Happiness: November 12

THING TWELVE: THIS makes me so. freaking. happy.

Woo Oregon!

Game On

Ok, despite all the fun I've had watching Gov. Palin on SNL, and laughing at how ridiculous her silly Midwest+Alaska=Palin accent is, it's pretty apparent to me how terrifying she is as a politician. This morning on the train I was reading Washington Post's Express, to which I'm now nearly-certifiably addicted.

Page one: Picture of Tina Fey, and huge voter turnout in Florida! This page makes me happy.

Page two: Funny story about a cat show. I'm a crazy cat lady, this makes me happy.

Page three: Headline about how Sen. Obama keeps 9 point lead over Sen. McCain, and another story about how Sen. Biden's health records show he's in excellent shape. Needless to say, another happy page.

Page four: the following headline -- "PALIN: BAN GAY MARRIAGE"

Anger anger anger anger anger! I actually think I growled at the newspaper. I read the article with a scowl on my face, and it didn't ever quite leave me, even after Pearls Before Swine brought a killer whale onto their baseball team on the second-to-last page.

Here's a version of the full article from the Associated Press. It makes me sad and angry. Just like Sen. McCain said at the last debate. The American people are angry, I'm angry, the American people are angry, blah blah, something like that. I think we're supposedly angry about the economy?
If the American people are angry, it's for the wrong reasons. We should be angry because people like Gov. Palin are in contention for positions of very serious power. We should be angry that people who promote marriage between teenagers simply because they don't know how to use birth control, but believe that two happy, consenting adults shouldn't have the same right as those punk idiot teenagers have the power to influence any law anywhere, even if only in one state. But the whole country!!

We can't just sit back and let that happen. Game on.

Clearly, our current president is of the same persuasion. However, he hasn't done anything about it. I most certainly believe that it would be one of the first things on her agenda, no matter where she may be on Pennsylvania Avenue, whether it be in the White House or the EEOB next door.

To help soothe my angry angry brain right now, I have a delicious lunch. Grilled chicken with tomato, basil, and melted mozzarella. Baby carrots. Chicken noodle soup with veggies (including garbanzo beans!!). A piece of whole wheat bread. A cup of deliciously cold water. AND. Oregon Chai. yum yum.

Obviously this hearty lunch serves to nourish me for the next two weeks. It's going to be rough and it's going to be awesome.

Game. On.

The Dover Test

A few minutes ago I was on the phone with my mom and she was telling me about how she saw Miracle at St. Anna yesterday. She mentioned so casually that it's about the Buffalo Soldiers, as if that simple name drop wouldn't automatically cause Bob Marley to endlessly loop through my head!

The kittens are busy climbing in and out of my dresser and onto the window and all over me and on the table and over my dirty laundry and over me and on my desk and through my bookshelf and over me. Such is their life. It's most certainly a difficult one.

Natalie just sent me this, which I think is a super awesome story!! You should read it and worship Barack Obama's bones. Oh, I mean, vote for the esteemed junior Senator from Illinois in his bid for the American presidency.

The penultimate item for the evening: I have no idea how on Earth I found this, but it is freaking hilarious. It's a clip made by Pres. Clinton in his final days in the White House in 2000 (sigh... how I miss those wonderous times of a balanced budget and simple sex scandals). SO FUNNY. I guarantee, you need not care an inch for politics and you will find this funny.

And finally, Tina Fey again at her finest:

Constituency of One

Newsweek blog about accusations that Sen. Obama is all talk and no walk, and what Sen. McCain's campaign actually is.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/09/17/on-wall-street-obama-is-all-wonk-and-mccain-is-all-words.aspx

I clicked on the link because I wanted to find out what "Obama is all wonk" meant.

I wish I could find a good quote or a chunk of a paragraph to copy and paste here, but so much of it is really good and shouldn't really be taken out of context, so I'll just leave it.

I finally got my wireless set up in my apartment, so I will update more later. Unless, that is, my kittens seduce me into going to bed as soon as I get home. I strongly feel that this might happen. In which case, updates after an epic cuddle-and-sleep night.

Duck and Cover

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on Saturday Night Live last night as Gov. Palin and Sen. Clinton.

Since it's NPR it's a legit video, it won't disappear like the YouTube versions keep doing. I knew we should have watched SNL last night at Niki's but since Sen. Obama cancelled (due to Hurricaine Ike, I was pissed off for a sec and then I realized that it was probably a smart move on his part) we didn't watch. Also there were like 18 people in her apartment so it would have been impossible to hear. Instead we played Balderdash!

