Why the "Joe the Plumber" Tax Debate Hasn't Helped McCain

Brian Schaffner (at pollster.com) has an interesting post on taxes and the redistribution of wealth arguing why Joe the Plumber hasn't led to a bump in the polls for McCain. Here is the key graphic.

2004/2008

A comparison of the projected Obama vote to the Kerry vote in 2004. After visible home state effects in AZ and MA nothing really stands out. Obama seems to be doing better than Kerry all over.

New York Times Endorsements Through the Ages

The New York Times has endorsed Obama today which isn't very interesting (or at least it's not very surprising). They do have a very interesting time line of their past announcements. Included is this gem from the three candidate race of 1912:

"It is to the interest of the Nation that the Republican party should be preserved as an organized, coherent opposition. The public welfare is not preserved by the collapse of a great party, by the rise of discordant factions in place of a compact organization."

House Republicans Bow to Political Reality

The budget constrained National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee has had to make some tough choices about which incumbents to support.

Undecided

David Sedaris on undecided voters, not for the faint of heart.

Obama’s Ad Effort Swamps McCain and Nears Record

More on Obama's groundbreaking advertisement efforts.

The Blogging Scholarship

See, blogging is different than discussion boards. Cash money offer. No need to even send me ten percent.

Obama Ads Invade Video Games

So the Obama campaign has purchased ads in video games. Since I'm not much of a gamer (go Wii Sports!!), I don't think I'll run across any of these. Politico has a gallery of them if you want to take a look.

Is It Over?

Larry Bartels on the probability that Obama wins the election.

Debate Reaction: Town Hall Debate

On pollster.com there is a collection of surveys related to last night's debate. Most interesting to me is the CBS News survey of 500 voters who previously claimed to be uncommitted. Check it out.