Celebrating Too Soon?

From one of our people in Virginia:

Mccain supporters ditched out here too. Also they were ugly as sin. That should be noted. Turnouts here are beyond a record. It's an amazing turnout. The mccain supporters looked like someone had slipped them ex-lax in their coffee. They looked not thrilled.

Can you say exit polling for Kerry in 2004? Restrain your cocky impulses. Just get out the vote and act like you've been there before.

The Secret Society of Obamanites

From one of our people in the field:

McCain people just left, possibly for the day.

I hope this is indicative of general GOP support throughout NC.

People are not super energized about McCain and many don't come out.
Every Obama supporter that walks out gives as a knowing wink and nod; like we all are part of a secret society and we are the precipice of executing our master plan.

This is awesome.

I'd sh*tcan the "secret society . . . executing our master plan" rhehtoric. You're starting to sound like a new incarnation of the Weather Underground. Easy on the subversion. And certainly easy on the arrogance - the polls have not closed anywhere yet.

Voter Shenanigans

Are you surprised? From TMZ:

So, check this out. Deerfield Beach, Fla. is one hour south of Palm Beach. Nearly 400 people were planted firmly in line at 6:15 this morning, waiting for the polls to open at 7:00 AM. There is one voting machine to accommodate all of them. The area almost entirely African American. Many of the people never have voted before. One woman was 101 years old. She was wheeled into the polling place and on her way out she said that before she died, she wanted to vote for a black man.Election monitors noticed a man in line who appeared to be a voter. Turns out he was a saboteur, telling people the Democrats were supposed to vote at a different location.Some of the voters said they were robocalled last night. The message -- Democrats weren't supposed to vote until Wednesday.

Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood?

CHICAGO, Ill. -- Among the other voters who have shown up to vote at Shoesmith Elementary School this morning, where Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will vote: Louis Farrakhan and William Ayers.

Seriously.

Welcome to the South Side of Chicago.

That's pretty bananas. I wonder who they're voting for?

Warm Apple Pie Endorses Barack Obama For President

(Length warning. Someone's getting maudlin and windy!)

Formerly, I was an insalubrious fatty. I puffed a pack of Parliaments each day, considered exercise my morning constitutional to the toilet for bladder relief and stuffed my pudgy face full of McGriddles (ah, McGriddles - you still haunt my dreams!). There is a telling photograph of my bespectacled visage from Thanksgiving 2005 with a thick film of gravy - yes, gravy - on the right lens of my glasses. I really got into my food. I used my whole grill.

I was pretty sorry. My longtime girlfriend and I had parted ways six months prior to the humiliating candid shot - "ode to gluttony." My skin was a bit ruddy. I couldn't get my motor going in the morning. I sleepwalked through a dead end job. My apartment was a mess, strewn with cigarette ash and empty pizza boxes. Generally, the zest for life so self-evident during my early and mid-twenties had eroded into the enervation of my thirtieth year. A sad state of affairs.

Simply put? I needed hope. I needed change - change I could believe in.

I wiped the gravy off my glasses and addressed the mirror, confronting an old reflection before its time. Then, I took the first step.

I put down the smokes and tried to extricate the psychosomatic yearning in the pit of my chest. It wasn't easy. I teetered back and forth, sneaking drags from enabling friends, sometimes a whole butt. Like Ben Stiller playing "Simple Jack," the cold turkey removal of nicotine-produced endorphins made me feel "actually retarded." It was a dreadful epoch - those first few months. The withdrawal from addiction was frightening. Could I stop smoking forever?

Change was scary.

I got off the couch and trudged towards the gym, lugging my hefty 215 pound blob of a body to the treadmill, to the weights. My stringy muscles could hardly muster the will to do any meaningful strength training. My initial visits were painful. It was excruciating early on and progress was small, measured in baby steps. I wanted to quit. But I didn't. I kept at it. I got stronger, slowly, then steadily. The results manifested themselves. My vigor returned.

Change was tough.

I said goodbye to my beloved food, my blocks of Cracker Barrel, Extra Sharp, my Wendy's Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers, my chicken and cheese quesadillas (what can I say - I like cheese). Instead, I filled my robust belly with boatloads of protein. Chicken. Fish. I broke company with Mayo. I made my peace with Ben & Jerry's "Chunky Monkey" and sent it on its way. But a funny thing happen while my taste buds held vigil: I felt better. I felt spry. I reclaimed my youth.

