Miscellaneous Ramblings

Obama looks like he could pull off a landslide, but I won't be content until after he actually wins on November 4th. My friends at fivethirtyeight.com give him a 93.5% chance of winning the election, and the closer we get to election day the better those numbers look. I think it's still possible, but highly unlikely, that McCain could pull off a Dewey-esque upset. For that to happen, there would have to be a major international event and all of the GOP's voter-suppression and vote-manipulation tools would have to work to maximum effect. Right now though, it looks like the big question is how big the Democratic rout will actually be. I doubt that they can get 60 filbuster-proof seats in the Senate, but Al Franken is favored to win in Minnesota, so if nothing else, Senate debates should be more entertaining next year.

Assuming that the GOP is indeed routed, they will be in the political wilderness for years. During the course of this campaign, they've lost the support of most of their intellectual base, including prominent writers like George Will, David Brooks, and David Frum (yes, for you Canadians out there, he is the son of Barbara Frum). Even Christopher Buckley, the son of William F. Buckley, the founder of modern consevatism, has left the fold. Colin Powell has endorsed Obama, as have countless former Reagan and Bush officials. The only ones left are the true-believer wingnuts. It's great fun to surf around on conservative websites and watch the blood and manure fly.

The markets are all over the place, but I still think the overall trend is down. People tend to forget that even once the banking mess is fixed, there is an underlying world-wide recession (or worse) looming. The only good news is that oil prices are dropping and I have to fill the tank on WaveGuide before I bring her back from Anacortes.

Project Update - My first attempt ended up in the dumpster. My second effort starts today. Regarless of the outcome, I'll post some photos next week.