537 Votes

That was the difference in Florida in 2000. So don't vote, it surely won't matter, will it?

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

It's Good Enough for Opie, Richie, Andy, and the Fonz

so it's good enough for me. Vote on November 4

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

When John McCain gets desparate

Wait, hasn't that happened already?

Finished Carving Your Pumpkins Yet?

Here are some ideas

I've got mine . . .

Humor from the Candidates

From the Al Smith dinner in New York last week:

First John McCain


Followed by Barack Obama

269-269

Don't say I didn't warn you. I have had this scenario in the back of my mind for some time now. But it's OK, because the Democrats win if it goes to the House. Probably.

Overtime? from DemConWatch.

But we're not going to worry about this, right?

I Like How He Thinks

from Daily Kos

I'm going to watch the debate now.

One of my favorites

This Kennedy commercial from 1960. It's not as good as the Sinatra one, but it's close.

Whither the Bellweather

People are quick to point out that Missouri has voted for the winning presidential candidate since like the dawn of time. But it would appear that Barack Obama is looking to redraw the map. Remember 270 is the magic number.

The Rothenberg Political Report looked at the Bellweather states.

The New Yorker Votes for Change

Won't you?

The New Yorker endorses Barack Obama.

Things I Try not to Think About

Most sports stars are Republicans . . . From Daniel Drezner (who got it from ESPN) by way of Marginal Revolution . . .

John McCain drew a record audience for his acceptance speech, and based on the distribution of viewers, part of what put him over the top was holdover viewers from the New York Giants/Washington Redskins game.

Could it be that Matt Yglesias is in the minority and that football-watchers are more likely to lean Republican? I don’t know — but that’s the best segue I can think of to link to Paula Lavigne’s fascinating ESPN.com article on which sports figures are backing which presidential candidates. The article is very long well-researched, but here are the tidbits I found interesting:

• Professional athletes and executives have given $445,334 to the two nominees — 55.8 percent to McCain and 44.2 percent to Obama, according to ESPN analysis of figures from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.
• The difference this election is that pro sports donors are more divided. In the past two presidential elections, the Democratic nominee has struggled to muster at most 16 percent of pro sports donations.
• Professional sports figures have given twice as much money to all presidential candidates combined during this election than they have to candidates in each of the past two races. And almost two months of fundraising remain for the two nominees.
• McCain has lots of friends in the dugout, but his biggest fans are in football. Six of McCain’s top 10 pro sports donors are with NFL teams, led by the San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans.
• NBA staff topped Obama’s list of pro sports donors at $24,360.
• [Rudy Giuliani] cashed in a total of $210,900 from pro sports donors, including $86,300 from NASCAR employees and drivers and $17,000 from his hometown New York Yankees.
  

Read the whole thing. And props to the athletes — their reasons for their various endorsements were very cogent.

Why Libertarians Should Vote for Obama

We live in a two-party country. Face it. Sure there are other parties and other candidates that will be on the ballot in November. But they are not going to win. It just doesn't happen here. And it won't happen any time soon. So here's an entreaty to Libertarians to not throw away their vote, and vote for Barack Obama for President.

From Marginal Revolution:

First, war. War is the antithesis of the libertarian philosophy of consent, voluntarism and trade. With every war in American history Leviathan has grown larger and our liberties have withered. War is the health of the state. And now, fulfilling the dreams of Big Brother, we are in a perpetual war.

A country cannot long combine unlimited government abroad and limited government at home. The Republican party has become the party of war and thus the party of unlimited government.

With war has come FEAR, magnified many times over by the governing party. Fear is pulling Americans into the arms of the state. If only we were better at resisting. Alas, we Americans say that we love liberty but we are fair-weather lovers. Liberty will flourish only with peace.

Have libertarians gained on other margins in the past eight years? Not at all. Under the Republicans we have been sailing due South-West on the Nolan Chart – fewer civil liberties and more government, including the largest new government program in a generation, the Medicare prescription drug plan, and the biggest nationalization since the Great Depression. Tax cuts, the summum bonum of Republican economic policy, are a sham. The only way to cut taxes is to cut spending and that has not happened.

The libertarian voice has not been listened to in Republican politics for a long time. The Republicans take the libertarian wing of the party for granted and with phony rhetoric and empty phrases have bought our support on the cheap. Thus - since voice has failed - it is time for exit. Remember that if a political party can count on you then you cannot count on it.

Exit is the right strategy because if there is any hope for reform it is by casting the Republicans out of power and into the wilderness where they may relearn virtue. Libertarians understand better than anyone that power corrupts. The Republican party illustrates. Lack of power is no guarantee of virtue but Republicans are a far better - more libertarian - party out-of-power than they are in power. When in the wilderness, Republicans turn naturally to a critique of power and they ratchet up libertarian rhetoric about free trade, free enterprise, abuse of government power and even the defense of civil liberties. We can hope that new leaders will arise in this libertarian milieu.

You Know You Want To

So please, don't make me beg. They are all doing the begging for me. Please, make sure you're registered and vote on November 4.