"There has always been a rush to the polls by African-Americans early," he said at the square in Covington, a quick stop on a bus tour as the campaign entered its final week. He predicted the crowds of early voters would motivate Republicans to turn out. "It has also got our side energized, they see what is happening," he said.
read moreThe Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since August, including one $75,062.63 spree at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, and another $4,716.49 on hair and makeup.
Channel 73 on the Dish Network is now The Obama Channel, a paid advertising bought by the campaign that runs continuously.
The Humane Society Legislative Fund has endorsed a presidential candidate for the first time in its history, choosing Barack Obama in part because of Sarah Palin's "extreme" positions on animal welfare issues. "Her record is so extreme that she has perhaps done more harm to animals than any other current governor in the United States," fund president Mike Markarian writes.
read moreAfter originally claiming that Sarah Palin has visited Ireland, Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq, the McCain campaign has acknowledged that she never entered Iraq on a border trip to Kuwait and her time in Ireland only consisted of a plane's refueling stop.
The situation is as it is now, not then. Now we need an orderly planned withdrawal from Iraq. That's why we elected the calm and competent Obama and the experienced Biden rather than the hothead McCain and the know-nothing Palin. That's why we need Gates to stay on so that he can continue to clean up the mess left behind by Rumsfeld and Bush.
It's futile to say how much better off we'd be if we had never invaded Iraq. We were stupid enough to elect and re-elect Bush and allow him to do it and we've been living with his disaster for nearly six years. Now we have to end it as best we can and at least recover something from the ashes.