Beware of evil right-wing Lapto Plobbyists!

We didn't know there was such a thing as a Lapto Plobbyist, let alone that that they would have their own Web site, www.laptoplobbyist.com. (Is that something like "ectoplasm," the residue of ghosts?)

But this ultra-right-wing group came to our attention this morning for their role in provoking a talented young journalist named Rachel Buchman to apparently end her career.

Here's the official story, as related this morning by the Inquirer's Michael Klein and on the radio by WPHT's Michael Smerconish:

Buchman, a 27-year-old radio reporter at Philadelphia's NPR affiliate, WHYY (90.9 FM), quit because of an (understatment alert) ill-advised telephone voicemail she left for the Lapto Plobbyists. In its entirety, she said:

"Hi, my name is Rachel, and my telephone number is... I wanted to tell you that you're evil, horrible people. You're awful people. You represent horrible ideas. God hates you and he wants to kill your children. You should all burn in hell. Bye."

Hey, at least she was nice enough to say "bye." OK, so maybe you're thinking this is another example of crazy left-wing liberal bias? That's certainly the way that Klein and Smerconish spun the story.

But God only knows what these people did to provoke her. As radio legend Paul Harvey (a conservative, no less) used to say: "Now, the rest of the story."

Simply put, and crafting our words very carefully here, the game that the good wingnuts at laptoplobbyist.com are playing is to whip conservatives into a frenzy over some "moral" issue. The latest -- a campaign against Pa.'s own Sen. Arlen Specter, who "has consistently voted in favor of killing unborn babies."

Then it likes to ask for their money, payable by a major credit card. Usually, $20. For what? To send out an angry fax to a bunch of senators and Congress people. You read that right: $20 to send a fax.

Does Kinko's know about this?

Here's how the Bergen Record (sorry, no link) described it:

Laptoplobbyist.com, a year-old conservative group outside Washington that claims to have 150,000 subscribers to its e-mail list, has built its mission around the "Insta-Fax." For a $20 donation (payable by credit card), Laptoplobbyist.com will send a fax with your name to a group of politicians it has selected.

Although Laptoplobbyist.com prides itself on its members' active participation, it doesn't allow people to customize their letters. "The one thing we want to do is stay on message," Carmouche said.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. As recently as this February, the executive director of the Maryland Republican Party publicly accused laptoplobbyist.com of "blackmail" (his words, not ours) by asking for a $100,000 fee to help win approval for slot machines, or else it would instead help anti-slots Democrats (which it subsequently did.)

What's more, Carter Clews, the longtime GOP, far-right lobbyist who chairs laptoplobbyist.com, recently worked a stint as creative director for (we swear we're not making this up) for Inphomation Communications, the company behind the Psychic Friends Network (of Dionne Warwick fame), which filed for federal bankruptcy owing creditors $26 million.

There's much, much more. Clews, who started out as an anti-labor activist in the late 1970s and worked in a variety of conservative oriented political jobs during the Reagan years, became semi-famous in 1985 when he charged that he'd helped White House allies illegally funnel money to a right-wing party in Spain, when he worked for PR legend Robert Gray. He also was fired and then re-hired by the Federal Trade Commission under Reagan for sending an anti-Michael Dukakis letter to newspapers.

Christopher Carmouche (can you do the fandango?), the executive director of laptoplobbyist.com, is also quoted and appears on TV as a kind of a spokesman for the Christian Coalition. He's railed against things like a negative review in Newsweek of "The Passion of the Christ."

In a 1999 Financial Times article about the coalition, Carmouche expressed frustration with the political process and said, "Frankly, I hate them all."

Heh heh. "Hate." We wonder if his boss knows he said that.

In our dreams

Fourth in a daily series:

A Silent Act of Rebellion Raises a Din in America

Ms. Dimson's act of defiance, which she described in an interview on Sunday as an agonized one, became part of a growing revolt by a source of Mr. Cheney's political power as important as any other: corporate-run television.

Speaking of birds...Drudge eats some crow

We already don't remember much from the 2004 presidential campaign, but we do recall that day that Matt Drudge ridiculed John Edwards for declaring -- at the height of stem-cell mania -- that if he and Kerry were elected that people would rise from their wheelchairs and walk again.

But with little shame or irony, today Drudge linked to this article...

How 'bout them Birds?!

Oops. Wrong ones.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until WE decide it is!

A few days after the election, a liberal-minded friend of ours called a major Kerry donor seeking help with a future political event, and was told something to the effect of: "Not now, I'm still working hard to get John Kerry elected president."

Indeed, it's been very clear to us since Nov. 3 that Kerry's been pursuing a clever two-tiered strategy -- openly concede the election and look toward the future, while covertly working to make sure that every vote (especially in Ohio, which decided the election) is counted. He's had lawyers there since Day One, and most likely the main reason he hasn't intervened is that, with a third-party candidates taking up the banner of a recount, so far there's been no reason for him to do so.

If you don't believe us, ask yourself this: Why is the Kerry-Edwards campaign still seeking donations for a recount in the most prominent corner of its Web site, 26 days after the campaign ostensibly ended.

Contributing to the Kerry-Edwards 2004 General Election Legal and Accounting Compliance Fund (GELAC) provides important support for our campaign. The Federal Election Commission has just granted our request to raise funds now to cover recount expenses. Your contribution to Kerry-Edwards 2004 GELAC will provide the resources to make sure we are prepared to win the post election day battles.

