Take your mind off the election for a minute and consider something truly depressing. A site called Flowing Data has a map that shows the gradual spread of Wal-Mart stores across the country. The animation begins slowly in 1964, but by the time it reaches the late ’80s and early ’90s … well, let’s just [...]

Obama/Biden 47%
McCain/Palin 41%
Undec 10%
- Obama holds a double-digit lead in battleground states. Among RVs surveyed in CO, MI, NH, NM, FL, OH, PA, VA, WI and NV, the IL Sen. leads 50-40%. One week ago (in the survey completed 9/22), he led 45-42%.
- Enthusiasm for the Dem ticket continues to outpace enthusiasm for McCain. 68% [...]

What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all of the parties to the table, including the House Republicans, whose votes were needed to pass this.
— McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt on Meet the Press Sunday, taking early credit for getting House Republicans to support the bailout bill that actually failed in [...]

Dear Dr. Democrat:
I’m confused by this whole economic bail-out deal. How did we get here? What can we do to fix it? Should I be burying my cash in coffee cans in the backyard?
Befuddled in Biloxi
Dear Befuddled:
The coffee can idea is probably not a great long-term solution due to the risk of forgetting where you [...]

Bush’s bailout speech on Sept. 24 was eerily similar to his speech on invading Iraq in 2003

After a disastrous week leading up to the debate last Friday, and now that polls reflect what was plainly obvious that night — that Barack Obama won the debate against John McCain — it is time to officially declare [...]

This has been making the e-mail rounds, but it’s kind of fun to think about:
I’m against the $85 billion bailout of AIG. Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85 billion to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200 million bona fide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population [...]

Florida embarrassment, Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Corruption), made headlines when he disparaged Sarah Palin, saying, “anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks.”
Now Hastings is apologizing. But not to Palin. He’s apologizing to hunters.
Hastings: “If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get [...]

House Republicans killed the Wall Street bailout bill today because their feelings were hurt by remarks made by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to one of their leaders:
“You’ve been on the plane for 25 hours and nobody has talked to you and they ask you to get off the plane by the back ramp. … You [...]

Obama/Biden 47%
McCain/Palin 42%
Undec 8%
- Nearly two in three RVs, 63%, surveyed by the Diageo/Hotline tracking poll this weekend watched Fri.’s debate.
- Debate watchers believe Obama prevailed in Oxford. 41% say Obama won the first debate, while 24% say McCain; 20% say they both won. Among Indies, 28% say Obama won vs. 23% for McCain; one [...]

She took over at the last minute. The last hour-and-a-half she really brought things together and made it possible to reach this point.
— A House staffer, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s role in reaching an agreement early this morning on a $700 billion bank rescue package