Final Arguments

Well, here we are, less than 48 hours before the polls close throughout the country (except for maybe Hawaii). Seems like it has been forever, but perhaps that is just because I have been obsessively following poll data for months now. (It has certainly been more fun to follow Obama's ascent in the polls in recent days than to witness the football poll results with Georgia's sad, sad performance Saturday).

Here's basically what each campaign has argued at the lowest common denominator level, which is pretty much where you end up 48 hours before the election:

OBAMA:

1. I'm not a Republican. Did I mention that the current administration is Republican?

2. McCain is a Republican. Just like Georgia W. Bush. W really screwed us, didn't he?

3. See numbers 1 and 2.

3A. (Not made by Obama, but well rooted out there): Palin's a nutcase.

MCCAIN:

1. Yes, I'm a Republican, but I'm a Mavericky Republican.

2. Hey, look over there, I think I see an old washed-up terrorist!

3. Hey, look over there, um, socialism!

The polls suggest that the only question we have to ask ourselves is, will it be a landslide? Most "experts" are predicting a victory for Obama of somewhere in the 330s or so (out of 538 possible Electoral Votes). Of course, the experts have been wrong before, most notably in 2000.*** It is still important to get out to the polls and vote. Nothing is in the bag. And, if you live in Georgia, like me, we actually have a big-time contested race for the first time in recent memory. Obama has an outside chance, but what I am really referring to is Jim Martin's attempt to boot Saxby Chambliss after one term. For those who do not live in this state but are fairly aware of political stories and such, Saxby Chambliss is the man who took down his predecessor Max Cleland, a Vietnam war veteran (and triple amputee from wounds suffered in that war), in part by running some of the nastiest ads imaginable, basically associating Cleland (literally, not figuratively-- that is, photos right next to each other) with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.

Because I watched the Atlanta Falcons football game today, I saw about 14 ads total from both sides in the Senate battle; of those, I'd say maybe 8-9 were from Chambliss or the National Republican Senatorial Committee. All 14 of them except for Jim Martin's own direct ads were negative. Two separate negative ads against Chambliss-- attacking him on tax policy and for the federal bailout plan-- were run by a 527 group I had never heard of (the Patriot something or other) and the National Demoractic Senatorial Committee. Chambliss's own direct negative ad really was the worst one, though, proving that once again, Chambliss is the master of slime. (For those that have seen it, I am talking about the one that accuses Martin of basically being a direct cause of the death of children in a DFCS case in the mid-90s).

Incidentally, yesterday, Chambliss was caught on the record by a NY Times reporter saying something along the lines of "the other folks [African-Americans, i.e.] are voting" so "our folks" need to come out. So you kind of know where he is coming from in the context of Old South racial politics, methinks.

Random fact for those of you who do not know: Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin are old frat brothers-- Chambliss was one year ahead of Martin at UGA. However, cream always rises to the top: Martin attend law school at the University of Georgia, while Chambliss, apparently unable to pass muster at admissions and unlikely to stand the academic rigor of the law school at his own alma mater, attended the University of Tennessee.

This might be my last pre-Election Night post. So, even though I know you all already will, I will say it anyway: GO VOTE!!!

*** Yes, it took an extreme effort of will not to rant and rave about 2000, W, the Supreme Court, the general debacle of 2000, and the travesty of history that carried forward from that terrible, terrible result.