Last words on the election

The voting is about half-over and I'd like to get some things out before the results are in.

I still think we are in for a landslide for Obama.

Months ago I suggested McCain agree to run only for one term. Today I heard Paul Begala say that if McCain had done that, the outcome might be different. Remember where you heard that first!

Palin - while I was happy with the choice on some levels, she has not helped. She only kept some folks in the GOP camp who were unhappy with McCain. I don't think she brought new people in. She just gave the existing "choir" something new to sing about. If Hillary was the opponent, then Palin would have helped more. Against Obama, she has not helped and this may be more the fault of the party people who told McCain how to run his campaign. I think when this is all over, people will say Palin cost McCain a chance but I think those who managed her will be more at fault than her own lack of experience and verbal stumbles along the way.

I hope that before we do this again, things change with the way we elect our President. If the founding fathers had known about negative ads, attack ads, direct mail, robo-calling (add your own favorite to this list), they'd have written things differently. It may have come from a Jim Carrey movie but I'd like a balloon to follow every candidate around and when they stray from the truth, it lights up and says "Liar, liar!" Same for the media - if they twist a position to make a point about their favorite, the same balloon should light up.

People criticize Obama for using so much money (I heard $700 million) to run. McCain on the other hand took a bunch of our money using Federal matching dollars or however that system works. I think the funding issue needs to be looked at again. I don't see why we should pay in one way or another for somebody to run for office. But I also don't think one single euro or piaster or drachma should be allowed to make into the coffers of any candidate. I think some of the campaign finance laws are stupid. But there should be plenty of ways to prohibit foreign money from getting into the mix. If we can track bad meat all the way back to a farm in some state through tagging etc. to keep our food supply safe, surely we can track money coming in to a political campaign. Plus I think $700 million is obscene.

Regardless of the final outcome, I'll be glad when it is over.