08AMA Funny (and not so funny) bits from the campaign trail.

A summary of my thoughts on the Obama win:

1. Mandate. Don’t let the right-wing say otherwise. The same people who are saying “no mandate” now were saying “mandate” four years ago when Bush won with less electoral and popular votes.
2. Obama is not perfect. Remember that even the best, most inspiring politicians are still politicians. Nobody is immune to corruption. Liberal or not, we need to hold Obama accountable for delivering on his campaign promises.
3. Like Colin Powell, I truly feel that Obama is a transformational figure. Already people are talking about throwing-out the outdated and bigoted view that there are “red states” and “blue states.”

I also want to take this opportunity thank all my readers. What began as nothing more than a way to keep my friends updated on election news, became a relatively successful publication, with over 200 new visitors nearly every day. I have gotten a slew of emails asking whether I was going to continue blogging or not. The answer is yes and no.

I have decided not to continue publishing this blog. As much fun as it has been, I feel like it underrepresented my capabilities while consuming far too much of my time. Instead, I will soon begin working on an all-new political publication with multiple contributors. The content of which I hope will reflect post-partisan, 21st century values. I expect to be online with it early next year. If you would like to be updated regarding the launch, please email me and I’ll add you to a list I’ve already started.

By Jeff Clark.

From breitbart.com:

DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. (AP) - Barack Obama came up a big winner in the presidential race in Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location, N.H., where tradition of having the first Election Day ballots tallied lives on.

Democrat Obama defeated Republican John McCain by a count of 15 to 6 in Dixville Notch, where a loud whoop accompanied the announcement in Tuesday’s first minutes. The town of Hart’s Location reported 17 votes for Obama, 10 for McCain and two for write-in Ron Paul. Independent Ralph Nader was on both towns’ ballots but got no votes.

“I’m not going to say I wasn’t surprised,” said Obama supporter Tanner Nelson Tillotson, whose name was drawn from a bowl to make him Dixville Notch’s first voter.

Truly sad. I can’t imagine Barack having to deal with this right now, just one day before the election. It would have been wonderful for her to see her grandson elected president.

UPDATE: Here’s the statement from Barack and his sister:

It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.

Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards, well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time. It brought our grandmother and us great comfort. Our grandmother was a private woman, and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer.

New Republic senior editor Jonathan Chait talks about various takes on Obama’s lead.

These signs were produced for those whose Obama signs were stolen:

From The Daily Beast:

“One thing I know is that both Nixon and Reagan would have agreed with Obama’s speech against the Iraq War… But all the organs of the conservative movement followed Bush over the cliff—as did John McCain.”

Worth reading.

From Gallup:

The final Gallup 2008 pre-election poll — based on Oct. 31-Nov. 2 Gallup Poll Daily tracking — shows Barack Obama with a 53% to 42% advantage over John McCain among likely voters. When undecided voters are allocated proportionately to the two candidates to better approximate the actual vote, the estimate becomes 55% for Obama to 44% for McCain.

The trend data clearly show Obama ending the campaign with an upward movement in support, with eight to 11 percentage point leads among likely voters in Gallup’s last four reports of data extending back to Oct. 28. Obama’s final leads among both registered voters and likely voters are the largest of the campaign.

Somehow I doubt Drudge will be sticking this one in bold, red, italicized type. Here’s a widget where you can select between polling models:

The orange bars represent polls which include cellphones in their samples.

From The New Republic:

I did a radio hit the other afternoon with Mark DeCamillo of California’s vaunted Field Poll, which does include cellphones in their samples. He suggested to me that it was much easier to get the cooperation of cellphone users on the weekend than during the week. How come? Because most cellphone plans include free weekend minutes. Conversely, one might expect that young people are particularly difficult to reach on their landlines over the weekend, since they tend to be away from home more (especially on a weekend when some nontrivial number of them are out volunteering for Obama). So, while I haven’t tried to verify this, it wouldn’t surprise me if the “cellphone gap” expands over the weekend, and contracts during the week.

If you’ll permit me an anecdotal observation, I don’t know a single person personally who’s under 40 that has a landline. Granted, my circle of friends and colleagues is admittedly geeky and progressive, but there are a whole bunch of people like that. And they all vote. It’s lunacy to think a poll that does not include cellphones can even approximate accuracy.

You have to wonder if John McCain would even understand the content of most of this video.

From The Guardian:

Barack Obama’s appearance on US cable channel Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart pulled in the series’ highest ever rating on Wednesday night.

Obama’s interview, which aired between 11pm and 11.30pm, EST, pulled in 3.6 million viewers in the US - beating the show’s previous high when the Democrat presidential candidate’s wife Michelle appeared on October 8 by 600,000 viewers.

McCain supporters, give up. Your candidate already has. This is McCain’s attempt at saving face, so that after he loses on Tuesday, he won’t be remembered as a bitter old hate-monger.