From lynching to lionizing

Change has come to the West Hollywood house where then-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin once hung in effigy and faux flames licked at a likeness of then-presidential candidate John McCain seen emerging from the chimney.

Now on display is a large reproduction of Shepard Fairey's famous poster of Barack Obama and, atop the chimney where McCain once roasted, stands a tall black mannequin dressed in a Superman costume - except Superman's 'S' insignia has been replaced with Barack Obama's campaign logo.

I'd have taken a picture if A. I had had a camera in my car and B. I wasn't fighting traffic on my way to work. If I get one, I'll post it.

Speaking of Echo Park-based Fairey, he has turned his artistic talents to the cause of mutts, according to The Eastersider LA blog.

Dogs and cats living together

Mercury Public Affairs, LLC needed a lobbyist in California. Fabien Nunez needed a job. Now they both have what they want.

Nunez, former speaker of the California Assembly, will become a partner and co-chair in Mercury. He'll work in the company's California office alongside Steve Schmidt, former campaign manager for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and John McCain's fall presidential bid, and Adam Mendelsohn, former spokesman for Schwarzenegger.

Schmidt and Mendelsohn continue to advise the governor. Nunez, a Democrat, will be a helpful link to the California Legislature, which may not be able to resolve the budget crisis but will continue to have a Democratic majority for years to come.

Meetings and questions

President-elect Barack Obama met with Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday, apparently to gauge her interest in becoming secretary of state, and he meets with Sen. John McCain on Monday.

Which of these two meetings is more important to Obama's agenda? Which of the two politicians would he rather work with in the Senate?

Does Obama want to bring Clinton into his administration to clear the way for his domestic agenda, avoiding a showdown over health care reform? Would her nomination make it easier for Obama to nominate Larry Summers as Treasury secretary? With Clinton out of the way, would Obama be free to ask McCain to carry the first major bill - maybe immigration or earmark reform or climate change - right out of the gate?

All states accounted for

AP has called the last of the hold-out states in the 2008 presidential election: North Carolina falls into the Obama column, giving him a final tally of 364 electoral votes to John McCain's 173*.

Why doesn't that add up to 538? Because one electoral vote in Nebraska remains outstanding (Nebraska and Maine both apportion electoral votes by congressional district rather than by state).

Meantime, Democrats have won 57 seats** in the Senate - three shy of a filibuster majority. There are three Senate seats yet to be decided - Alaska, Minnesota and Georgia - and Republicans hold small leads in all of them. The Georgia seat - Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) vs. Jim Martin (D) - is likely to head to a runoff; the Minnesota contest - Sen. Norm Coleman (R) vs. Al Franken (D) - faces an automatic recount, and in Alaska - convicted Sen. Ted Stevens (R) vs. Mark Begich (D) - all of the votes have yet to be counted.

*Only NBC has called Missouri for McCain. Other outlets have yet to assign the state.
**Two of those seats are held by independents who caucus with the Dems. One of those independents is Joe Lieberman, whom many Democrats consider a turncoat for his criticism of Obama during the campaign.

Poll watch

A few good places to get election results:

Pollster.com

New York Times' customizable electoral map

CNN.com let's you pick races to watch

Newsweek election map

Washington Post's election page

Mark Halperin's The Page

Politico's election map

Get info on California's elections here, get statewide results here, and local results here

And don't forget the KCRW elections page here

Obama wins round one

Barack Obama won the vote in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire 15 to 6.

The politics of Halloween

Yet another effigy pops up (or hangs down) - this time its was an Obama doll fake bleeding from a fake hatchet wound and hanging from a Redondo Beach balcony. From the Daily Breeze:

The lynched effigy of Democratic candidate Barack Obama came down after police officers and a representative from John McCain's local campaign office paid a visit to Lisa Castaneda last night and convinced her to take it down, according to authorities.

Emotions stirred in a Redondo Beach neighborhood Wednesday when a resident hung an effigy of Sen. Barack Obama from her balcony with a meat cleaver slashed through his throat as a Halloween display.

Previous fun with effigies here and here.

Antonovich: Palin effigy a hate crime*

L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, a staunch Republican, wants authorities to investigate the hanging of a Sarah Palin effigy outside a West Hollywood home as a hate crime. Here's the press release:

LOS ANGELES COUNTY — Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich raised concerns over a display depicting Governor Sarah Palin hung in effigy and a likeness of Senator John McCain emerging from a fiery chimney -- and directed County Counsel to work with the District Attorney to determine whether a hate crime was committed.I drive past the home on my way to work and didn't at first realize that was McCain crawling out of the faux burning chimney.

