Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween



Presidential Polls 10.31

Alaska Daily Kos/R2000 McCain 58, Obama 39 McCain +19

Arizona ARG McCain 50, Obama 46 McCain +4
Arizona Daily Kos/R2000 McCain 48, Obama 47 McCain +1

Colorado ARG Obama 52, McCain 45 Obama +7
Colorado PPP (D) Obama 54, McCain 44 Obama +10

Georgia Rasmussen McCain 52, Obama 47 McCain +5
Georgia Daily Kos/R2000 McCain 47, Obama 44 McCain +3

Indiana SurveyUSA McCain 47, Obama 47 Tie

Michigan PPP (D) Obama 55, McCain 42 Obama +13
Michigan Strategic Vision (R) Obama 54, McCain 41 Obama +13
Michigan Det. News (EPIC/MRA) Obama 50, McCain 38 Obama +12

Minnesota PPP (D) Obama 57, McCain 41 Obama +16

Missouri Politico/InAdv McCain 50, Obama 47 McCain +3
Missouri ARG McCain 48, Obama 48 Tie

Montana ARG McCain 49, Obama 46 McCain +3
Montana Daily Kos/R2000 McCain 48, Obama 44 McCain +4

New Hampshire Rasmussen Obama 51, McCain 44 +7
New Hampshire SurveyUSA Obama 53, McCain 42 Obama +11
New Hampshire WMUR/UNH Obama 53, McCain 39 Obama +14
New Hampshire Concord Monitor Obama 51, McCain 44 Obama +7
New Hampshire ARG Obama 56, McCain 41 Obama +15
New Hampshire Strategic Vision (R) Obama 50, McCain 41 Obama +9

New Jersey SurveyUSA Obama 52, McCain 42 Obama +10
New Jersey Fairleigh Dickinson Obama 53, McCain 35 Obama +18

New Mexico PPP (D) Obama 58, McCain 41 Obama +17
North Carolina Politico/InAdv Obama 48, McCain 48 Tie
North Dakota Daily Kos/R2000 McCain 47, Obama 46 McCain +1
Oregon PPP (D) Obama 57, McCain 42 Obama +15

Pennsylvania Strategic Vision (R) Obama 49, McCain 44 Obama +5
Pennsylvania Morning Call Obama 53, McCain 43 Obama +10

West Virginia PPP (D) McCain 55, Obama 42 McCain +13


National Marist Obama 50, McCain 43 Obama +7
National Rasmussen Reports Obama 51, McCain 47 Obama +4
National Gallup Obama 52, McCain 41 Obama +11
National Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Obama 50, McCain 43 Obama +7
National Diageo/Hotline Obama 48, McCain 41 Obama +7
National ABC News/Wash Post Obama 53, McCain 44 Obama +9

Samuel L. Jackson Lays Down the Law on Prop 8



Using historical footage, the ad reminds voters of three particularly bleak periods in state history:

-- Japanese American Internment: Authorized by President Roosevelt in 1942, the Army ordered all people of Japanese descent, whether citizens or non-citizens, living in CA to be interned in permanent "relocation centers." Those centers remained operational until the end of the war. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, who was California Attorney General at that time, later wrote that the internment was "not in keeping with our American concepts of freedoms and rights of citizens."

-- California's Ban on Interracial Marriage: In 1948, California became the first state in the nation to wipe away a state law banning interracial marriages. In the 1967 case of Loving vs. Virginia dealing with the remaining state bans, the United State Supreme Court ruled that: [T]he freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Marriage is one of the 'basic civil rights of man,' fundamental to our very existence and survival."

-- Racially Restrictive Covenants: These covenants were widely enforced in the early 20th century to discriminate against African Americans, Jews and other ethnic groups by prohibiting the lease or sale of property. The covenants were widely used in the Central Valley against Armenians. They were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948.


