Why This Matters

Barack Obama is not facing John McCain tomorrow. That battle is over. Barack Obama is facing 400 years of history.

The Day Before Tomorrow

Here are a few bold predictions.

I don't believe in jinxes.

I think the final National Poll is going to show 54-42 Obama. I originally said 53-39 I think.

I think the Final Map is going to show 375-163.

Obama is going to win.

Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Conneticut
New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
The District of Columbia
Florida
Ohio
Michigan
Wisconson
Illinois
Indiana
Missouri
Iowa
Minnesota
Colorado
New Mexico
California
Nevada
Oregon
Washington

Senator McCain is going to win

West Virginia
Kentucky
Tennesee
South Carolina
Georgia
Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Arkansas
Texas
Oklahoma
Kansas
Nebraska
Both Dakotas
Montana
Wyoming
Idaho
Utah
Arizona

And that is being conservative. There is every chance that Obama wins in North Dakota, Montana, and Arizona.

Which would bring it to 391-147

Now lets say for sake of argument that McCain wins in Florida and Pennsylvania and Arizona like they say he might (Florida maybe, Arizona probably) that is still 333-205. A landslide for Obama.

I have tried to look at the map, and think OK Terry what is the worst case scenerio here. And the answer is, barring voter fraud, Obama wins with a large margin.

"Give 'em Hell 54"

Barack Obama is not running against John McCain. Barack Obama is running against 400 years of History. 400 years of awful, ugly and embarassing American History.

Tuesday Matters.

The Best Election Ever

Three Days To GO.

Arizona!?

The Obama Campaign is running Ads in Arizona! Forcing John McCain to campaign there on Monday. The Day before the election McCain is going to be defending his own state!

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — In a bold move brimming with confidence, Democrat Barack Obama broadened his advertising campaign on Friday into two once reliably Republican states and further bedeviled rival John McCain by placing a commercial in the Republican presidential nominee's home state of Arizona.

Obama's campaign, capitalizing on his vast financial resources and a favorable political climate, announced that it was going back up with advertising in Georgia and North Dakota, two GOP states that it had teased with ads earlier in the general election campaign but then abandoned.

I don't think Obama is doing this because he thinks he is going to win there. I think he is doing this to show just how Screwed Senator McCain is.

And in case you are feeling Anxious:

This Says it All

I have tried to not post any McCain-Palin stuff this week. This week is not about John McCain. My thoughts on this week, and the next few days, I will hold onto until Wednesday morning.

But this was too good to not use.

With Four Days to Go

With Four Days to Go I have basically fallen off of the face of the blogging map. I don't know what happend.

I am somewhere between completely confident, and petrified. I can't wait for the next few days to go by.

Here is what I know: If Obama wins Virginia, and Pennslyvainia, or Ohio this thing is over. Period. McCain has to win all of the Bush '04 states (which he wont) and Pennslyvainaia in order to win. Which he wont.

What worries me is that Obama needs more than a 275-265 win. Obama needs an electoral Mandate to have any power at all.

More to come.... Busy morining

Joe Pa

Not to get mushy, but I can't help it. I don't have a living grandfather. I have never know either of my grandfathers.

I have adopted Joe.

"Now Imagine He's White"

Do a similar excercise with Senator Obama. A young man raised of a single mother, fed off food stamps, never knows his father. He puts himself through the best schools in our country by taking out student loans. Instead of working at any number of high paying law firms, he chooses to go to Chicago's North Side and help those who need it most. He marries a beautiful and successful woman, one he wins over by playing basketball with her brothers. They have two perfect daughters. He delivers THE SPEECH of the 2004 Democratic Convention. He becomes the talk of the Democratic Party. He soundly defeats the most popular brand in American Politics by organizing people in a way that Presidential Politics have never seen. He delivers the most moving convention speech in history infront of 85,000 people. He is a running against a party that has run this country into the ground in every way possible for eight long years. His opponent is unable to seperate himself from that administration. He is ahead by double digits in the polls in every key state one week from the election.

Now Imagine he is white.

He is going to win this. He is going to win this is a landslide.

That being said, RACE continues to be an issue in the country. The media will frame this as Obama's problem.

This is not Obama's problem. This is America's problem.

Obama is going to change that.

When a black man runs for high office, or a black woman for that matter (Hillary Clinton you deserve recognition here), it will be "normal" because of Barack.

When I am interviewing students about what they want to be when they grow up, and they say Teacher, or Doctor, or Lawyer, or President. I won't bat an eyelash, because of Barack.

One week out I am not pulling my hair out in fret. I am not panicked about assasination threats, or voter fraud.

I am in a sublime state of confidence. I am enjoying every minute of this. I don't want to look back years from now and think about how stressed I was before this happened. I cannot change what is going to happen. But I can enjoy it.

Why This Matters? -Education

To a group of 14 and 15 year-olds at East High, why does this Matter?

It matters because as cliche as it sounds, there simply is nothing more important than education. I realize that saying something like that, and proving it to high school students are two completely different things.

Without Education, who will run our banks, our stores, our factories? Who will pave our roads, and fix our cars? Who will teach our children, and their children? Who will be our President?

There is an awesome responsibility on the students of today to achive towards tomorrow.

No Child Left Behind is a federal law that places an emphasis on results, specifically test scores, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the learning that is taking place.

This law places a tremendous responsibility on both teachers and students. Without results, schools can be forced to close. This means less schools, less teachers and less choice. The less schools their are, the larger the class sizes are going to be creating a more difficult situation for learning.

No Child Left Behind creates a vicious cycle where teachers are pressured into teaching to tests in order to keep thier jobs.

Barack Obama plans on reforming this system. The inherent failure of NCLB is that it has never been properly funded. Schools have been mandated to show vast improvements in tests scores, while being denied the federal support that they require to effectively deliver the education necessary to reach the bench marks that have been put in place.

This means less teachers, less Text Books, less time to teach, and more emphasis on Standardized Tests. Tests that fail to judge the ability of a student.

Education is a Democratic Platform. Republicans believe in less Government, which means no publicly financed education.

Obama is also focusing on affordable higher education. Offering a $4000 a year credit to any student who performs community service or volunteers.

When I try to explain the importance of education to a teenager I say this: Education gives a young person options. You start life with an unlimited number of possiblities for what you can choose to do with your life. As you grow and make choices, your possibilities are either increased, or decreased depending on the consequences of the choices that are made.

More education means more possiblities. Period. If I choose at 25 that teaching isn't what I want to do, I can choose to do something else, because my education has granted me possiblities.

Had I not graduated from college, had I not graduated from high school, those possiblities would be limited.

I am in no way saying that you absolutely have to go to college to have a good life. What I am simply saying is that More Education = More Choices.

Barack Obama is going to make getting an education easier. He is going to make the education that high schoolers are currently getting more effective, thus creating more possibilites.

Which is Why This Matters.