Funny how we played board games when we were little, and then they got "uncool," and now that's pretty much what we do at parties. Balderdash, BS, Taboo, that weird card game that I can't remember, and hopefully soon Apples to Apples.

This is my blog in a word cloud! I wonder why I say "got" so much. I'm obsessed with this site. I'm entering as much as I can, other blogs, my resume, blah blah. so cool.

I'm too lazy to mess with the formatting on this post, so it's just going to be this way. I have to go pretend to like my brothers at my fraternity's welcome back picnic. It's good, because I get free food, but I would rather have free food and cuddle with kittens at the same time, instead of having to go outside in 95 degree, super humid weather. With "Battlestar Galactica" still written all over my leg from last night.

I just realized how glad I am to not be allergic to cats, because then I would be sad when Rhett rubs himself all over my face and gives me smelly cat-breath kisses. As it is, that makes me really happy.

The Black Vera Wang

I've recently become obsessed with Mark Harmon. I'll have to start watching NCIS.

THE TICKETS:

Democrats:
Barack Obama and Joey Biden

Love love love love this ticket.
(are you kidding me? JOE BIDEN'S MOM FOR PRESIDENT)
Nothing more to say.

Republicans:
John McCain and Sarah Palin

I used to think that it was so smart for the GOP to put up McCain for pres. I still believe that, but less so now that I have realized he's 72. 8 years ago would have been better. 8 years ago he wouldn't have picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, because 8 years ago she was still just a hockey mom and only had a couple kids and was 36 years old.
Two things younger than John McCain - (1) Sarah Palin's home state, Alaska, and (2) Sarah Palin's parents. That's right, John McCain is the age of a great-granddaddy. well, in 4 months.

I'm sure there are people that love Gov. Palin. I'm sure she's a lovely person and a wonderful mother. However, I'm truly terrified of her, and would really rather she not be a heart beat away from an office in the West Wing.

I love my kittens. Almost as much as I love Mark Harmon.

Just kidding, I love my kittens more. They are, coincidentally, much more cuddly to me than Mark Harmon.

My musing of the day:
What would lawyers do without Portable Document Format??? Probably die off quickly, is my guess.

Mandatory Minimums

Mini-Super Tuesday is coming up, March 4.
I'm pretty sure the general consensus is that if Sen. Clinton doesn't win Ohio AND Texas, her campaign is pretty much over. Which is sad. It's kind of unclear at this point what exactly is going to happen though.

Green Skittles taste like toilet cleaner. Disgusting.

The Crackpots and These Women

The 2008 United States Presidential Election has officially gone Batshit Insane.

1) Sen. Obama has won the last 10 primaries. Ahead in the count by 150 delegates. Where did this come from?? Sen. Clinton's campaign is on rooftops screaming about how this was not supposed to happen.

2) Sen. McCain potentially had an affair with a really hot lobbyist (who totally looks like his wife). This is kind of a big deal? and has taken the press away from...

3) Sen. Clinton accused Sen. Obama of plagiarizing a speech material from the Governor of Massachusetts. However, Sen. Obama has stated that he and Gov. Deval Patrick are close friends and borrow words from each other frequently. So, that move does seem a liiiiittle desperate, but when a person can get kicked out of college and have their entire career ruined for plagiarizing and it's no big deal for a presidential candidate... I see her point.

Unfortunately I couldn't watch the debate, because I had rehearsal. Classic.

I like the knowledge that no matter what, we will have a U.S. Senator be elected President in November, which has not happened since Nixon in 1972.

Other than that, the rest of my life really sucks.

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan -- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. - from President Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

Mr. Willis of Ohio

Tomorrow is Hawaii and Wisconsin. Word on the street is that Sen. Obama is leading Sen. Clinton in Wisconsin by a few points, but you never know.

I've signed up to go to Ohio next weekend (March 1 already??) to campaign for Sen. Obama. Not sure if I'm going to actually go or not. It's been kind of frustrating to see his supporters turn into a cult.

Too much to do this week. Rehearsal got cancelled tonight but all I've done since 4:50 is eat dinner, drool at apartment floor plans online, and fantasize on ikea.com. I have to decide what to do for my little tonight, write a lab, read a book, read a long chapter, read the rest of the universe, write some papers, in that order. I wish school was more learning and less work. Also, Mondays suck.

Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

Been a while since I posted, computer was down and then when it wasn't, I was overwhelmed with catching up from when my computer was down. Now it's 1:48 am, I'm locked out of my room and watching the second episode of the West Wing. I miss DC. Oh wait, I live here.

So... Sen. Obama's won the last 8 primaries, and technically is ahead in the delegate count. And we all know that. Next primaries are Hawaii and Wisconsin on Tuesday, which I don't foresee being very difficult for Sen. Obama. At least no problems in Hawaii, seeing as how he's from Hawaii. Wisconsin, I guess I don't know. I had a conversation a year ago in Madison with an old Portuguese man who was a big fan of "Obama Baracka," and that is my only Wisconsin Obama poll. Likely not very accurate.

After HI and WI, we have a little break, then comes Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont on March 4. Ohio and Texas are huge. Dr. Allan Lichtman (I guess he's some minor political deal, adviser to Kerry in 2004, friends with Ross Perot, also my professor) says that Sen. Clinton has to win both Ohio and Texas to maintain hope of the nomination. Ohio is a huge battle ground overall; I'm pretty sure that the general is going to come down to Ohio and Florida, and Florida has already gone to Sen. Clinton. I would dearly love to see Ohio go Democratic this year. And Virginia!

Favorite new site to waste my hours. I think it's maybe the coolest site of all time.

Six Meetings Before Lunch

Guess it's time for my post-Super Tuesday update.

Bottom line is as follows, according to MSNBC.

Sen. Obama: 838 delegates
Sen. Clinton: 834 delegates
Former Sen. Edwards: 26 delegates but he dropped out so it doesn't matter
Democrats need 2,025 for a nomination.

Sen. McCain: 720 delegates
Former Gov. Romney: 256 delegates
Former Gov. Huckabee: 194 delegates
Rep. Paul: 14 delegates
Republicans need 1,191 for a nomination

My thoughts are that the delegates from Florida and Michigan will, in fact, be seated at the Democratic convention in Denver in August. Which gives Senator Clinton a HUGE boost.

So nothing terribly decisive or upsetting coming out of Super Tuesday.

All in all, not as eventful a night as I had expected. Though Sen. Obama ultimately did come out ahead, which I had not been expecting. Looks like our little Matt Santos is picking up speed.

Kansas, Lousiana, Nebraska, and Washington all have primaries/caucuses on Saturday, followed by Maine Dem on Sunday, and the Potomac Primary on Tuesday the 12th.

La Palabra

Quick overview of Super Tuesday.
Tomorrow 24 states are holding primaries (in 2004 Super Tuesday had the primaries of 10 states, so that really is a lot).

The reason this is such a big deal, especially to the Democratic party, is that 52% of all delegates available are up for grabs. For the Republicans, it's 41%. Something like 1,700 delegates will be pledged for the Democrats. I don't know what the number is for Republicans.

To get the nomination at the convention in August for Dems, September for Reps, a candidate has to have 2,025 delegates.

So, in all likelihood, the Republicans will come out of tomorrow with a nominee. This is because a lot (most?) of the Republican primaries are winner-takes-all. So if in Alabama McCain gets 33% of the vote and Romney gets 32% and Huckabee gets 15% and Ron Paul gets -%500 (yes, that's negative five hundred percent), McCain gets all 48 Republican delegates from Alabama.

However, it is unlikely, in my opinion, that the Democrats will come out of Super Duper Tsunami Tuesday with a nominee. This is because a lot (most?) of the Democratic primaries are proportional, though I think there's a fancier name that is the real name of that. So if in Connecticut, Clinton gets 52% of the vote and Obama gets 47%, then Clinton gets 32 delegates and Obama has 28 Democratic delegates from Connecticut.

Okay so it's actually a lot more complicated than that, because there are superdelegates and unpledged delegates and states with caucuses and states with people on the ballot who have dropped out and stupid shit like that, but we're just going to ignore that and understand it for how it is in a simplified manner.

But! Back to how I think there won't be a nominee for the Democrats tomorrow. Because Obama gained on Clinton so much (they're about even in the national polls, but that doesn't mean anything per state), he could get just about as many delegates tomorrow as she. It's going to depend a lot on how much he gained in California, especially, because California provides 22% of all the delegates in the Democratic party.

And that was a crash course in the messed up qualities of the fabulous day we call Super Tuesday, which will bring much festivities, especially as it coincides with Mardi Gras. I'm so into that. I'm giving up Republicans for Lent.