Thursday, October 30, 2008

The View From Here



Presidential Polls 10.30

Arizona NBC/Mason-Dixon McCain 48, Obama 44 McCain +4
Arizona CNN/Time McCain 53, Obama 46 McCain +7
California Field Obama 55, McCain 33 Obama +22
Colorado Marist Obama 51, McCain 45 Obama +6
Colorado National Journal/FD Obama 48, McCain 44 Obama +4
Florida National Journal/FD Obama 48, McCain 44 Obama +4
Indiana Rasmussen McCain 49, Obama 46 McCain +3
Indiana Indy Star/Selzer McCain 45, Obama 46 Obama +1
Iowa SurveyUSA Obama 55, McCain 40 Obama +15
Kentucky Rasmussen McCain 55, Obama 43 McCain +12
Minnesota NBC/Mason-Dixon Obama 48, McCain 40 Obama +8
Minnesota Minn. Pub. Radio Obama 56, McCain 37 Obama +19
Montana Rasmussen McCain 50, Obama 46 McCain +4
Nevada CNN/Time Obama 52, McCain 45 Obama +7
New Jersey Research 2000 Obama 54, McCain 38 Obama +16
North Carolina Rasmussen Obama 50, McCain 48 Obama +2
North Carolina CNN/Time Obama 52, McCain 46 Obama +6
North Carolina National Journal/FD Obama 47, McCain 43 Obama +4
Ohio CNN/Time Obama 51, McCain 47 Obama +4
Ohio National Journal/FD Obama 48, McCain 41 Obama +7
Pennsylvania NBC/Mason-Dixon Obama 47, McCain 43 Obama +4
Pennsylvania CNN/Time Obama 55, McCain 43 Obama +12
Virginia Marist Obama 51, McCain 47 Obama +4
Virginia National Journal/FD Obama 48, McCain 44 Obama +4
Wisconsin SurveyUSA Obama 55, McCain 39 Obama +16


National Rasmussen Reports Obama 51, McCain 46 Obama +5
NationalGallup Obama 50, McCain 42 Obama +8
National Diageo/Hotline Obama 48, McCain 42 Obama +6
National Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Obama 50, McCain 43 Obama +7
National ABC News/Wash Post Obama 52, McCain 44 Obama +8
National CBS News/NY Times Obama 52, McCain 41 Obama +11

Confederate Rednecks for Obama



Something's Happening in America



The Righteous Winds of History

When I read this voter report from a commenter on Jack and Jill Politics, I... Well. I'll tell you after you read it:

Upon arriving at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Cincinnati to vote early today I happened upon some friends of my mother's — three small, elderly Jewish women. They were quite upset as they were being refused admitance to the polling location due to their Obama T-Shirts, hats and buttons. Apparently you cannot wear Obama/McCain gear into polling locations here in Ohio.... They were practically on the verge of tears.

After a minute or two of this a huge man (6'5", 300 lbs easy) wearing a Dale Earnhardt jacket and Bengal's baseball cap left the voting line, came up to us and introduced himself as Mike. He told us he had overheard our conversation and asked if the ladies would like to borrow his jacket to put over their t-shirts so they could go in and vote. The ladies quickly agreed. As long as I live I will never forget the image of these 80-plus-year-old Jewish ladies walking into the polling location wearing a huge Dale Earnhardt racing jacket that came over their hands and down to their knees!

Mike patiently waited for each woman to cast their vote, accepted their many thanks and then got back in line (I saved him a place while he was helping out the ladies). When Mike got back in line I asked him if he was an Obama supporter. He said that he was not, but that he couldn't stand to see those ladies so upset. I thanked him for being a gentleman in a time of bitter partisanship and wished him well.

After I voted I walked out to the street to find my mother's friends surrouding our new friend Mike — they were laughing and having a great time. I joined them and soon learned that Mike had changed his mind in the polling booth and ended up voting for Obama. When I asked him why he changed his mind at the last minute, he explained that while he was waiting for his jacket he got into a conversation with one of the ladies who had explained how the Jewish community, and she, had worked side by side with the black community during the civil rights movements of the '60s, and that this vote was the culmination of those personal and community efforts so many years ago. That this election for her was more than just a vote ... but a chance at history.

Mike looked at me and said, "Obama's going to win, and I didn't want to tell my grandchildren some day that I had an opportunity to vote for the first black president, but I missed my chance at history and voted for the other guy."

The very first term paper I wrote in college was on the historic relationship of Jews and Blacks in America.

When the resentments between Jews and Blacks were stoked on the campus at Harvard the year after I graduated, I still lived near the campus and got involved in trying to mend fences. Soon, Anna Deveare Smith came to perform Fires in the Mirror. I made sure to attend the performance that ended with a forum on the Crown Heights conflict and its historical context. I was appalled that the panelists, which included the Black and Jewish glitterati, found a way to completely miss the point Smith was making in her collection of characters. I was so angry I took the audience mic when it was my turn and performed a non-cussing cussing out of everyone on that stage. Except for Smith. She clearly was happy another performance artist decided to bear down on the truth.

