Open Thread

That's the Delaware state News Headline. The News Journal saw fur flying. Anyway, something was flying. (Sparkly fur?!?!) Here is the News Journal's Jonathan Starkey (mostly paraphrased by yous truly): DOVER — Sen. Tom Carper was double teamed by wack-jobs. Kevin Wade, a teabag, accused Carper of not reading the Affordable Care Act, and basically being a lazy douche. Carper conceded the point on a technicality. “On the [Senate] Finance committee, (a place you will never see) we work off of plain English language,”

"The truth is both sides are worried -- Team Obama is nowhere near as confident about its map as public statements suggest, and the Romney surge isn't as real (or relevant, given battleground-state polling) as Republicans are spinning. Yet it's that map that governs still -- national polls aside, the Romney surge hasn't spilled into the battlegrounds (particularly Ohio) enough to upend the race in Romney's favor, at least not yet."

As we now two weeks out from the election, although I do loving polling, they become less important than the ground game. And that is why the Obama campaign's early voting and registration efforts are so important. Let's take a look at two states that will decide the election: Nevada and North Carolina.

Your post.  Your call.  Have fun!

Ezra Klein interviewed Gallup’s Frank Newport, after noticing that virtually the entire Romney lead was produced among respondents from the South, making him wonder if Gallup might be forecasting a 2000 result where the victor (Obama) wins the electoral college vote and the loser (Romney) wins the popular vote due to the high racist margins he is piling up in the South.

Housing starts are at their highest level in four years. The unemployment rate is at its best point in four years; consumer confidence is at its best point in five years; the federal budget deficit is at its best point in four years. Just this week, reports on retail sales, industrial production, and new housing construction showed sharp and unexpected improvements. This probably isn't what Republicans wanted to hear.

Both national polls that were taken immediately following last night's presidential debate at Hofstra University show President Obama besting Romney by 7 percent. A CNN/ORC poll indicates that 46 percent of voters who watched the debate said that the president won, while 39 percent said Romney won (and the sample in the poll was about 8 percent more Republican than polls taken among all Americans this year). In a CBS News instant poll taken right after the debate, 37 percent of "uncommitted" voters said the president won, 30 percent gave Romney the edge, and 33 percent said it was a tie. A snap poll by Public Policy Polling in swing state of Colorado gave President Obama a 48-44 edge, while CO Independents said that the President won by 58-36 percent. For those who want a detailed point-by-point review of the debate in print as well as video, The New York Times has an interactive transcript of the Hempstead debate with a dynamic fact-checking sidebar.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D), on the 2016 presidential race: "If Hillary runs, she walks away with the nomination and then beats whichever Republican. It's lights out." I agree, and to the larger point, I believe which ever party wins the 2012 election will win the 2016 election.

Today is the day Austrian extreme sky diver Felix Baumgartner is planning his record-breaking jump. They estimate that his jump will take about half an hour to get back to Earth during this afternoon's 120,000-foot skydive attempt. You can see the live coverage here:

Happy freezing Saturday! Everyone seems focused on the Bodenwiser story today, but PainesMe has reminded us that if we are not doing what we can to elect Jane Hovington today, we are missing an awesome opportunity.

Interestingly, the Pew poll shows expectations for Rep. Ryan are actually higher than for Vice President Biden, according to the Wall St Journal. Before last week's debate, the expectations were very high for President Obama. May Paul Ryan suffer the same expectations result.