Change was necessary.

Today, I'm 180 pounds, haven't smoke a cigarette in over a year (not a drag), fallen madly in love and generally keep my wits about me in the restaurant. No f**king mayo. No thank you, sir. I've improved, but it took change - scary, tough, necessary change.

My point (look, it's pretty late and I'm spent. I'm also half-drunk. Blogging is hard!): I endorse Barack Obama for President of the United States, our shining paragon of freedom, but do so with reservations about the future of an Obama administration, with the understanding that the road to American wellness will be long and painstaking, but with the unflappable realization that Barack Obama is a necessary panacea for the viral policies of George W. Bush's disastrous two terms.

This country is an insalubrious fatty right now. Barack Obama can bring it back to fitness. John McCain cannot.

I'm out of gas and really don't feel like ragging on John McCain again. His campaign speaks volumes. His inability to stay on message or offer a cohesive vision of our economic destiny is just too telling. John McCain is too risky to lead. That's a funny realization.

Yes, like the rest of the blogging world except for the incorrigibly cynical and intellectually bankrupt, Sarah Palin didn't shift the political winds for me. But for a different reason than most. It wasn't her feckless efforts during her first interviews or her desultory presentation in front of the electorate. It wasn't even McCain's judgment in making the selection. For me, it's why he picked her - a straight, unabashed pander to the GOP base. That scares me more than the flimsy radical associations portrayed by the Republicans as surrounding Obama. For the first time in his political career, McCain played the partisan sycophant and tossed in with the far right. In appeasing the divisive component of the party, he forever coated his favorite word "Maverick" with thick irony. I would never take his campaign seriously again.

As for Obama, I go in believing, but with my eyes open. I like his energy policy. I like setting a hard deadline for energy independence in 10 years - a bold initiative rivaling Kennedy's race to the moon. I also like his health care plan. It's a hybrid between private insurance and the European model (yes . . . socialism! Woooooo.). We fatuously call this land the "shining city on the hill" until the remaining 42,000,000 of our fellow citizens can afford basic health care and, in turn, basic human dignity. And we'll quibble with taxes later on and reach a compromise.

Finally, I like what Obama represents to the global community, a signal that America will no longer play racial identity politics. He may become a galvanizing figure in this world always on the brink, embolden our allies to stand with us and fight evil, and cause our enemies to lose their stomach for battle. A beatific vision of course, but shouldn't we shoot for the stars and come up short, rather than admiring the distant twinkles of possibility from the wallow of our realities.

Hope - the fuzzy depiction the Republicans lambasted and disrobed throughout the campaign as shell promises. Tawdry goods. Valueless preacher hype. They never understood that hope fuels progress, creates ideas, sparks innovation. Hope is the thing of gut checks, when you're at rock bottom, no health care, no job, no prospects, a mountain of bills, not a pot to piss in, no way out. Fettered by hopelessness, that's your only spiritual leverage - the faint glimmer of hope. It's why you buy a lottery ticket. It's why you dream. McCain, Palin and the surrogates discredited it with every talking point. I firmly believe they will pay the price for their political atheism in less than 24 hours.

I hope Barack Obama wins. And that's enough to keep me going if he loses. Hope is real.

So that's it. You have my prediction for a metered Obama victory. Sorry about this stream of consciousness. On the old devil box, I'm watching Sarah Palin speak live from Elko, Nevada as she completes her campaign '08 gauntlet. Gosh, her crackling voice crawls into my debilitated brain like those slimy creatures Khan inserts into Chekhov's ear in Star Trek II. "I must obey . . . her incoherency . . . must write not good and dumb also."

One hell of an election though. The Potatoe will have reports from the field throughout the day, including live reports from polling districts in battleground states. We will be with you through the results of the election. Our country names a President in 24 hours (as long as Florida doesn't get unruly again). That's a hell of a thing.

Polls open in less than five hours on the East Coast. Good luck America. Let's keep it fair and civil. In the words of Jack Burton, "may the wings of liberty never shed a feather."

I leave you with Senator Obama's words from his October 22 rally in Richmond, Virginia. Click the link.

Screw it. I also leave you with this, Obama supporters:


One vote at a time. That's an election, guys. That's all it is.

Now . . . what are you going to do?

And It Begins . . .

Dixville Notch concludes midnight voting. The tiny township selects Senator Barack Obama as its choice for President of the United States, 15 to 6, over John McCain.

A good start.

