I watched all of the presidential debates this fall. After each one, I felt that McCain was on the attack and Obama was calm under pressure. Throughout the debates however, I kept feeling like I had heard everything before…

Maybe I had?

Sarah Palin is the perfect example of why people don’t get married on the first date. Let me explain. As a nobody (and you can argue all you want with me about that), Sarah Palin was going to bring a new “freshness” to the Republican Party. I’m sure the decision to choose her as VP had nothing to do with thinking women are dumb enough to fall for the “since the Democrats hung Hillary out to dry, vote for the McCain/GENERIC WOMAN ticket”.

Sure America, including SNL, took Palin and made her into a rock star. But as in any good celebrity marriage, it is starting to get ugly.

First there is Palin spending $150,000 on clothing for herself and her family. I agree with Geoff Fox when he says the GOP tries to make Palin into a next door neighbor; a hockey mom from Wasilla. I guess they didn’t realize not too many neighbors have $150,000 clothing budgets. Palin struck back to critics by saying that those giving her crap about the money are sexist and men wouldn’t have to face the scrutiny she has faced. Really? You’re going to go there? The best part about this situation is the purchase could have violated campaign laws by using election money for ‘personal use’ — a reform that was pushed for by McCain himself.

Palin has also decided to ‘go rogue’ and has started to disregard advice from those whose only job is to advise her. This has created many tense situations on the campaign trail. Now that she is in the limelight, could she be possibly setting herself up for an Obama-esqe run for president? If you think about it though, Obama really wasn’t known until his speech at the Democratic Convention four years ago.

Palin doesn’t want to be labeled as anything that isn’t truly her (which I don’t blame her). That is why John McCain made a horrible decision in choosing Palin. Don’t choose someone who is unheard of, regardless if she has more executive experience or can see Russia from her bedroom window. Discovery Channel has it all wrong. For McCain’s campaign, Palin has turned into their “Deadliest Catch”.

All that being said, don’t marry on the first date… unless she’s über hot.

Today I double checked my voter registration. I’m not going to be voting in Connecticut like a lot of my friends. Rather, I’ll be voting in Ohio (absentee) where theoretically my vote will “count” for more. Granted I’m only voting once… so why does my vote count for more?

In a perfect system, my one Ohio vote would weigh the same as one Connecticut vote. But in reality, due to the electoral process, my vote could decide the election. That is a little bit of pressure for me.

Lots of people say that one vote doesn’t matter but I did a little research on issues passed on one vote…

BY ONE VOTE — Thomas Jefferson was elected president over Aaron Burr after the vote went to the House of Representatives

BY ONE VOTE — George W. Bush was elected president over Al Gore after the vote went to the Supreme Court

BY ONE VOTE — Andrew Johnson was acquitted on impeachment charges after the required vote failed to get a two-thirds majority

September 30 was the turning for Obama in Ohio. That was the day after the first debate when Obama clearly dominated McCain (unless you work for Fox News). According to Yahoo! Polls, Sept 30th Obama tied McCain in Ohio, 45.3% each. By Oct 7th, he had already built a 4% lead, 48.9% to 44.9%. As of this writing, Obama has a 6.1% lead, 49.9% to 43.8%.

Obama has great momentum going into the last 10 days before the election. McCain’s campaign seems to be unraveling more each day.

Here is my prediction for Election 2008…

Obama McCain
356     155

We’ll see how it turns out…