I got to thinking about Republicans being "strict constructionists" when it comes to the Supreme Court, and it seems true - by the time they finish obstructing Hillary's choices, the court'll be back down to its original 6 members.

Much as I love Michelle's speeches and support and her example as a fun and instructive First Lady, she helps draw attention to one key problem we have with politics, where people confuse giving a great speech with being a great representative.or lawmaker or administrator. Our contests are largely about speechifying, about exciting the masses - while governing is largely a closed-off office matter. The only exceptions are that occasionally some actual policies slip through in the campaign speeches so the public can vet these (if the candidates aren't lying or hedging their bets, the usual assumption), as well as some of the clever positioning between candidates gives an idea how they might deal with world leaders in office. Despite Michelle's successful singing, dancing and health programs, these aren't success factors for President quite yet.

The American public seems to go from 17 years old to 65 or 80 over the course of the election. During the early pre-voting phase, you can catch glimpses of V.I. Lenin, Robespierre, and . During the primaries it shifts to Bismarck and Ho Chi Minh. And as November pulls closer, it starts feeling like B.F. Skinner, Dr. Spock, and the guy who advertises Depends. Mostly the latter - it's like we're all ready to shit ourselves at any moment.

We finally got the public debate on sexism I'd been wanting and hoping to appear, but not necessarily for the best reasons, and oddly late and strangely in denial of the previous 14 months as well as previous elections. Still, it does my heart good to see ads focused on "softer" "femaley" issues like disabilities and health care, or children's education, rather than the more standard exploitive fare showing a child plucking petals off daisies as a nuclear bomb goes off. Yeah, we get it, we need military and cool heads. But we also need those schools, roads, hospitals and other accessories & accoutrements even as we're waxing big time about jobs and wars somewhere or slashing government and tightening our belts. I get it - my wife buys rice and pasta and vegetables at the store; I buy beer, nachos, and coffee. She's into sustainability, I'm into the big picture/home run items. But maybe after 240 years, it's time to have a President that sweats the little stuff.

In the end it's all about voter turnout. As the Arizona Republican noted, "Hispanics don't vote." Hopefully they will this time. Polls are all predicated on a certain voter mix. If more women, blacks, Hispanics, millenials, etc. show up, it knocks a hole in the predictions. 

I voted this morning on the internet. Kind of like the caucuses vs primaries thing, it's a bit less cool & fun than showing up at a voting station and working the ballot box, but it's much more likely to raise numbers of voters - early voting by mail, in-person and internet seems to be markedly increased this year - prediction of more than 40% early voting this year. And while convenient, there does need to be concern about potential fraud - hacking increases the chance of changing the electronic polling, Hopefully just excessive worry speaking, but... the variety of emails hacked, IoT boxes & home gateways hacked (by Russians et al) make it impossible to ignore. (Since Donald often engages in transferance, maybe when he says "it's all rigged" he means he's actively rigging it. Worth considering.)