ONE QUESTION

Where are your medical records, Governor Palin?

48 hours to go! We won't want them on Wednesday. You promised. You should keep your promises. That's part of "puttin' government back on the side of the folks also."

Oh, you meant you would release them prior to the end of the 2012 election. My apologies for the "gotcha" journalism then. You keep going rogue, sister!

***UPDATE***: Have you ever noticed that the audio on Sarah Palin's plane was either muted or "wasn't working" whenever the Governor is questioned about Tina Fey's turns on SNL:

It turns out Ms. Palin missed the full experience of watching Mr. McCain on “Saturday Night Live.” She boarded her charter plane at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, just on time to watch the show, an aide said, but the audio on her television wasn’t working.

Could it be to avoid the awkwardness of questions like does she have any designs on the White House in 2012 before the 2008 election is over?

Is this really an update to this post? No - but it gave me the excuse to yell again, "WHERE ARE THE MEDICAL RECORDS, GOVERNOR PALIN???"

***UPDATE***: Sullivan is exasperated. So am I. Give up the records.

***UPDATE***: Draw your own conclusions about the supposed liberal bias of the mainstream media, but Jake Tapper of ABC News has requested Palin's medical records each day since she promised to disclose them during an interview with Brian Williams on October 22. To date, no production of records. Not even a skeletal one-page summary. Not even a three-hour in camera review. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Draw your own conclusions about Governor Palin . . . you know what . . . no . . . let me draw them for you: Sarah Palin lies. She is the ostensible successor to the "bob and weave" evasiveness and concoction practiced by George W. Bush over the past 8 years.

***UPDATE***: ABC News reports Governor Palin's campaign has released a two-page letter from the Governor's person physician summarizing her past health:

ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala and Kate Snow report: Gov. Sarah Palin’s personal family physician says she is in excellent health and “has no known health problems that would interfere with her ability to carry out the duties and obligations of Vice President of the United States of America.”

Late on the eve of the election, the Palin campaign released a brief two-page letter from Dr. Cathy Gladwin Johnson, a family physician affiliated with the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center near the Governor’s home in Wasilla, Alaska.

Honestly, I've got bigger fish to fry right now, but thanks for the perfunctory effort, Sarah. Nice meeting you. Good luck with all your future endeavors in Alaska.

Warm Apple Pie's Final Electoral Map: Obama Prevails, Makes History, But No Landslide (289-249)

Barack Hussein Obama will become the 44th President of the United States of America. See, you can use Barack's middle name in celebration of his rich heritage without subtext, prejudice or innuendo. Tomorrow will be a historic day for America, devoid of dilatory tactics, featuring a timely, heartfelt, stately concession speech by John McCain and culminating in a wonderfully high-flying oration by President-Elect Obama (in the words of Chris Matthews, I think I just got a "thrill up my leg") making the case for national unity. I predict nothing as to the success or failures of Barack Obama's first term. We are not there yet and I want to savor the exultation of this moment without thinking forwards or backwards. I want to immerse myself in the sounds and images. I want to reach out and apply a fleeting, futile grip to the now unappreciated nostalgia of my prospective twilight years.

Enough turgidity. To the numbers . . .

I see trending towards McCain in Pennsylvania, but too little, too late. Per the methodology expressed in my previous post, Grant Park will party early tomorrow night without biting fingernails deep into the witching hour when elections are stolen. And the margin of victory will be big enough to keep lawyers at bay and off the clock.

I see Obama solidifying the support within his Rocky Mountain West trifecta: Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado will vote Obama tomorrow. It is the keystone to Obama's victory and a testament to David Plouffe's electoral strategy in extending the McCain campaign beyond the budgetary limits of its operations.

I see the dead heat of Florida cutting towards McCain, partly due to the concerted, unseemly campaign tactics of sinister RNC surrogates. There is only so much Obama-Bin Laden or Obama-Hitler literature one candidate can withstand. It will be close in Florida despite this ugly calumny, but Obama will lose. However, it will not matter this time.

I see Virginia capitulating to a push from its "Real American" roots and cresting for McCain by 1 or 2 points. North Carolina will come with it. Still, forcing the GOP ticket to expend precious resources in the deep South was a pragmatic move in keeping Republican money away from Iowa and the Rocky Mountain West - states voting for Bush during the last foray.

