Walked home last tonight after a joyful election party in the West Village, NYC--good crowd, wonderful friends, incredible victory. Felt a bit melancholy, in the way you do after achieving something for which you have striven for so long. It's my birthday. November 5th. Marvelous birthday gift from the American voters. 37. Strange age to be. People shout gleefully on sidewalks. Cars honk happily on streets. High fives with strangers. Arrive at St. Marks Place in the East Village. Crowd on the corner. Cheering. Stand on a pay phone, take photos. Walk down St.

The story is also being reported by CNN, Al Jazeera, and FOX News. We haven't confirmed the reports at this time.

I just stopped over at the RealClearPolitics election map. The results in truth are tighter than I would like. Obama is still outside the margin of error for 278 EVs, but last week it was well over 300. I'm not really concerned. McCain would have to win all the "tossup" states, among which Obama still leads in several, plus at least one of the "leaning Obama" states. In addition, poll analysis by A-man and FlyOnTheWall gives me confidence that Obama will outperform the polls.

Contrary to President Bush's assurance, he is not the Decider. We the People are the Deciders. Mr. Bush is a temporary employee to whom we have granted provisional authority to govern on our behalf. We the People make such Decisions infrequently but regularly--every four years. And now it is again time for us to Decide.

FlyOnTheWall is my favorite non-dagging blogger at the TPM Cafe. He/she is the uncontested pollmaster of TPM. If you're feeling anxious about the election or just curious about the accuracy of the polls, I highly recommend his/her latest post.

Some excerpts:

Here's the link to the audio

Palin handler Tracy Schmitt:

"Governor Palin was mildly amused to learn that she had joined the ranks of heads of state, including President Sarkozy and other celebrities, in being targeted by these pranksters. C'est la vie."

Warning: Do not wear near children, pregnant women, or unstable people with weapons.

To print out a lifesize version, download the PDF from 23/6.

The other day, I wrote a piece of snark about Joe the Plumber's brand going global, inspired by an actual quote from a Greek analyst about "Joe the Greek Plumber." Today, I read that the Joe the Plumber has hired a manager. Seriously. Jim Della Croce, president of the Nashville-based Pathfinder Management group, explains his plans for Joe the Celeb's future:

After achieving success in the United States, Joe the Plumber has gone international. According to the New York Times, a senior strategist for the ruling party of Greece said of Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis:

More eloquent than the sermons in Oliver Stone's W. and a heck of a lot shorter.

Some of you may remember my proposal for the Democratic primary to decided by dance contest.

I tend to avoid political cinema because it's usually unbalanced and heavy-handed, and the art inevitably suffers from the attempt to communicate an unambiguous message. But W. received some decent reviews, has been a box office success, and concerns a subject dear to my heart. I should have stuck to my principles. The best thing about the experience of watching it was the half-hour nap I slipped in between Dubya's decision to invade Iraq because of the alleged WMD's and his shocked realization that there were no WMD's in Iraq.

When you enter the Guggenheim from now until January 7th, the first thing you will notice is a blindingly gaudy marquee seemingly hung over the entrance by glowing blue chains. Frank Lloyd Wright was not available for comment at the time this article was written, but there were reports of muffled banging heard in the vicinity of his gravesite. The marquee was designed by artist Philippe Parreno. It's a fitting introduction to the Guggenheim's new exhibition, theanyspacewhatever, for three reasons:

Hey daggers. Today is dagblog's one month anniversary. We're off to a
great start. We've generated a lot of material in a short time (at the
expense of work and sleep). A few of our posts, including SarahPalinGrrrrl's Sarah Palin Tribute Page, have gone viral and generated a
lot of traffic. Discounting the big traffic spikes, we're now up to about
500 visitors a day, so thanks for reading us. If you like a post, you
can always help us to grow our readership by clicking any of the

In a surprise move, the McCain campaign has announced that it has fired the public face of the campaign, Senator John McCain. Campaign spokesperson, Nancy Pfotenhauer, announced the decision to dumbstruck reporters at a hastily arranged press conference on Thursday:

"As of this morning, Senator John McCain has been placed on indefinite administrative leave. John and the campaign leadership have agreed that he is not a good fit for the campaign right now. The parting was amicable, and we wish him well in all his future endeavors."

Obama is leaving the campaign trail for two days to go to Hawaii because his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, is gravely ill. To respect the family's privacy, they're not releasing any information, but the implication is that she's near death. Ms. Dunham helped to raise Obama, and they were very close. With his mother having passed away, this must be very difficult for him, especially at this time. I hope that she recovers and lives to see her grandson become President.

The economy and Bush's unpopularity would have made it tough for McCain to win the election no matter what, but as I predicted last February in one of my first political blogposts, Overestimating McCain, John McCain has played a weak hand poorly. I base my argument on the radical assumption that content matters. Whether delivered in rousing speeches, angry debates, or snide ads, if a candidate's message fails to resonate with voters, he or she is unlikely to prevail.

North Korea is set to make an "important announcement" on Monday amid speculation over the health of its leader Kim Jong-Il, a Japanese newspaper has reported. The Sankei newspaper said there was speculation within Japan that the announcement could be about Kim's death or a change in government brought about by a coup. The 66-year-old Kim disappeared from public view in mid-August and failed appear on two important national holidays, leading to speculation that he was seriously ill.

From Mike Allen at Politico:

G: Hello readers. I have a very special guest today: Joe the Plumber, who has exploded from obscurity to celebrity faster than a photogenic moose-hunting governor. Joe, thanks for coming to my blog post.

J: My pleasure, Genghis. I've always dreamed of being interviewed by a blog with a readership of 10 or 11 people.

G: Think big, Joe. We're going for 17 today. I'm honored that you accepted the invitation. I'm sure that you're in high demand since you became the cause célèbre of the presidential debate.