...

That was a joke. I have many Republican friends who I love and will be seeing often and willingly for the next 40 days.

College Kids

Last night I started thinking about a Clinton/Obama ticket. Previously I had been a huge supporter of Obama/Richardson, because then you get all the minorities or something? (Also Richardson has pretty decent foreign policy experience) And I don't really like the idea of going Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton during my entire life, but the Senator did make a good point in the last Democratic debate, on Thursday night, that it took a Clinton to clean up after the last Bush.

She does have more experience than Senator Obama, and if she were President and he Veep for 8 years he would be the next logical choice, which means 16 years of Democrats. Having Obama on the ticket might unite people to support Clinton as the headliner, despite the fact that she is so polarizing right now. I'm certainly going to vote for any Democrat on the ticket, but I'd be much happier about voting for Clinton if Obama was her running mate. Not that I don't think she'd be a fabulous president, because I do definitely think she could do great things, but I am worried about electability of Clinton if McCain is the Republican's nominee.

If Sen. Obama wins the nomination, and we'll see how he pulls out of Super Tuesday as to how he can do that, he won't pick Sen. Clinton as his running mate. I wouldn't either, if I were him. And he would likely be reluctant to be her running mate if she asked him, but it would be smart. Four or eight years in the White House would groom him so well. All the people who today argue that he doesn't have enough experience, since he's been a Senator for 2 years and has been campaigning for President the whole time, wouldn't be able to say that in 2016.

For the time being, I'm still an Obama supporter. I like having a young, fresh face that isn't a Bush or a Clinton and who wants to do good things for our country. He's not polarizing. He's speaking to the youth of the nation, which Senator Clinton seems to be ignoring (probably because that is more logical, as 18-25s rarely vote). He's optimistic, which Sen. Clinton trashed him for once but that's exactly how her husband got elected. Plus, electing him would do wonders for our relations with Kenya. ... that was a lame little joke.

Listening to Spice Girls, going to see 27 Dresses tonight in Friendship Heights, folding laundry, haven't done any homework today. I love DC so much. I cannot think of a better town for age 21-30ish. I'm considering coming back here for a summer clerkship during law school, though I have sworn up and down for the past 2 years that I will never spend a summer here. I think it will be different when I can be in an air conditioned building all day, and then the nights are always warm enough to go out on the town with no coat.

And I'm using my same rationale that is letting me go to Egypt for 7 weeks in June and July. It's only a couple of weeks! I can deal with that. My ghost sheet skin, maybe less so.

About 60 hours 'til polls open in the east for Super Tuesday.

The Short List

The list is getting pretty short. I was expecting Giuliani to drop but Edwards I had hoped would stick it out for a while... I wanted a little bit of a three-way competition, especially since a lot of the Democratic primaries aren't winner-takes-all.

There's been talk that a lot of the votes that went to Edwards were anti-Clinton votes, but I kind of feel that they were white working class votes that are more likely to go now to Clinton. We'll see how it plays out. Unfortunately, immediately after the Maine Republican caucus, which is from now through Sunday, comes Super Tuesday. So... we'll see. I'm pretty glad he's not endorsing anyone, actually.

My econ professor is talking about "Less beer! More wine!" which yes, is out of context, but is hilarious nonetheless.

The Kennedys endorsement video! I'm a huge fan.

Goodbye Johnny Edwards... I don't think you're going to get a VP nomination again, so ... yeah. Have fun?

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

Senator Clinton won Florida today, but that doesn't mean anything because the Democratic National Committee stripped Florida of its delegates when FL got all pushy and moved up its primary before Super Tuesday. Florida did that to make themselves more important, but the DNC just got pissed and decided they'd have none of that. So the Democratic candidates all pledged that they wouldn't campaign in FL until the election today was over, so Senator Clinton announced that she would begin campaigning essentially as soon as the polls closed. Which she did. I mean, she did win.

Murph says that Florida is basically where New York goes when it retires (actually he said something slightly more mean), and that's why Sen. Clinton won there.

I'm glad Senator McCain won, and because Florida is a winner-takes-all system, he got all 57 Republican delegates from Florida. Good job, Sen. McCain! It was pretty close between him and former Governor Romney for a while. When the screen was flashing "TOO CLOSE TO CALL" in red, I had terrible PTSD flashbacks to 2000. I'm still shuddering.