I tentatively see Ohio going for McCain. This is the election day surprise considering all, but a sprinkling of polls call this state for Obama outside the margin of error. My heart says Obama. My head says McCain. The Obama campaign paid due attention to Ohio and the whirlwind three-stop tour yesterday generated ample energy and over 170,000 attendees. Still, I do not trust Ohio's election infrastructure or its presiding officials, there is corruption coming from both sides in the Buckeye state and the leak of Obama's comments to the San Francisco Chronicle with respect to bankrupting coal plants (out of context or not) will have a bit of resonance, especially in light of the head of the Ohio Coal Association's public response.

If I'm wrong about Ohio, Obama clears over 300 electoral votes as many predict (309 total).

I see the dead heat of Missouri breaking towards Obama by a margin of 2 points. The big urban center of St. Louis wins the day, attracting record numbers of Obama voters. Missouri is the feather in Obama's cap, electoral map gravy, as a state that favored Bush by over 7 points in 2004 comes around to the Democrats.

I see Indiana voting Republican. Obama put up a game fight, but the Hoosiers would vote for John McCain, Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, even Tito the Builder. It is a red state. Period.

The rest of the map reflects 2004. 289 to 249. Not the thumping of most commentators' augury, but I only take small sips of the Obama Kool Aid jug, not full swigs.

As far as the popular vote, I think most polling is validated tomorrow and Obama wins by a 5 point margin, 52% to 47% with the remaining 1% cast into the ether of the third-party cosmos. I also predict a larger turnout than 2004 with over 65% of United States citizens over the age of 18 casting a ballot.

Endorsement to come . . .

***UPDATE***: Pollster.com submits its prediction. It gives Obama Virginia and Ohio.

Myopia

From Bill Dyer at Townhall, lavishing praise on the electorate for their ringing endorsement of sanity and caution in 2004. He prays for similar repose and reflection for tomorrow's voters:

I am not pessimistic. Nor am I filled with a false and foolish confidence, because my team are the underdogs — what an utter non-surprise that is! Every plausible scenario for a McCain-Palin victory this year has included a gut-wrenching Election Day. One day out, we are fortunate indeed that this is by no means a lost cause, and that our side has a real fighting chance.

And right now, in fact, my predominate feeling is of curiosity: I'm intensely curious to see whether the American public will demonstrate again that profound seriousness of purpose it demonstrated in 2004, or whether too many of its members will be seduced by visions of hopey-changitude.

"That profound seriousness of purpose it demonstrated in 2004?!?!?!" Indeed - as profound as Bush's 26% approval ratings. God help us if we are fortunate enough to see the electorate get all serious-at-the-party again in 24 hours.

Now I'm scared again. Dammit. Vote Obama! Vote change we profoundly, seriously, purposefully need!

Thanks, But No Thanks, On That Endorsement To Nowhere

Well, you knew it would happen. In the throes of the 72-hour push campaign from McCain-Palin and the RNC, a ominous voice chimes in to alter the course of this race. Shades of 2004 when terror beset the country and paralyzed John Kerry's supporters on the eve of the election.

He hates our freedom and liberty. Hates our Constitution. Hates that the . . . Democrats occupy his holy land. It's Osama Bin Cheney:



Oh my God! He's back! Your "November Surprise."

Cheney really pitching in, trying to swing the pendulum in the hotly contested battleground state of . . . Wyoming . . . and its highly coveted 3 electoral votes. The scuttlebutt is Cheney will hold a rally for McCain-Palin deep inside an abandoned mine in southern Idaho around 2 a.m., followed by a quick jaunt to Utah to conduct a press avail before sunrise in front of a group of home-schooled children locked inside the basement of a dismantled iron smelting plant. Cheney will then return to his subterranean lair beneath Washington D.C. to enjoy Fox News' election coverage, eager to discover who will be the next puppet-president under his supervision.

***UPDATE***: Barack Obama comments on Dick Cheney's timely endorsement of John McCain:

President Bush is sitting out the last few days before the election. But earlier today, Dick Cheney came out of his undisclosed location and hit the campaign trail. He said that he is, and I quote, "delighted to support John McCain."

So George Bush may be in an undisclosed location, but Dick Cheney's out there on the campaign trail because he'd be delighted to pass the baton to John McCain. He knows that with John McCain you get a twofer: George Bush's economic policy and Dick Cheney's foreign policy – but that's a risk we cannot afford to take.