This anecdote has made me weep incessantly.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

American Stories, American Solutions



FLAWLESS.

Barack Obama is a great storyteller. That is why people connect with him so deeply. He's an artist. A writer. A man of wisdom.

And that voice.

He's heard from the American people and he our story in his own voice. Round, mellifluous, warm.

He's not a radical. He's a typical American with conservative values. And a great voice.

The biggest success of it all was that this documentary short subject portrayed Barack Obama and his family as the typical American family even as he strives to become president.

The Ford worker reading to his daughter shortly after Michelle told us Barack has read the entire Harry Potter series to Malia was striking. That's only one of many examples, but it was the most powerful.

We live in a patriarchy, after all. And he just told the country that our fathers must do much, much better.

The president, even if a woman, is ultimately the patriarch in chief.

I think he made his case. He showed, as always, that he has the talent and ability and the spirit to inspire a nation.

Now go vote for President Obama.

Patriotism



A READER over at the Daily Dish nails it to the wall:

I'd like to add a thought to your post "The Winner," about the Will.I.Am video. You mentioned that it resonated because of eight long years of shame and drift and failure - and no one could disagree with that. But I would add to that reason another - one that may seem hokey to some, but one that is central to the success of this campaign: patriotism.

The McCain campaign and far right detractors have questioned the patriotism of Obama and his supporters from the very beginning, when in fact, patriotism is the very basis for his success.

Obama's campaign simply could not function without an abiding, strident belief in the American people, the American dream, the American way. With two ongoing wars and a coming economic crisis that rivals the Great Depression, what can explain this fervor, this pure optimism, if not patriotism?

Without patriotism, where is the passion, the determination, the conviction that we, in fact, can? Without patriotism, we are left with only fear and cynicism. That video resonated because millions of people (young, disadvantaged - those with more reasons for despair and cynicism than hope and optimism) believe strongly enough in what their country stands for to stand up for it.



Presidential Polls 10.29

Colorado CNN/Time Obama 53, McCain 45 Obama +8
Colorado Associated Press/GfK Obama 50, McCain 41 Obama +9
Florida CNN/Time Obama 51, McCain 47 Obama +4
Florida Associated Press/GfK Obama 45, McCain 43 Obama +2
Florida Quinnipiac Obama 47, McCain 45 Obama +2
Georgia CNN/Time McCain 52, Obama 47 McCain +5
Michigan Rasmussen Obama 53, McCain 43 Obama +10
Minnesota Rasmussen Obama 55, McCain 43 Obama +12
Missouri CNN/Time Obama 48, McCain 50 McCain +2
Nevada Associated Press/GfK Obama 52, McCain 40 Obama +12
New Hampshire Associated Press/GfK Obama 55, McCain 37 Obama +18
New Mexico Rasmussen Obama 54, McCain 44 Obama +10
North Carolina Associated Press/GfK Obama 48, McCain 46 Obama +2
Ohio Marist Obama 48, McCain 45 Obama +3
Ohio Associated Press/GfK Obama 48, McCain 41 Obama +7
Ohio Quinnipiac Obama 51, McCain 42 Obama +9
Pennsylvania Marist Obama 55, McCain 41 Obama +14
Pennsylvania Quinnipiac Obama 53, McCain 41 Obama +12
Pennsylvania Associated Press/GfK Obama 52, McCain 40 Obama +12
Pennsylvania Franklin & Marshall Obama 53, McCain 40 Obama +13
Virginia CNN/Time Obama 53, McCain 44 Obama +9
Virginia Associated Press/GfK Obama 49, McCain 42 Obama +7
Washington Strategic Vision (R) Obama 54, McCain 42 Obama +12

National Rasmussen Reports Obama 50, McCain 47 Obama +3
National Gallup Obama 51, McCain 42 Obama +9
National Diageo/Hotline Obama 49, McCain 42 Obama +7
National Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Obama 49, McCain 44 Obama +5
National ABC News/Wash Post Obama 52, McCain 44 Obama +8

Daughter of Slave Votes for Obama

Click to Enlarge
109-year-old Bastrop woman casts her vote by mail.

By Joshunda Sanders
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
(click photo to enlarge)

AMANDA JONES, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.

