If Kerry does manage to pull off a defeat, political scientists and historians will cite the first debate as a turning point. Kerry needed to introduce himself to all of the regular people who still didn’t have a clear idea of who he was. He needed to appear direct, firm, and presidential. In other words, he needed to sell himself to the people who were fed up with Bush but not ready to buy Kerry. I think he did that. He had a commanding presence and never seemed on the defensive. Bush oftentimes seems befuddled and sometimes at a loss for words. And he relied heavily on pat phrases from his stump speech. Until tonight, I had no idea that it would be “hard work” to rebuild Iraq.
And what was up with Bush’s curious fixation on Poland? You could have played a hell of a drinking game based on the number of times he mentioned Poland.
Now, the Dems need to control the spin game. The Republicans will try to portray this as a draw and the Kerry camp needs to fight that. And while I have ambiguous feelings about polls, it would be nice to see Kerry move in the polls.
After the debate, we all tuned to The Daily Show. They did a brilliant piece on undecided voters. Quoth Samantha Bee to a group of undecideds: “How do you fucking dress yourself in the morning?”
Now to bed.

The election is a little more than thirty days away and I’m itching to get involved in some get-out-the-vote efforts. I’ve been going to some meetings to do organizing in the disability community, but frankly, that hasn’t been satisfying. A lot of people with disabilities are still reluctant to identify themselves as disabled and it’s nearly impossible to identify potential voters with disabilities. There are some housing complexes that are home to marry people with disabilities, but that seems like such a narrow target for our efforts. I want to do some outreach to the general population, especially to young people and people living in the suburbs. I may not be the best person to do canvassing because of the low volume and slow rate of my speech, but I think I want to try. Whether or not Kerry wins, I want to be able to say that I did what I could. I’d rather not do this alone, so if you have a free weekend in the next month and you’re in the Twin Cities area, let me know and we’ll hit the streets and fight the good fight.
Here’s a hypothetical for everyone: If you could ask one question of Bush or Kerry during tomorrow’s debate, what would it be? I’ll let you know what mine are once I’ve mulled it over a bit more.

Juan Cole, a professor of history at the University of Michigan, has an excellent blog covering the war in Iraq. I remain mystified as to why the mainstream press, especially television news outfits, continues to cover the war in such a cursory fashion. Do they think people aren’t interested? I think most people are interested in what’s happening, but they aren’t actively seeking out information. Blogs can play a role in providing that information, but television still has the most immediate impact on public opinion. If I was the news director of a major network, I’d begin every nightly newscast with stories from Iraq, regardless of my political bent. It’s the biggest story around and yet sometimes it trails behind headlines of the Scott Peterson trial.
Incidentally, ABC’s The Note is a vital election-season resource. It has an exhaustive recap of the day’s political events, important stories from the papers, emerging trends, poll data, etc. A daily must-read.
We FINALLY have new computers at work. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to have a workstation that doesn’t stutter and hiccup when you try to have more than one document open at a time. Please let me never work on a Windows NT machine ever again. Ick. But I’m not sure why we were upgraded to Windows 2000 instead of XP. Maybe it was a cheaper license.
VSA Arts of Minnesota, a local nonprofit that has me on their Board of Directors, had its first annual fundraiser on Nicolett Island yesterday. I wish I had brought my camera because it was a beautiful location. In the middle of the river and with a spectacular view of downtown Minneapolis and the old mill ruins. If I ever get married (I know, I know, I can’t stop laughing either, but I’m just saying), I think that spot would be my first pick.

Like a good geek, I bought the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD and I’ll probably begin viewing it tonight. I’m not the biggest SW purist, so I don’t get too hung up on the finer points (e.g. whether Greedo or Han shoots first in the cantina scene). But I do hope they took out that wimpy scream that Luke gives when he does his tumble off the railing in Cloud City.
More later. Now, out to enjoy the sunshine.

If you’re into mash-ups, you absolutely must download the Kleptones’ A Night at the Hip-Hopera. It’s a full-length album that seamlessly integrates major songs from the Queen oeuvre and samples of other artists like Eminem, Missy Elliott, Beastie Boys, Peaches, and more. I’m listening to it now and it’s one of the most brilliant things I’ve heard. When I got my first stereo system, I also purchased a CD of Queen’s greatest hits, so these mash-ups have a special appeal to me. Holy crap, they’re even using Queen’s over-the-top theme song from that early 80s piece of cinematic cheese: Flash Gordon. I’ve died and gone to pop heaven. The album is mirrored here. You can thank me later.
And while we’re on the topic of 80s cultural detritus, I see they’re making a musical of…The Last Starfighter? You’re kidding me. I went to see this movie on my twelfth birthday with some friends. The space battles were cool, but I didn’t see much opportunity in the story for song-and-dance numbers. Can somebody in New York check this out for me and tell me if I’m missing something?