In response, after giving a brief stump speech on McCain's behalf to the crew of a cargo ship off the coast of Nova Scotia, a red-faced Vice President Cheney exploded to his security detail, "Bring Obama to me!!!!!!!!!!!! Alive, if possible. Dead? Just as good." With the entire ship frozen with bewilderment, Cheney suddenly unsheathed a large umbrella, shed its nylon skin revealing whirling blades, and helicoptered off the deck of the vessel, cackling loudly.

***UPDATE***: To add insult to injury, Dick Cheney's hometown Wyoming newspaper endorses Barack Obama for President of the United States. That's got to smart a bit.

Dixville Notch, New Hampshire: "First in the Nation"

In less than seven hours, the polls open in the sleepy village of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Beginning in 1960, this tight-knit New England community has entertained midnight voting for President in the "Ballot Room" of The Basalms resort hotel. The votes are counted immediatley and reported with much media fanfare.

In 2004, its 26 registered voters broke heavily for George W. Bush over John Kerry, 19 to 7.

Joe The Plumber: Spreading the wealth actually pretty great

As Gawker is reporting courtesy of Inside Edition, Joe the Plumber has been having a little trouble making ends meet of late. Probably because he has been acting as the McCain campaign's foreign policy expert, and not actually, you know, plumbing. Well, it appears that Mr. The Plumber is not earning any money, is actually broke, and as a result is subsisting on the money that magically turns up in his mailbox sent to him by people with more money than he. Sound like anything to you? Go ahead, think about it for a second.

As Mr. The Plumber explained to Inside Edition's Deborah Norville:

"I'm not getting paid for things. It's starting to get hard
to eat,"

On the eve of election day, Joe, a single dad, told INSIDE EDITION he's getting by with help from friends and family, along with donations from well-wishers.

"It's hard being on the receiving end, a little bit of
pride gets in there sometimes," admits Joe.

"So you just go to the mailbox
and there's an envelope with a check in it, written to your name?" marvels Norville.

"Yes ma'am," Joe says.

So, lemme get this straight Joe. You think it's socialism for the government to take money from rich people in the form of taxes that everyone has to pay and give it to everyone including poor people who pay less taxes in the form of services. Ok, you're wrong, but I'm following your logic. But how do you feel about poor people who don't work but instead take money from rich people for free? Spreading the wealth? Socialism? Welfare? Rich people having their hard earned money go to provide food for poor people? Anything ringing a bell here? Anything? Hello? Is this thing on?

Sarah and Todd Palin "Live" With Racism In Alaska

African-Americans thank the good Governor for her sincere empathy. Is there a greater champion of minority civil rights in this country than Sarah Palin? I remember when Sarah took on the establishment by marrying Todd, a "native Alaskan." Sheer guts.

Sacrifice!!!!!

The Kansas Citian reports that an Obama victory could be bitter sweet, as an African village portends the slaughter of innocent bull in his honor.

In a related story, the Pennsylvania sanitation department warns that a McCain victory may result in a systematic failure of all plumbing statewide due to a prolific deluge of bull sh*t.

Obama's Grandmother Passes

And Michelle Malkin shows an ephemeral glimpse of her humanity.

Closing Argument #1 - Andrew Sullivan

I'd comment, but I don't want to ruin it.

Obama for President

___________________

November Surprise!

Courtesy of Matt Drudge. He broke the case! Can I change my vote (sent by absentee ballot already)?



This is his leading story. Has the coverage of this campaign brought an end to Drudge? Not that he was ever a respected reporter, but at least he tried to be credible. This is just silly. Someone freeze-frame a wave into a Nazi salute, before it's too late!

The Penultimate Results: Greetings From Pennsylvania!

Florida in 2000.

Ohio in 2004.

Pennsylvania in 2008?

First, a smattering of the final national polling conducted during the three-day period from October 30 to November 1:

CBS News: Obama +13 (apparently conducted from a pool of 546 Trinity United Church of Christ parishioners)

CNN/Opinion Research: Obama +7

Rasmussen: Obama +5

Gallup Traditional: Obama +8 (Matt Drudge relied on this 51-49 poll last week to show John McCain was chipping away at Obama's lead. Obama has since gained about a point each day since Drudge's "red alert." The traditional model assumes an apathetic response from newly registered voters and places more emphasis on likely voters, among other factors.).