The middle child of 13, Jones, who is African American, is part of a family that has lived in Republican-leaning Bastrop County for five generations. The family has remained a fixture in Cedar Creek and other parts of the county, even when its members had to eat at segregated barbecue dives and walk through the back door while white customers walked through the front, said Amanda Jones' 68-year-old daughter, Joyce Jones.

For at least a decade, Amanda Jones worked as a maid for $20 a month, Joyce Jones said. She was a housewife for 72 years and helped her now-deceased husband, C.L. Jones, manage a store.

Amanda Jones, a delicate, thin woman wearing golden-rimmed glasses, giggled as the family discussed this year's presidential election. She is too weak to go the polls, so two of her 10 children — Eloise Baker, 75, and Joyce Jones — helped her fill out a mail-in ballot for Barack Obama, Baker said. "I feel good about voting for him," Amanda Jones said.

Jones' father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family, and once he was freed, he was a farmer who raised cows, hogs and turkeys on land he owned. Her mother was born right after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Joyce Jones said. The family owned more than 100 acres of land in Cedar Creek at one point, she said.

Amanda Jones' father urged her to exercise her right to vote, despite discriminatory practices at the polls and poll taxes meant to keep black and poor people from voting. Those practices were outlawed for federal elections with the 24th Amendment in 1964, but not for state and local races in Texas until 1966.

Amanda Jones says she cast her first presidential vote for Franklin Roosevelt, but she doesn't recall which of his four terms that was. When she did vote, she paid a poll tax, her daughters said. That she is able, for the first time, to vote for a black presidential nominee for free fills her with joy, Jones said.

Read the rest...

His Choice



Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Charles Meets Barack



Presidential Polls 10.28

Arkansas Rasmussen McCain 54, Obama 44 McCain +10
Colorado Politico/InAdv Obama 53, McCain 45 Obama +8
Florida LA Times/Bloomberg Obama 50, McCain 43 Obama +7
Georgia InAdv/PollPosition McCain 48, Obama 47 McCain +1
Indiana Research 2000 McCain 47, Obama 48 Obama +1
Indiana Howey-Gauge McCain 47, Obama 45 McCain +2
Mississippi Rasmussen McCain 53, Obama 45 McCain +8
Montana NBC/Mason-Dixon McCain 48, Obama 44 McCain +4
Nevada Rasmussen Obama 50, McCain 46 Obama +4
Nevada Suffolk Obama 50, McCain 40 Obama +10
New Hampshire NBC/Mason-Dixon Obama 50, McCain 39 Obama +11
New Jersey Strategic Vision (R) Obama 53, McCain 38 Obama +15
North Carolina NBC/Mason-Dixon Obama 47, McCain 47 Tie
Ohio SurveyUSA Obama 49, McCain 45 Obama +4
Ohio LA Times/Bloomberg Obama 49, McCain 40 Obama +9
Pennsylvania Rasmussen Obama 53, McCain 46 Obama +7
Pennsylvania InAdv/PollPosition Obama 51, McCain 42 Obama +9
Pennsylvania Morning Call Obama 53, McCain 41 Obama +12
Wisconsin Strategic Vision (R) Obama 50, McCain 41 Obama +9

National Rasmussen Reports Obama 51, McCain 46 Obama +5
National Gallup Obama 50, McCain 43 Obama +7
National Diageo/Hotline Obama 50, McCain 42 Obama +8
National ABC News/Wash Post Obama 52, McCain 45 Obama +7
National Ipsos/McClatchy Obama 50, McCain 45 Obama +5
National Pew Research Obama 53, McCain 38 Obama +15

Take The Day Off



Monday, October 27, 2008

One Nation: Barack Obama's Closing Arguments



Brilliant. Powerful. Right. On. Time.

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
“One Week”
Closing Argument Speech
As Prepared for Delivery
Monday, October 27th, 2008
Canton, Ohio


One week.

After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America.

In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.

In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.

In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.

In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.

We began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Back then, we didn’t have much money or many endorsements. We weren’t given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be.

But I also knew this. I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics – one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans.

Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are.

Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That’s how we’ve come so far and so close – because of you. That’s how we’ll change this country – with your help. And that’s why we can’t afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake.

We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can’t get credit. Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they’ve been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. It’s getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month.

At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven’t worked, and it’s time for change. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States.

