bush and Cheney. I guess their court of justice will have to be history, and it's already looking very bad for both. But if impeachment proceedings begin, does she stay on the ticket? And will anyone in the media ask her any tough questions about any of this?

Much love to Philadelphia hockey fans, too! They booed her heartily tonight.

i can't imagine that anyone who knows what they're talking about would "talk of impeachment." The report specifically said Palin's behavior was NOT illegal. Therefore, she could conceivably be censured (essentially just a public reprimand), but not impeached.

I doubt impeachment would be on the table even if the outcome of the investigation had been worse. The GOP is the majority in AK. The legislative council performing this investigation was made up of 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats and it wouldn't surprise me if they went as light as they possibly could on Palin. She would not cooperate, so at least she did not "Bill Clinton" herself and commit perjury. I would have liked to see her cooperate as she had agreed to earlier. Maybe answering questions is just not her thing.....certainly she has not proved otherwise.

I suppose it's out of the question that she leave the ticket and I'm a little torn about that. A BIG part of me wants her there because she's SO, SO very bad, but the other fears we might find her moseying on into tha Oval office. You betcha, that scares me indeed.

Today she's lightened up on the hate speech and concentrated on abortion. I suspect we gays are on her list before November 4th, so brace yourselves. I think we may have lulled ourselves to believe we were going to be left out of the major wedge issues cauldron this go around.

That conclusion was based on an investigation in which she refused to testify. Her husband was less than cooperative. And we do not know who else is withholding information simply because they have not been compeled to by appropriate legal authority.

She has a lot of friends as well as enemies in Alaska and she holds both close, as the old saying goes. We may not have heard the last of this. Her national, and international, profile have become far too high for several events in her past to be ignored at this point.

TheOtherFSU, the Alaska State statutes look like this, so you're not off track about possible impeachment (as opposed to some other penalty):

Palin violated both Sec. 39.52.110 (Scope of code) and Sec. 39.52.120. (Misuse of official position)



And


It is unlikely that the Republican-dominated legislature will impeach Palin, but it's not completely out of the question. The head of the State Senate is no fan of hers, nor are many Republicans in either house.

That may be true, but if I were one of those Republicans, I would hold off playing a part in a nasty impeachment process and let the voters decide when/if Palin seeks re-election to the Governor's office (provided of course she's not our next Vice President). [shudder] Lucky for them, they can at least wait out the November 4th election results before making that type of decision.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll has been released this morning and it shows Obama leading by 10% at 53-43. It's an interesting read because they have a bigger sample and go much more in-depth in their polling analysis than most of the other polls we're seeing.

Among the findings:
- Bush's disapproval rating has reached a new high -- 73%.
- Obama leads by 30% (58-28) on who has a better understanding of America's economic problems.
- McCain's negative strategy has backfired. By an overwhelming 59-35% margin, voters say he's been focusing on negative attacks rather than real issues.
- The difference between the two candidates' favorability ratings is the largest it's ever been. Obama is viewed favorably by 64%, while McCain is viewed favorably by 52%.
- McCain's unfavorable rating is 45%, the highest ever for him in ABC News polling since the question was first asked in the 1990s.
- Voter enthusiasm remains a key issue and will almost certainly affect turnout. Only 29% of McCain supporters are voting for him "enthusiastically." 63% of Obama supporters say they're "very enthusiastic."
- Obama leads McCain by 1% (48-47) among men; Obama leads by 18% (57-39) among women, the high point of his campaign. Women make up the majority of voters.

Also this from ABC News/Washington Post: "Though every race is different, no presidential candidate has come back from an October deficit this large in pre-election polls dating to 1936."

Oh, and Gallup's daily tracking poll just went from Obama +7 today to Obama +10 (51 to 41). That makes at least 5 national polls right now that have the race anywhere between 10 and 12 points.

I just saw where Obama is leading in the electoral map now by 100, and McBush is telling people he is "going to WHIP Obama on Wednesday." Scary stuff!

100 is conservative. Most estimates show Obama leading bigger. Pollster.com has Obama ahead by 162 electoral votes. Fivethirtyeight.com has Obama ahead by 164. Electoral-vote.com has Obama ahead by 165. Those are all pretty consistent. The most conservative (Rasmussen Reports, which polls for Fox News) has Obama ahead 255-163.

Here's a very interesting new poll released today and it only covers the battleground states of CO, MI, NH, NM, NV, FL, OH, PA, VA and WI. The poll, by Diageo-Hotline, has Obama up by 13% (51 to 38) in those collective battleground states that will decide the election.

I saw a poll from the state of Oklahoma last week that showed McCain leading Obama 75 to 25%. Remember, Oklahoma is the state where the guy running for senate in '04 (or was it '06?) said that kindergarten girls couldn't even go to the bathroom in public schools anymore for fear of being molested by lesbian kindergarten gangs. Oklahoma wins the title of state you most wouldn't want to live in.