Gallup Expanded: Obama +9

Diageo/Hotline: Obama +5

Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby: Obama +6

Pew Research: Obama +6 (Pew's poll was conducted over a four-day period beginning on October 29. I include it here because Obama enjoyed a +16 lead in the Pew poll during the October 23 to October 26 period and shows a definite trending towards John McCain. Pew essentially projects that undecideds will break evenly on election day, thereby resulting in a 52-46 Obama victory. McCain-Palin spokesperson Rick Davis bets the house that these undecideds will break heavily for McCain.).

But national polling is only part (the secondary part) of the election day equation. The true strength of the Obama campaign, as crafted by the two "Davids" - Plouffe and Axelrod, is its understanding of the electoral map.

Current polling indicates that Barack Obama maintains strong or "leaning" leads in every state carried by John Kerry in 2004 totaling 252 electoral votes. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. Obama augments this number (accounting for population shifts since the last election) using the Rocky Mountain West - Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado - showcasing a total of 19 electoral votes.

Despite the reported "tightening" of polls spouting from the right-wing punditry, these 19 Western votes solidify Obama's bid for the presidency and makes victory for John McCain a Herculean feat or, more appropriately phrased, a Sisyphean task. It is all uphill and a really big electoral boulder.

Give McCain Ohio and Florida, the most coveted toss-up jewels. Give him the traditional Republican safe harbors of North Carolina, Virginia, Montana, South Dakota and Indiana - states put in play by Obama's broad-based ground campaign. Give him Missouri and its 11 electoral votes notwithstanding a 100,000 person Obama rally in St. Louis last week and that 20% of Missouri's population resides in St. Louis county.

Scoreboard? 278-260. McCain still doesn't win if everything breaks right. And I mean everything.

McCain's advisers understand this. Thus, only one strategy remains: Pennsylvania and its 21 electoral votes. A state won by John Kerry in 2004 by 2.5 points and Al Gore in 2000 by 4.2 points. It is vital that McCain flips one of the 2004 "blue" states to "red." Pennsylvania is the only one within shouting distance and with enough electoral votes to essentially "change the math" of this election.

Want to know what's in store for Barack Obama on Tuesday night? Pennsylvania polls close at 8 p.m. EST. If McCain loses the Keystone state outside the margin-of-lawyers (i.e., more than 3%), you can practically pop the Grant Park bubbly. Something apocalyptic must befall the rest of Obama's map for McCain to wrestle the election away.

On the other hand, if McCain eeks out a Pennsylvania win, in the words of Joe Biden, "gird your loins." It may be a long night.

Most recent Pennsylvania polls (trending towards McCain after double-digit Obama leads earlier in the week. McCain and various 527 political action committees dumped millions into Pennsylvania over the past few days):

Rasmussen one-day poll (November 1): Obama +6

Public Policy three-day poll (October 31 to November 2): Obama +8

Mullenberg three-day poll (October 31 to November 2): Obama +6

One more day of the circus, kiddies! I will publish my formal endorsement for President and election day predictions tomorrow evening. Enjoy your work week, socialists!

Last Minute Of Joe The Plumber's 15 Minutes

Behold your working man hero.

You should take a shower after you clean out Fox News' septic tank. You stink, Joe.

Those Spooky Mormons!

I have a gay cousin in California. Because both sides of the Proposition 8 debate refuse to directly speak to its express terms, instead using oblique references to "fundamental rights," "preservation of marriage" and "our children's future" in their advertisements, my cousin wanted me to shine the light on this important proposal - far too important to befuddle and stupefy voters into a tainted victory.

From my cousin's voter information guide issued by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen. Here is the official "background":

"In March 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22 to specify in state law that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. In May 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that the statute enacted by Proposition 22 and other statutes that limit marriage to a relationship between a man and a woman violated the equal protection clause of the California Constitution. It also held that individuals of the same sex have the right to marry under the California Constitution. As a result of the ruling, marriage between individuals of the same sex is currently valid or recognized in the state."

Here is the official Proposition 8 "proposal":

"This measure amends the California Constitution to specify that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. As a result, notwithstanding the California Supreme Court ruling of May 2008, marriage would be limited to individuals of the opposite sex, and individuals of the same sex would not have the right to marry in California."

This is a constitutional initiative - meaning Proposition 8 amends the California Constitution and eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry. There is no judicial bypass. Heterosexual marriage becomes enmeshed into the fabric of state law.

I would vote "no" on Prop. 8 if given the opportunity. Why? Because I don't want the spooky Mormons rummaging around in my underwear draw when they happen upon their next divine mandate.