Yesterday, I read this:

Less than a week from a potentially landmark presidential election, black voters in Florida are turning out in huge numbers to vote early, according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis.

So are people 55 and older. And Democrats.

But voters younger than 35 — especially the college-age group that has drawn so much attention from Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign — are doing what they have largely done in elections past: staying home.

…

*Young people are turning out in disproportionately low numbers. Though major registration efforts this year boosted their totals to nearly 25 percent of the total electorate, voters younger than 35 represent only 15 percent of early voters, making them the worst-performing demographic group in the analysis.

So, once again, the young voters don’t.

Sure, this is just about early voting, and we won’t know for sure till next week whether the young voters really couldn’t be bothered to vote or whether they just waited til Election Day.

But one thing might just convince them to wake up on Tuesday morning to vote: the race is tightening.

The national polls show a closing gap between Obama’s lead and McCain’s support. Many of the so-called battleground states still show that the candidates’ leads are so slim as to be within the margin of error.

And most significantly: there is still a small but significant percent of the population which considers itself to be undecided. I personally feel that these undecided folks will mostly break to McCain in the end, so the big question is where these undecided voters live. If it’s Ohio, Florida, Missouri, Colorado, Virgina, or North Carolina, the impact could be huge.

Whether young voters support McCain or Obama (though the theory is that they are probably Obama supporters), they’re more likely to feel the urgency to vote if the race is tight.

If they’re still paying attention at this point.

Thoughts?

Not to beat a horse that, if not dead, has been flogged to a point of being mortally wounded*, but:

For the last time, people, stop with the anti-American epithets!

Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.), has conceded that he did tell a North Carolina crowd that “liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God,” even though he initially denied making such a statement.

Now he says he didn’t mean it that way, and he was just trying to rev up a campaign rally.

How about, Mr Hayes, we “rev up a campaign rally” by getting them excited about the candidate you’re supposed to be introducing, NOT by sparking fear and xenophobia?  Mmmkay?

I hope I can stop talking about this crap soon.

* My favorite line from the movie Ladykillers

What do you call someone who disagrees with you? Why, Un-American, of course!

Just as you call a law UnConstitutional if you disagree with it, and a person UnPatriotic if they don’t support your war.

This has got to stop.

We are less than 3 weeks away from a hugely important election, and there is huge division. As I see it, there are two directions we can go right now:

We can have meaningful discussion about the difference between us, or we can label each other The Enemy and ensure that the country will not come together on November 5th.

I’ve already covered this topic, but it bears repeating. Three things happened in the last couple of days that bothered me.

On Thursday, Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin told North Carolina rally attendees how much she likes to visit the Pro-America parts of the country.

“We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe” — here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers — “We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.”

She continued: “This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom.”

She doesn’t say which parts of the country are anti-America, but the implication is pretty clear. Small towns corner the market on being American, while big cities are……?

The second thing that troubles me is that this year’s GOP supporters also seem to think that they are the real Americans. Starting at the convention, their response to both McCain-Palin statements AND their opponents statements and protests has been to shout “U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!” At the convention, they didn’t seem aware of the absurdity of hollering this at a group of Iraq veterans who were protesting the war.

And this week, while Palin was speaking in North Carolina, some protesters were shouting “Obama”. Not *nice*, but certainly within their rights. What did the McCain-Palin supporters shout? Not “John McCain!” or even “Nobama!” Nope. Again, it was “U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!!” Because, you know, people who support Obama are clearly Un-American! (Oh yeah, and they also kicked a reporter to the ground.)

And finally, this one. It’s absolutely beyond the pale. Everyone, of every political persuasion, should be alarmed by this:

Michele Bachmann is an elected official. She’s running for re-election this year. Her opponent is Elwyn Tinklenberg. (Don’t hold his name against him)

Apparently, in the 24 hours since Rep. Bachmann suggested that the media engage in a McCarthyesque witch hunt to root out the Un-American Congresspeople and Senators among us, Tinklenberg’s campaign raised $438,346.57.

Don’t dismiss Bachmann’s comments as simply moronic. They’re also disgusting and represent a dangerous type of thinking.

We need to be very careful how we approach each other and our opponents. No one group has a monopoly on patriotism or being “American”. To suggest otherwise is delusional, hateful, and divisive.

Last night both McCain and Obama attended the annual Alfred E Smith dinner, a charity event put on by the Archdiocese of New York that benefits underprivileged kids. By tradition, the speakers are supposed to be intentionally funny, and they both came through. The comments were sharply barbed, but really funny.

Take a few minutes out of being outraged by your candidate’s opponent and from worrying about your retirement funds to have a laugh:

Best lines of the night, in my opinion?

McCain: “I’m the underdog, but there are signs of hope. I can’t shake the feeling that some people here are pulling for me. I am delighted to see you here tonight, Hillary.”

Obama: “Contrary to rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Planet Earth.

Barack is actually Swahili for ‘that one.’ And I got my middle name from someone who obviously didn’t think I’d ever run for president.

My greatest strength is my humility. My greatest weakness is that I am a little too awesome.”

Nice job, guys. But Barack, I’d watch my back around Bloomberg, if I were you!

We now return to our regularly scheduling ass beatings and backstabbings.

McCain is going to great lengths to make sure he doesn’t miss his appearance on tonight’s Late Show with David Letterman. From SwampPolitics’ Jill Zuckman:

With Newark Airport delaying Sen. John McCain’s airplane from landing for two hours this afternoon, McCain knew he might be late - or gasp! - miss the taping of David Letterman’s show.

After having stiffed the late night comedian once before, McCain was determined to get to the show on time. So the campaign arranged for a six-seater helicopter to fly McCain to Manhattan’s West Side heliport.

Reporters are being left behind at the Philadelphia Airport. McCain is taking his wife, Cindy, his personal aide, Brooke Buchanan, Cindy McCain’s personal aide, Meghan Latcovich, and two Secret Service agents.

“The things we do for Letterman,” joked Steve Duprey, McCain’s friend, traveling companion and well-known “Secretary of Fun” for the campaign.

Secretary of Fun, eh? Using campaign funds to charter a helicopter in order to appear on a comedy show? In a time of economic crisis? The horror!

I think it’s time we all asked: What would Joe the Plumber Do?