Now, Senator McCain has served this country honorably. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from George Bush – on torture, for example. He deserves credit for that. But when it comes to the economy – when it comes to the central issue of this election – the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this President every step of the way. Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. Calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. Those are the facts.

And now, after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Senator McCain says that we can’t spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years.

It’s not change when John McCain wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average Fortune 500 CEO. It’s not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies or $300 billion to the same Wall Street banks that got us into this mess. It’s not change when he comes up with a tax plan that doesn’t give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle-class Americans. That’s not change.

Look – we’ve tried it John McCain’s way. We’ve tried it George Bush’s way. Deep down, Senator McCain knows that, which is why his campaign said that “if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” That’s why he’s spending these last weeks calling me every name in the book. Because that’s how you play the game in Washington. If you can’t beat your opponent’s ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things.

Ohio, we are here to say “Not this time. Not this year. Not when so much is at stake.” Senator McCain might be worried about losing an election, but I’m worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings. I can take one more week of John McCain’s attacks, but this country can’t take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. It’s time for something new.

The question in this election is not “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” We know the answer to that. The real question is, “Will this country be better off four years from now?”

I know these are difficult times for America. But I also know that we have faced difficult times before. The American story has never been about things coming easy – it’s been about rising to the moment when the moment was hard. It’s about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys. It’s about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose. That’s how we’ve overcome war and depression. That’s how we’ve won great struggles for civil rights and women’s rights and worker’s rights. And that’s how we’ll emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous than we were before – as one nation; as one people.

Remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on Earth. We’re still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. Some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. So there’s no reason we can’t make this century another American century. We just need a new direction. We need a new politics.

Now, I don’t believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. I know you don’t either. But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology. It should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. It should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who’s willing to work. That’s how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle-class families. That’s how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products and services. That’s how we’ve always grown the American economy – from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.

Understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right. We don’t need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government – a more competent government – a government that upholds the values we hold in common as Americans.

We don’t have to choose between allowing our financial system to collapse and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street banks. As President, I will ensure that the financial rescue plan helps stop foreclosures and protects your money instead of enriching CEOs. And I will put in place the common-sense regulations I’ve been calling for throughout this campaign so that Wall Street can never cause a crisis like this again. That’s the change we need.

The choice in this election isn’t between tax cuts and no tax cuts. It’s about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it. I will give a tax break to 95% of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paychecks every week. I’ll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 and give homeowners and working parents more of a break. And I’ll help pay for this by asking the folks who are making more than $250,000 a year to go back to the tax rate they were paying in the 1990s. No matter what Senator McCain may claim, here are the facts – if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing. Because the last thing we should do in this economy is raise taxes on the middle-class.

When it comes to jobs, the choice in this election is not between putting up a wall around America or allowing every job to disappear overseas. The truth is, we won’t be able to bring back every job that we’ve lost, but that doesn’t mean we should follow John McCain’s plan to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that send American jobs overseas. I will end those breaks as President, and I will give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the United States of America. I’ll eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country. We’ll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools, and by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country. And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs building the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow, not in Japan or South Korea but here in the United States of America; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain. That’s how America can lead again.

When it comes to health care, we don’t have to choose between a government-run health care system and the unaffordable one we have now. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. We’ll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy. And as someone who watched his own mother spend the final months of her life arguing with insurance companies because they claimed her cancer was a pre-existing condition and didn’t want to pay for treatment, I will stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care most.

When it comes to giving every child a world-class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, the choice is not between more money and more reform – because our schools need both. As President, I will invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of new teachers, pay them more, and give them more support. But I will also demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers and our schools. And I will make a deal with every American who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to college: if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition. You invest in America, America will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward.

And when it comes to keeping this country safe, we don’t have to choose between retreating from the world and fighting a war without end in Iraq. It’s time to stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. As President, I will end this war by asking the Iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.

I won’t stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now. The cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq, means that Washington will have to tighten its belt and put off spending on things we can afford to do without. On this, there is no other choice. As President, I will go through the federal budget, line-by-line, ending programs that we don’t need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.

But as I’ve said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn’t just about new programs and policies. It’s about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.

