Posted on 11/02/2008 2:46:41 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
WASHINGTON–An extra hour on the clock? Just another hour for Democrats to toss and turn.
On this, their most nervous of weekends – with thoughts of Fat Ladies not yet singing, Yogi Berra proclaiming: "It ain't over till it's over" and Dewey beating Truman – they received another fright yesterday from Barack Obama's aunt living illegally in Boston.
Here are five things that come at Obama supporters in the night:
• Auntie Zeituni: The Obama campaign said yesterday it would return $260 in campaign donations from Zeituni Onyango, his Kenyan-born aunt who is living illegally in this country.
Obama said he had no idea the woman he refers affectionately to as "Auntie Zeituni" in his memoir had been ordered out of the country four years ago by an immigration judge but said he believed all U.S. laws should be followed.
She lives in public housing in Boston and attended Obama's swearing-in as a U.S. senator in 2004 and, according to Obama, last talked to him about two years ago.
The campaign said such revelations about the half-sister of Obama's late father should be viewed suspiciously when they're leaked less than 72 hours before voting day. Not quite a November surprise but certainly an unwelcome November distraction.
• Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida: All are still in the Obama column, but all are tightening in the final days.
"It's time for a reality check," Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Ed Rendell said Friday. "We've got our work cut out for us."
His state looks solidly behind Obama, but what's with this NBC/Mason Dixon poll suddenly showing his lead at only four points, within the margin of error?
RealClearPolitics, which collects and averages major polls, shows McCain has whittled six points off Obama's once 14-point lead in Pennsylvania in three weeks.
That's 68 electoral votes in those three states. If everything goes south this weekend. ... Want to sleep better? John McCain's home state in Arizona is now in the toss-up category, according to RealClearPolitics.
• Investor's Business Daily poll: It has become the Republican equivalent of comfort food, the most accurate poll in 2004 has consistently put the national race closer than most other polls do.
Yesterday, it had Obama up only 4.5 points nationally, but with 8.7 per cent still saying they were unsure. And while Democrats are worrying, what about this nugget in yesterday's Hotline Diageo tracking poll putting McCain and Obama tied among independent voters? A week ago, Obama led by five points.
Maybe running mate Joe Biden will make you feel better.
"I felt awful good about this time in the (John) Kerry campaign and I felt good in the(Al) Gore campaign and so, so, this, that old joke, you know, it ain't over till it's over," Biden said.
Never mind.
• Where is the youth vote? There is evidence that in the midst of record early voting, the one missing component is the youth vote, those who have turned out in the tens of thousands to cheer Obama at rallies.
In Florida, where 3.4 million people have already voted, an Orlando Sentinel study found only 15 per cent of them were under age 35.
Then there is the legendary Republican Get Out the Vote effort. But this year, some of the GOTV money has been poured into final weekend advertising and it is hard to believe a legendary Obama ground game would not deliver.
Right, kids?
• The Bradley Effect: This phenomenon – named after black candidate Tom Bradley, who unexpectedly lost to the 1982 California gubernatorial election to the white Republican challenger, George Deukmejian, may be myth or at least outdated.
There is no reputable polling data available in 2008 that indicates voters are telling pollsters they will vote for Obama while actually planning to vote for McCain.
More often than not, Obama outperformed his polling numbers in the primaries.
But it would be naïve to discount race in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio, states where Hillary Clinton easily beat Obama in the primaries, and it is more likely that many people who tell pollsters they are undecided have really decided to vote for McCain.
That means there could be 6 per cent of Americans listed as "undecided" who are actually McCain backers hiding their intentions.
But an expected record black vote for Obama will overwhelm any latent racist effect.
Won't it?
You’re welcome to it.
“Sex, drugs, socializing, worrying about what to wear tomorrow, is he / she going to call me?, sex, my next job, hot band this weekend in town, sex.... Sorry, no time to vote. “
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2YQ119-YOo&feature=related
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