Here's some election news items that I have noted over the last day or so…
- Kids Pick Kerry to Be the Next President (AP via Yahoo):
A poll on Nickelodeon's web page has surveyed about 400,000 kids and teens and found that youngsters prefer Kerry by a 14 point margin. Interestingly, this is not the first time they've done this poll, and the poll has been an accurate indicator of the last four elections.
- 'Mary Poppins' Registers to Vote in Ohio (AP via Yahoo):
Get out the vote efforts in some areas are supplementing volunteers with paid recruiters. These are people who receive compensation for every voter they can get to register. Not surprisingly, at least one such recruiter decided to save himself the legwork and just filled out the registration forms himself and turned them in to collect his reward. Election officials realized something was amiss when they noted such new registrants as Mary Poppins, Dick Tracey, and George Foreman.
- Virtual Vote Lets Non-Americans Pick President (Reuters via Yahoo):
This should be interesting! Technicola.com is making available a website that allows people from all over the world to 'cast votes' in the 2004 US presidential election. The results will be made available (broken down by country) 48 hours before the election. It will be interesting to see how the candidates stack up in other countries. Do you suppose Walt Brown, the socialist candidate, will win in Russia?
- Bush Receives Endorsement From Iran (AP via Yahoo):
Apparently one of the members of the Axis of Evil has decided Bush is their boy.
Why? They don't like Democrats because Democrats tend to “push for human rights”. Talk about a stellar endorsement. 
- Political Yard-Sign Wars Rage as Election Nears (Reuters via Yahoo):
This pisses me off. I know how annoying political signs can be. Personally I don't care that the guy up the street with the gas guzzling pickup truck in his driveway is a Bush supporter, and I generally find such signs to be ugly and irritating. However, I firmly respect a person's right to express their opinion in this way. Freedom of expression is part of the core set of values we, as Americans, are supposed to believe in and uphold. Therefore I cannot understand and can only condemn people who, mar, steal, replace, urinate on, or otherwise tamper with signs on other people's property.
Burning a swasticka on someone's front lawn because they have a Bush/Cheney sign there is just WRONG. (And apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so.)
- Robertson: Bush Said No Deaths in Iraq (AP via Yahoo):
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson claimed today that he had warned Bush that the Iraq war would be a “messy disaster” and advised him that he needed to “prepare the American people for casualties”. According to Robertson, Bush said “we're not going to have any casualties”. Now Robertson is an ardent supporter of Bush, claiming that Bush has “God's blessing”, but apparently lately he's trying to have it both ways, saying that he had “deep misgivings” about the Iraq War. One has to wonder why Robertson would make such statements, as they clearly don't help Bush. It's hard to imagine that he won't be retracting this statement tomorrow. Is he just a dumbass? Is he crazy? I think he's neither. I think he's hedging his bets because a Bush victory is not a sure thing and he knows it. *If* Bush loses, Robertson needs something to fall back on since he has claimed Bush was acting with the blessings of God. My bet is, if Bush wins, we won't be hearing anything from Robertson except praise for the Iraq campaign. And if Bush loses, Robertson will immediately become an opponent of the war and begin attacking Kerry on it. Sleazy? Yes, but this is the Religious Right we're talking about. And it's widely known that the Religious Right is neither.
- Cheney Got Flu Shot, Aides Say, Citing Heart Issue (Reuters via Yahoo):
Not surprisingly Kerry is using this against the Bush administration. I can't blame him. But to some degree, I can't blame them either. Though the Bush administration is corrupt, and plays favorites when it comes to abiding laws, I don't think this is an instance of such. The command structure of the US government must be maintained. If plague or terrorists were rampaging through DC, the President and Vice President would be evacuated with priority, and that's the way it should be. In this case Bush is forgoing his flu shot, but Cheney, in his sixties and suffering heart disease, needs his. Like them or not, it's necessary. Now the treasury secretary, on the other hand, can go stand in line like everybody else! (Related article.)
- Heinz Kerry Asks if Laura Bush Ever Had 'Real Job' (Reuters via Yahoo):
Holy moly… that Teresa Heinz Kerry has got a mouth on her, doesn't she? Sure, she's no Dick ”Fuck Yourself” Cheney, but neither is she the silver-tongued diplomat John Kerry is.
- Black vote firmly behind Kerry: Jesse Jackson (AP via Yahoo):
That's what he says. Is it true? I hope so. I read somewhere that black voters prefer Kerry by a 4 to 1 ratio, but I read somewhere else that Bush '04 has twice the black voter support than Bush '00. One thing is certain, a lot of black voters were disenfranchised in Florida during the 2000 election (and probably elsewhere too). There's two ways to react to that this time around, one way is to be angry and more resolute than ever to get your vote in and counted, and the other way is to be apathetic and say “What's the point?” I sincerely hope that anyone who was disenfranchised last time redoubles their efforts this time to get their vote in. Voting is already underway in Florida, they're offering early voting to avoid or lessen problems on election day. Hopefully voters will take advantage of that.
- E-Voting Still a Florida Bugaboo (WIRED News):
People are voting in Florida, and problems have been noted. Many of them are technical, e-voting machines crashing or delays getting machines running. Some counties are offering absentee ballots as an optional alternative, but absentee ballots in Palm Beach county appear to be incomplete. Finally there are lawyers filing suits that the lack of paper backups on e-voting machines makes them not stand up to the letter of the law.
- Kerry to Go Hunting for Conservative Votes (AP via Yahoo):
Kerry's taking some time off in Ohio to go hunting geese. Sure it screams 'photo-op', but the guy *is* a hunter, and one of the things I've felt that the Kerry campaign has needed to do is make the public more familiar with who John Kerry is when he's not orating. Clearly he is an intellectual, and I think one of the things that attracts people to Bush is that Bush is *not* an intellectual, making him more understandable, accessible, and less threatening to the average Joe. It's good that people get to see John Kerry is just another guy. Even an intellectual can be down-to-Earth when he's not at the podium.
- Sordid Sinclair Broadcast Group is already regretting its plan to run an anti-Kerry 'documentary'…
- Shareholders challenge Sinclair on anti-Kerry documentary (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Sinclair fires reporter who criticized plans for program on film about Kerry (WPMI News)
- Sinclair Scales Back Anti-Kerry Program Amid Pressure From Stockholders (CNSNews.com)
- Broadcaster Plans to Show Only Parts of Film (New York Times)
- Burger King Bars Ads from TV Show Discussing Kerry (Reuters via Yahoo)
- Kerry Campaign Statement on Sinclair Decision (U.S. Newswire via Yahoo)
Serves them right, the fuckers. Apart from the Swift Boat Liars for Bush, the head of which is directly involved in the so-called documentary, pretty much everybody else has decried this silly thing including Senator John McCaine. There is, however, one party that has chosen to remain silent. George W. Bush. Big surprise there. Sleaze is fine if it suits his purposes. Old news.
Election news is just pouring in… today about 100 election-related news stories poured through the feeds I watch. And in the time it took to write this article, 15 more showed up. Hope for a decisive Kerry win folks, a razor-thin win on either side is going to trigger a legal battle which will make the last election look like a tea party.
Oh, and though I don't really follow sports…
GO SOX!