Part of the reason this economic crisis occurred is because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility. On Wall Street, easy money and an ethic of “what’s good for me is good enough” blinded greedy executives to the danger in the decisions they were making. On Main Street, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn’t afford. Some folks knew they couldn’t afford those houses and bought them anyway. In Washington, politicians spent money they didn’t have and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda. They scored political points instead of solving our problems, and even after the greatest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, all we were asked to do by our President was to go out and shop.

That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That’s what’s been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that’s what we need to restore right now.

Yes, government must lead the way on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and our businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But all of us must do our part as parents to turn off the television and read to our children and take responsibility for providing the love and guidance they need. Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but at this defining moment, all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; Democrat and Republican, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, disabled or not.

In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe.

Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else – we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.

It won’t be easy, Ohio. It won’t be quick. But you and I know that it is time to come together and change this country. Some of you may be cynical and fed up with politics. A lot of you may be disappointed and even angry with your leaders. You have every right to be. But despite all of this, I ask of you what has been asked of Americans throughout our history.

I ask you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours.

I know this change is possible. Because I have seen it over the last twenty-one months. Because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America.

I’ve seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time. I’ve seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb. I’ve seen it in the faces of the men and women I’ve met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams.

I still remember the email that a woman named Robyn sent me after I met her in Ft. Lauderdale. Sometime after our event, her son nearly went into cardiac arrest, and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could only be treated with a procedure that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Her insurance company refused to pay, and their family just didn’t have that kind of money.

In her email, Robyn wrote, “I ask only this of you – on the days where you feel so tired you can’t think of uttering another word to the people, think of us. When those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder.”

Ohio, that’s what hope is – that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting around the bend; that insists there are better days ahead. If we’re willing to work for it. If we’re willing to shed our fears and our doubts. If we’re willing to reach deep down inside ourselves when we’re tired and come back fighting harder.

Hope! That’s what kept some of our parents and grandparents going when times were tough. What led them to say, “Maybe I can’t go to college, but if I save a little bit each week my child can; maybe I can’t have my own business but if I work really hard my child can open one of her own.” It’s what led immigrants from distant lands to come to these shores against great odds and carve a new life for their families in America; what led those who couldn’t vote to march and organize and stand for freedom; that led them to cry out, “It may look dark tonight, but if I hold on to hope, tomorrow will be brighter.”

That’s what this election is about. That is the choice we face right now.

Don’t believe for a second this election is over. Don’t think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.

In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up.

In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.

In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo.

In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history.

That’s what’s at stake. That’s what we’re fighting for. And if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then I promise you this – we will not just win Ohio, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America.


Presidential Polls 10.27

Arizona Rasmussen McCain 51, Obama 46 McCain +5
California Rasmussen Obama 61, McCain 34 Obama +27
Connecticut Hartford Courant Obama 56, McCain 31 Obama +25
Florida Reuters/Zogby Obama 47, McCain 47 Tie
Indiana Reuters/Zogby McCain 50, Obama 44 McCain +6
Iowa Marist Obama 52, McCain 42 Obama +10
Mississippi Press Register McCain 46, Obama 33 McCain +13
Missouri SurveyUSA Obama 48, McCain 48 Tie
Missouri Reuters/Zogby Obama 48, McCain 46 Obama +2
Nevada Reuters/Zogby Obama 48, McCain 44 Obama +4
New Hampshire Marist Obama 50, McCain 45 Obama +5
North Carolina PPP (D) Obama 49, McCain 48 Obama +1
North Carolina Reuters/Zogby Obama 50, McCain 46 Obama +4
Ohio Reuters/Zogby Obama 50, McCain 45 Obama +5
Oregon SurveyUSA Obama 57, McCain 38 Obama +19
Pennsylvania Temple Univ. Obama 50, McCain 41 Obama +9
Virginia SurveyUSA Obama 52, McCain 43 Obama +9
Virginia Reuters/Zogby Obama 52, McCain 45 Obama +7
Virginia Washington Post Obama 52, McCain 44 Obama +8
Virginia VCU Obama 51, McCain 40 Obama +11
Washington The Washington Poll Obama 55, McCain 34 Obama +21
West Virginia Reuters/Zogby McCain 50, Obama 40 McCain +10

National Rasmussen Reports Obama 51, McCain 46 Obama +5
National Gallup Obama 52, McCain 42 Obama +10
National Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Obama 50, McCain 45 Obama +5
National Diageo/Hotline Obama 50, McCain 42 Obama +8
National ABC News/Wash Post Obama 52, McCain 45 Obama +7