“This is a deliberate hate crime and should be condemned – had this stupid act been done to Senator Obama, there would appropriately have been a national outcry,” said Antonovich. “The definition of a hate crime includes insults, or offensive graffiti, images or letters targeting a person because of his or her membership in a certain social group including gender, sex, or political affiliation."

P.S. I drive by the house (it's on Fountain near Fairfax) on my way to work each morning. I remember first seeing the McCain effigy emerging from the chimney - although I didn't know it was supposed to be McCain. As of Oct. 29, the Palin effigy is still up.

*UPDATE: The Palin effigy came down this afternoon (10/29).

Fear

Fear + Anger = This

(warning: slow loading)

Let the fracturing begin

Politico reports that Sarah Palin wants to "go more rogue" as she kicks through the fence the McCain people used to corral her the moment she was selected as McCain's running mate.

It should be clear to everyone now that the Republican Party has been running two campaigns for president - campaigns that worked together only when they were ahead. As the clock runs out, they're now competing with one another to spin a probable election loss and take hold the reins of power as the party prepares to rebuild.

Palin represents an influential piece of the Republican base that McCain needed to win over to win on Nov. 4. He never really did. That piece of the base never truly respected McCain and McCain never truly respected it. The unhappy relationship has played itself out in a bizarre but memorable ritual dance across a dwindling number of battleground states. If McCain-Palin lose, watch the body politic try to cut off its own head.

Rural standoff

Barack Obama has a slight lead over John McCain among Real Americans, according to a Center for Rural Strategies survey. McCain had led rural voters by 10 percent as of September.

Awkward!

John McCain and Sarah Palin sat down together for an interview with Brian Williams today that will be serialized over the next couple days.

Having watched the interaction of the two, NBC News political analyst Chuck Todd said the two seemed, well, uncomfortable with each other. That doesn't surprise me. Here's what I said about the Palin pick on Aug. 30:

...all of this works only if Palin has McCain's respect. The choice has echoes of the trophy wife/young assistant storyline. Older man picks younger companion to show he is still in the game, still "with it" culturally and socially. But that's also a choice meant to leave the older man in control. It's a relationship in which he wants to give as little of himself as possible and still get what he wants in return. Republicans should worry the two will end up at odds. Will he resent her for trying to lay claim to her rightful place on the ticket? She is clearly ambitious. How will McCain respond when she tells him how to shape policy or steer the campaign? Will he accept her counsel gladly? Or bristle at being told what to do? This tension has a male-female dynamic and an insider-outsider dynamic as well.

McCain is a maverick and he wants to go it alone. He has a few close advisers he will listen to. The question now is whether he has the fortitude necessary to forge a believable-looking partnership with someone young, relatively inexperienced and highly ambitious. Because he clearly despises Obama for exhibiting these same qualities.

Powell endorses

For what it's worth, Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama for president. Also, the Obama campaign reports raising $150 million in September.

Debate! Debate! 4

Last question is on education.

Obama: More to do with out economic and national security than any other issue. More accountability, more teachers, higher pay, parent involvement, affordable college.

McCain: Civil rights issue of the 21st century. More competition. School choice. Improve student loan system.

Should federal government get involved?

Obama: Local control but more federal involvement. "No Child Left Behind" left the money behind. More early childhood education and higher salaries in exchange for accountability. More charter schools. Opposes vouchers.

McCain: Aggressively pushes vouchers, using Washington, DC as an example. Says Head Start needs more transparency and reform... and we'll find the cause of autism.

Closing statements.

McCain: America needs a new direction. Can't do what we did the last 8 years. I have a record of reform. I've been a careful steward of your tax dollars. Have to stop the spending that mortgaged your children's futures. Spent entire life in service to the nation.

Obama: The policies of the last 8 years and Washington's unwillingness to tackle tough problems has put us in bad situation. Can't risk continuing the same failed policies and politics and expect a different result. Fundamental change is needed. Won't be easy or quick. Need spirit of sacrifice and responsibility.

Debate! Debate! 3

On to dependence on foreign oil.

McCain: We can eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East and Venezuela. Canadian oil is A-OK...within 7 to 8 years. More renewables and nuclear. Calls Obama an "extreme environmentalist" and naive on Nafta.

Obama: Ten years is realistic to get off foreign oil. More domestic drilling, but can't drill our way out of problem. Have to have more renewables, more efficient American-made cars. Advocate for American workers in trade agreements.

McCain goes after Obama for failing to understand Colombia's benefit to the U.S. Is there a big pro-Colombian vote out there? Obama brings it back to automanufacturers. McCain, in the last word, accuses Obama of being anti-free trade just like Hoover.

On to health care.

