According to Five Thirty Eight, Romney has a 1% chance of winning Massachusetts, a 5% chance of winning New Jersey, and a 9% chance of winning Michigan

That is 100% good news!

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According to Five Thirty Eight, Romney has a 1% chance of winning Massachusetts, a 5% chance of winning New Jersey, and a 9% chance of winning Michigan

I'm going to have to restart my Five Thirty Eight obsession, aren't I? It's the only way I'm going to make it through the next 9 weeks.

They are convinced the Mitt/Paul team have blown Florida and won't get the senior vote.

I hope they are right.

My fear is that one of the commentators is correct. The theory is that most people already made up their minds a while ago. The few that didn't will decide based on the hideous ads playing in prime time while they watch their favorite shows. They don't read newspapers or watch news channels. Those people already decided.

That is my theory also. I think the majority of people don't read/watch news except for what bolsters their own already-firm beliefs, and their beliefs are based solely on what Daddy, their preacher, and the ads on TV said. Very few people will change their minds at this point.

Someone please tell me politics in this country will eventually get better.

I wish I could. I don't know if the country is really becoming more and more divided and less and less tolerant, or if the huge gulf between competing ideologies that always existed has become more visible, probably as a consequence of having a black president.

Chris Christie could bring in NJ for him.

Not living in NJ for a while, but I don't see Christie being popular enough to change people's minds all by himself.

Sullivan says that the Republicans just need to be out of power long enough and they'll be forced to be sane in order to win elections again. Hopefully that will happen.

Or, they could win this election by being not-sane.

Five Thirty Eight cheered me up! Steph, looks like I'll be camping out there with you for the next couple months.

InvisibleObama also has a Twitter feed.

Or, they could win this election by being not-sane.

Yeah, the downside to not-sane political parties.

According to Five Thirty Eight, Romney has a 1% chance of winning Massachusetts, a 5% chance of winning New Jersey, and a 9% chance of winning Michigan

Two out of those three tell me that states that know Romney want him to stay the hell away from political office. Which bolsters my original opinion. Heck, Dubya took Texas both times, and they knew exactly what they were sending to DC. Massachusetts and Michigan seem to be making crosses with their fingers and holding them frantically up in front of the very idea of a Romney presidency.

“This is the last time that any party will try to win an election with just the white vote.”

This makes me think about something I noticed at the RNC. (I know, I'll shut up eventually.) Every time a non-white speaker talked about how in America you can become anything you want to be, the crowd went wild with cheers, in disturbing contrast to the near-silence when the same speakers spoke of what it was like to be a disadvantaged non-white young person living in America. When Rubio quoted his father in Spanish the crowd was palpably uncomfortable, and Rubio looked briefly shaken by the lack of positive response to his story of his father's hardships both in Cuba and in America. It seems clear to me that the average RNC-going Romney/Ryan Repub only embraces non-whites when they have become rich and powerful. The lack of diversity in the RNC crowd was painfully obvious.

Also? As Romney was walking through the crowd, shaking hands and hugging, someone near a microphone yelled NONONO DON'T TOUCH ME. I wish I knew who it was, but I couldn't tell!

And if Romney has only a 1% chance of winning the state where he instituted a universal health-care plan? Yikes. What else did he do as Mass. governor?

You'd really think their descent into foaming-at-the-mouth lunacy (I believe they call it "firing up the base") should have cost them more at the polls. The good news, such as it is, for American politics comes from the renowned (for when one nowning just isn't enough), Lindsey Graham; who noted that they're not generating enough "angry white guys". Demographics are what will force them to start moderating their positions; I think it's at a tipping point alredy, and my prediction is that it'll kick in properly once America gets out of this economic hole (and it will get out of this economic hole; financial crises are nothing new, after all).

Sullivan says that the Republicans just need to be out of power long enough and they'll be forced to be sane in order to win elections again.

Ten years ago, even five, I'd have bought that. I don't it reflects today's reality, where doubling down on the crazy seems to be paying off as often as not.

It seems clear to me that the average RNC-going Romney/Ryan Repub only embraces non-whites when they have become rich and powerful.

The predominant narrative with the GOP is that we fixed racism in the 60s and we fixed sexism in the 70s and homophobia isn't a real problem because gay people shouldn't exist anyway, therefore anyone who is still on food stamps is just lazy because HERE LOOK AT THIS RICH REPUBLICAN BLACK PERSON.