Former Mayor Giuliani did drop out, and is endorsing Senator McCain at a rally in California tomorrow. I don't know how polling has been for Sen. McCain in CA, but it is a Super Tuesday state.

Maine Republican is next?? Then after that is Super Tuesday!

He Shall, From Time to Time...

A few notes before I crash. Though I need to start reading the 200 page book that was due at 9:55 Monday morning and have it done by tomorrow at 5pm. OOPS.

Today was so much fun. Waking up at 7:30 was not fun, dealing with other annoying volunteers was not fun (though dealing with awesome volunteers is fun!), having my shirt be about 25 sizes too big was not fun, but pretty much everything else was fun.

• I think I now know every word to Graceland, I Know What I Know, You Can Call Me Al, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, and Under African Skies. I am pretty sure that some staffer just plugged in his iPod and put those five on repeat. It was pretty awesome.

• Standing on your feet for 5 hours, and then breaking down chairs and tables and pulling massive amounts of packing tape up from the floor is painful.
  

• No matter how much you try to kindly direct people in the right direction, they will go the wrong direction.
  

• You may have bonded with campaign staff while setting up Senator Kennedy's "VIP suite" until 12:30am, but by 9am they have already forgotten who you are.

• Caroline Kennedy can be wearing a dress at the event and you can have no idea of that until you see her on MSNBC 3 hours later. I thought she was wearing a pantsuit because I couldn't see her lower half at all.
  

• If you are 7 years old and adorable (and especially if you are Ethiopian), chances are you can get a volunteer to stick you in the front row.
  

• Senator Kennedy really does scream when he talks. And Congressman Kennedy has plastic hair. I'm a huge fan of the Kennedys.
  

3 hour long nap later, we have the State of the Union! The last one. Lame Duck SOTU. Finally.

I wasn't paying attention too terribly closely because of course those of us watching together got in ... discussions? every once in a while. Though mostly we just made observations about how frequently Speaker Pelosi blinks and how infrequently Vice President Cheney blinks.

Senator Clinton looked pissed at all the press that Senator Obama and Senator Kennedy were getting. Apparently Bill spent all week trying to get Sen. Kennedy to at least stay neutral, which obviously didn't work. Also, red was intense on Senator Clinton, and I kind of think she needs a new hairstyle.

I hate that I'm saying that, because obviously she's a woman and I don't want to be criticizing her fashion just because she's a woman. However, I think one of the funnest things about being a woman in the business/professional world is that we get to wear prettier things than the boys and not get flack about doing stuff like wearing a lavender suit to the State of the Union, while the boys have to wear dark blue or black, have an option of 3 different ties (red, blue, or striped), maybe 2 different shirts (white or light blue), and shiny shoes. So now I'm giving Hillary flack about wearing red. Red suit is fine but she could have balanced it with a white shirt under the jacket? You know, just a suggestion. I guess she's Senator Clinton, she can do whatever she wants.

EXCEPT get a Kennedy family endorsement!! Ha ha ha

Florida tomorrow!

A Proportional Response

Obama won South Carolina last night in a huge way. He had been polling at 40 but pulled out with 55%, while Hillary was 28 points behind him. Edwards had been gaining in the polls all week, especially after he was the only rational voice in the last debate, but it wasn't enough for poor Johnny.

What's happened to the polls this election? It seems unlikely that in the last minute, Obama got the vast majority of the undecideds, which accounted for something like 15% of the voting population. Did all the good pollsters go on strike with the writers? I'm not going to pay attention to polls anymore.

Rumor has it McCain will win Florida, but Romney's up there too. McCain's got the endorsement of Gov Crist, which should help him out with the Cuban vote. I'm predicting (hoping) that Giuliani will drop after he fails miserably in this primary. It'll probably be the best idea for him if he is still hoping for a vice presidential bid.

Clinton's been doing well in FL but I'm fairly certain that the SC results are going to affect that, with Obama's numbers going up and Clinton's going down.

But I'm not paying attention to polls any more.

Obama kicks off his Mid-Atlantic campaign tomorrow in DC! We're most definitely in the last stretch to Super Tuesday.

Monday

Barack Obama is coming to AU on Monday. It means skipping US Presidential Elections and Microeconomics to volunteer, but that's fine because my professors talk about the election all the time. Latin America Since Independence will be more of a problem. Think it will have to deal.

Dying for South Carolina results. Polls don't close for 2 hours. Record turnout!