Obama calls it heartbreaking and then outlines his plan. McCain agrees and then outlines his plan. McCain revives Joe the plumber and says he'll be fined over mandates. Obama: Here's your fine, Joe: Zero. Some back and forth over Joe.

On to Supreme Court.

McCain says no litmus test on abortion, but doesn't really think a pro-Roe v. Wade jurist would meet his qualificiations. Then says Obama voted against Roberts and Breyer on ideological grounds (I think he means Roberts and Alito).

Obama says he wouldn't apply a strict litmus test either, but supports Roe v. Wade. Uses the Ledbetter case (equal pay for women) as a point of difference.

The two tussle over abortion in the classic Dem/Rep way.

Debate! Debate! 2

Now comes the question on campaign attacks. Are they willing to make the accusations their campaign have lodged to each others' faces?

McCain: "It's been a very tough campaign..." Brings up the town hall meetings proposal again as a reason he got "pretty tough." He then defends himself against the accusation by Congressman John Lewis and calls on Obama to apologize; then he hits Obama for flip-flopping on public financing.

Obama: "The American people are less interested in our hurt feelings..." Goes on to say the two camps should focus on the economy for the next three weeks.

Here comes Joe the plumber again...

Obama continues to keep turning the question on attacks back to the same point, that Americans want a different kind of debate. McCain agrees, but continues to lay out accusations, finally bringing up Ayers (I don't care about him, but we want to know about him!) and ACORN. Obama explains his relationships and then names the people he really relies on for advice. McCain once again presses ACORN and Ayers and then says his campaign is really about the economy.

How did the independents see that exchange?

On to the VP choices.

Obama" Biden fights for the little guy (is he dropping his "g"s on gerunds?) and will make a fine president if something "happens to me."

McCain: Palin a role-model to women and reformers all over America.... a reformer through and through...A freath of bresh air.

Obama doesn't criticize Palin but says special needs kids need more funding, which you can't do under a spending freeze. McCain criticizes Biden for "cockamamie" ideas about partitioning Iraq and then says Obama's answer to everything is more spending.

Debate! Debate!

Last debate between Obama and McCain. Here we go...

McCain makes a point of making eye contact with Obama at the start before getting into his economic proposals. As he goes, he starts to channel Hillary Clinton in talking about mortgage relief to troubled homeowners. Obama sounds wonky as he tries to weave through his point.

McCain accuses Obama of wanting to raise taxes on Joe the plumber. Obama says Joe the plumber has been watching too many of McCain's commercials. McCain accuses Obama of waging class warfare and, in so many words, embracing wealth redistribution. (How many reporters are on the Internet right now trying to track down Joe the plumber?)

McCain reiterates his call for an across-the-board spending freeze and a line item veto, returns to his earmark attack against Obama. Obama tries to shift the conversation back to George Bush's economic record.

McCain: "Sen. Obama, I'm not President Bush..."
Obama: "When it comes to economic policies, essentially what you are proposing is eight more years of the same thing..."
And there you have the nut graf of the debate.

History must be a Democrat

The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in ourselves, but in our stars...

Taking both roads

In the wake of the terrorist-sympathizer-tinged attacks against Barack Obama, some in the media have busied themselves constructing a rescue-boat narrative that says John McCain is desperately trying to dial back the nastiness, but that he has been thwarted by some invisible hand.

Here's Roger Simon of Politico making that case:

There are those whispering in McCain’s ear that if he gets into the gutter, he can get into the White House. Ads are not enough, they tell him. He must launch the attacks personally and without reservation.

But honor is still an important word to John McCain. He would like to win the presidency and retain his honor.

Some tell him he cannot do both. At this point, however, he is trying.

A second, emerging narrative is that McCain has welcomed the invisible hand even as he appears to take the high road on the stump - and that the invisible hand carries the fingerprints of Karl Rove.

Which narrative is more true?

The GOP tactic of negative attack is now so routinely attributed to Rove that it may not matter if he's involved personally or the ghost in the machine.

But Simon's argument fails to take into account very recent history. In St. Paul, Republicans spent two nights tearing into Obama (including from a VP nominee he never really respected) before McCain came out on the third to give a speech heavily laced with post-partisan rhetoric. At that point it was clear McCain had embraced cognitive dissonance in an effort to simultaneously whip up the base and run a campaign of ideas and honor. What we are seeing now is the downside of an inherently unstable strategy that held together only as long as McCain remained tied or ahead in the polls. With the base now worried about a loss, they have amplified the attacks to the point that the ideas side is being drowned out. McCain must now spend time and energy trying to regain control in a turbulence of his own making.

Douthat asks

Is the McCain campaign playing to stereotype?

Also, ABC News finds that the lines of attack on Obama have left the McCain camp looking out of touch on the issues in the eyes of registered voters.