-Edited to add- The polling news is coming in fast and furious today. Obama +12 (53-41) in a new Marist poll of Pennsylvania voters. Obama +4 (49-45) in the Marist poll of Ohio voters. A new Missouri poll out today gives Obama an 8-point lead (his largest ever in a MO poll) at 51-43. And then another stunner... Obama has come from 20 points down in heavily red North Dakota to take a shocking 45-43 lead there. Also, today Obama has a 47-45 lead in Nevada. When we see Obama ahead in the most recent polls in West Virginia and North Dakota, along with a steady stream of leads in states like Florida, Missouri, Virginia, Nevada and Ohio, we're quite possibly talking about a landslide of epic proportions that was unthinkable not long ago.

I think if the election were held today it would indeed be an electoral landslide. However, with three weeks to go, it's far too early to count those chickens. One mis-step by Obama, or terrorist attack, and it could quickly change again.

You're welcome.

McBush today on the stump speech " Obama is already measuring the drapes."

Totally agreed. 3 weeks seems like an eternity right now. I wish tomorrow were election day. I am glad however that early voting has begun in many states, and they are claiming 1/3 of the vote this year is going to come from early voting.

The annual kids poll is in. For the last 68 years, the publishing company Scholastic has sponsored a national presidential poll for kids from third to eighth grade. They've correctly picked the winner in 11 consecutive presidential elections since 1960. The winner this year in their poll? Obama by 18% (57 to 39). The 2004 kids poll had Bush beating Kerry 52 to 47%.

Saw a clip today of Rachel Maddow's show last night, and she played a clip of Palin responding to the investigation.

She (Palin) said she was glad that the investigation "...found no illegal or unethical activity"

This women is such a major F'n stupid fool.

I love Rachel. Her analysis is spot-on.

New CBS News/NY Times poll out this evening gives Obama a commanding 14% lead (53-39). This is at least the 7th different poll this week that has shown Obama leading nationally by 10% or more. The George Washington University tracking poll has it at 13% today. Gallup has been fluctuating between 10 and 11%. Newsweek has it at 11%. Research2000 has been as high as 13% this week and currently stands at 11% today. Diageo-Hotline and ABC both have it at 10%. This is in line with what Republican insiders were whispering behind the scenes the other day... that their internal polls were showing it at between a 10 and 15% difference... and they believed McCain's all-negative, all-the-time strategy beginning two weeks ago has already lost him the election. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's over by any means, but I would much rather be the one leading big right now than trailing big.

And there was another cry of, "Kill him!," today at a Palin rally in PA. Palin did nothing about it and did not distance herself from it.

Oh, what is that pretty little song by Stevie Nicks...hmm, LANDSLIDE! One of my favorites. Maybe Obama can adopt that song as his theme in the final days before he wins the election.

Kinda ironic that the song was remade.....by the Dixie Chicks

It would be poetic justice to see the Dixie Chicks performing "Landslide" at one of Obama's inauguration parties, wouldn't it?

More on the CBS News/NY Times poll out yesterday showing Obama up by 14% at 53-39... some people said it seemed unlikely that McCain is getting only 39 percent of the vote. However, there are new polls out this morning showing him also polling that low. The new AP/Ipsos national poll has McCain at exactly 39 percent as well. Three separate new polls today (LA Times national poll, along with Diageo-Hotline and Research2000) all have McCain at 41 percent. No national poll in the last month has shown McCain above 45 percent.

Fivethirtyeight.com (with 19 days of campaigning left after today) shows Obama's chance of winning the election now at 96%. And SurveyUSA already has early voting results from 5 different states. Obama is out to big leads in early voting, up 18% in Ohio, up 34% in both Iowa and North Carolina, up 23% in New Mexico and up 6% in Georgia. As the SurveyUSA people warn, the results only represent those who have voted so far, and things could very well change. However, Obama's lead in those 5 states averages 23% right now in early voting. Bush won the early voting in those states by about 20% in both 2000 and 2004. If anything, Obama's early lead demonstrates that his supporters are going to turn out in huge numbers for this election and are highly motivated.

By the way, CNN just moved the state of Virginia from "toss-up" to Obama today in its projections.

Would love to see the Dixie Chicks perform at the Texas Ball during the Inauguration. Maybe they could re-work their song to "We're Ready To Make Nice"

Oh my Lord, if Obama is already up that much thus far in North Carolina, that probably means that young of all races and black voters of all ages are turning out in droves, which will translate into do-nothing Liddy Dole losing her seat.

With Obama up by 6% so far in Georgia, I'm guessing that also means a significant youth and black turnout, which could bode well for the Democratic Senatorial candidate Jim Martin! Getting rid of the wretched, Bush clone Saxby Chambliss would be a huge coup. It'll be a challenge for Obama to win Georgia, though, but I don't think anyone should write that state off his list.

Now, if only the surge in Democratic registration in Texas could make Obama more competitive there and help elect Roger Noriega and rid the Senate of one of the worst right-wingers in that chamber, John Cornyn.

Uhmmm, no that's not correct. SurveyUSA is reporting their PROJECTIONS of early voting, not RESULTS. There is NO reporting of early voting results. It's also worth noting that both Gallup and Rasmussen have shown the national popular vote tightening for the past five days now. I think it'll tick up slightly for Obama again the next few days, and then to continue tightening until Election Day.