Great. Mail is likely to be down for several hours. Bye-bye productivity.

I think Obama might carry NC. I've been out of the liberal dot every weekend and, while the rural bumperstickers aren't trumpeting Obama there are an amazing lack of McCain signs. Also, Obama's registration people are saturating the state. They don't really bother with the Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh area anymore because it's so done—most of them are heading over to the blue collar areas like those around Burlington (where the factories used to be) and seeing a lot of support. I think the combination of Republican apathy and Democratic voter registration efforts among African Americans and the economically screwed could make NC an Obama state. (Might carry Hagan to the Senate, too.)

No idea what's happening in Alabama, though.

I have heard that Obama has one hell of a ground game going. I could be totally wrong underestimating that effort.

Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans (warning: auto-play)

I'm with Calli on Obama's chances in NC. It's not a certainty, but it feels like a real possibility here, especially given new voter registrations that have been absolutely through the roof.

A lot of them *are*, though, and even though they themselves are pro-choice, they truly believe that even under Obama, abortion rights won't be any better than they were under Bush.

I've also heard the "we don't want the Democrats to hold us hostage/take us for granted using abortion" trope as well.

Which, if McCain stuffs a couple more arch-conservatives on the SCotUS, they no longer will be able to. Kudos.

My sneaking suspicion is that the PUMA movement was started (and is funded) by the McCain campaign and is decidedly NOT the grass-roots outraged-women-voters thing that they claim to be. And as such, that the numbers they're claiming are pure unadulterated bullshit.

Tell that to my sister, an unaplogetic 60s radical. I sincerely doubt she'll vote for McCain, but she's thinking of not voting (something she's NEVER done before since she turned voting age), and in Maine, it might actually make a difference (though probably not in the grand scheme of the election).

She said she really thought it was time for a woman president, which I understand, but she also basically said she thought Obama crossed the line during the primary. I had to seriously restrain myself from asking her if she meant the color line, but it was at a family gathering on an island, so there was no way I was going to get into it with her - limited avenues of escape and all.

Happy Birthday to Casper!

I have been assuming that NY will go to Obama no matter what, even though Hillary is our Senator.

I saw an Obama bumper sticker on a car in Provo, Utah--seat of a county where I think Ron Paul would hae won if Mitt Romney hadn't been running. Said car still had all its windows intact. Granted, it was a car from Idaho, which is much more liberal than most people may believe, but still.

Happy Birthday to Casper!

Tommyrot - did you hear Mayor Daley's intro to Illinois? You know - Chicago where the White Sox will play the Cubs in a subway series? Made me laugh!

Missed much of Kerry's speech. (I was going back and forth between tennis and c-span and then I took some time between the roll call and Clinton's speech to watch Greatest American Dog.)

I thought that they should have played Clinton on with some James Brown or possibly some ZZ Top. (I was thinking "Sharp Dressed Man.")

Also, can you believe that they played "Addicted to Love"? Why must convention music suck so much?

It's odd. I have no doubt at all that Obama will be the next PotUS. And I think the debates will be the clincher.

I'm rarely optimistic. I didn't think Kerry would win at all, so didn't suffer the same sort of shock I saw in a lot of Buffistas. Disappointment, but not shock.

Tommyrot - did you hear Mayor Daley's intro to Illinois? You know - Chicago where the White Sox will play the Cubs in a subway series? Made me laugh!

Heh.