(Thanks to the up-and-coming blogger "rotten Denmark" and the sometimes-maligned Kausfiles for pointing this out.

A lot of hard-core liberals have been screaming for Kerry to contest the election results. That would surely excite the base. but would make Kerry, who wants to resume a high-profile Senate career, and Edwards, who surely wants to run in 2008, laughingstocks among the Gang of 500 if the "stolen election" issue never gains traction.

Ask questions first, shoot later. Makes sense to us.

Who's with us? Let's go!

In our dreams

Third in a daily series:

Revealed: the full story of the American election fraud

The most common trick was "carousel" voting, in which busloads of Bush supporters simply drove from one polling station to another casting multiple false absentee ballots.

Under Anderson Cooper's command...paging Wonkette

So we've got CNN while we're trying to do some "real" work, and we keep getting distracted by these new promos for cnn.com. The ads show the network's "personalities" like Christiane Amanpour trying to relate information to regular folks one-on-one -- presumably a metaphor (albeit a weak one) for getting CNN news from the Web.

The campaign is called "CNN Under Your Command" -- sounds kinda Rolling Stones-ish.

But we're dumbfounded by the spot with Anderson Cooper. In this one, Cooper is trying to tell a "news story" to a guy who seems more preoccupied with a phone call. After assuring the CNN anchor that he's listening to him and not the phone, he speaks into the receiver and says, "I love you."

Cooper storms away. "Anderson come back," the man pleads. "I wasn’t saying I love you, come back!"

But wait a minute, that's funny, a man saying "I love you" to Anderson Cooper because Anderson Cooper is...we mean, isn't he...? Oh, nevermind. We'll have to pass this one along to Wonkette.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the actual ad.

Commerce Bank and the Inquirer -- perfect together

Have our friends upstairs at the Inquirer finally lost their minds?

This morning, as we flipped through the paper, we saw an editorial that lauded a fund drive to repair a century-old playground in Fairmount Park. Fair enough, but the short piece was downright effusive in its praise of the main donor -- Commerce Bank!

That's right, the Commerce Bank where two high-ranking executives are awaiting trial on charges that they approved questionable loans for politically connected people who steered lucrative Philadelphia city contracts the bank's way. The alleged dirty dealings involved millions of dollars in taxpayers funds, or far more than it will cost to fix the city playground. The Commerce CEO, Vernon Hill II, was not charged but was said by prosecutors to be aware of some of the key dealings.

"Commerce Bank's grant, announced by chairman and president Vernon W. Hill 2d, has spurred grants from several other firms, including Aqua America, The Inquirer, Prudential Fox & Roach, and Sunoco. That corporate support deserves duplication by others."

Oh, OK -- so the Inky isn't just praising the charitable gift, but it's part of the team! Beautiful. Are there any other key scandal figures it can team up with? Maybe they can also donate some cash to help the drive to rename a community center for indicted-but-deceased power broker Ron White?

Not to be belabor the point, but the Inquirer -- as a public watchdog -- should come to bury Commerce Bank, not to praise it and its after-the-fact image cleaning efforts.

In our dreams

Second in a daily series:

American corporate media in revolt

By Sebastian Usher
BBC world media correspondent

A correspondent on the Fox News Channel announced live on the evening bulletin that the entire news team was going to join the protests on the Mall in D.C. She said their message to the protesters was: "We are not lying anymore".

Rebellion

For the first time in years, Fox aired opposition views in a balanced way after the station's management acceded to the journalists' demands.

Bush probably won't pardon this Turkey

From Reuters:

ANKARA, Turkey — The head of Turkey's parliamentary human rights group has accused Washington of genocide in Iraq and behaving worse than Adolf Hitler, in remarks that underscore the depth of Turkish opposition to U.S. policy in the region.

Welcome to our newest fan!

We get fan mail -- this from the bucolic town of Houtzdale, Pa.:

"9/11 holds the key our future," he writes. "Read "The New Pearl Harbor" and "Crossing the Rubicon" and keep asking ?s -- so few of the media do." The rest of the package is a lengthy and -- to us, anyway -- inscrutable passage about a legal matter of special concern to him.

The letter is signed: "Ira Einhorn."

In our dreams

First in a daily series:

American Protesters Blockade Official Buildings

By Richard Balmforth

Outside the president's offices, crowds sang civil rights-era folk songs, waved banners in Kerry's blue campaign colors and rhythmically chanted his name.

How to dismantle a tin-foil hat

In Campaign Extra's unending quest for answers to the mysteries of 9/11, we've been paying close attention to a very odd story about an Indiana "area man" that has to do with a now-raging debate (only 38 months after the fact) about how the WTC towers collapsed.

Kevin Ryan was a middle-level official with Underwriters Laboratories, the top-rated safety-testing organization. But he also seems to be a 9/11 skeptic, and so he was fired late last week for writing a letter questioning the official version that burning jet fuel weakened the steel supports in the towers, causing the collapse. Actually, he probably wasn't fired for writing the letter, but for sending it to 911truth.org and the author of the 9/11 doubters' bible, "The New Pearl Harbor."

The problem, of course, is that Ryan doesn't give his theory as to what did cause the fatal collapse. It is curious, though, that the official group investigating this has closed some of its meetings to the public and to the media.

Off-topic: U2 just keeps (us) hangin' on

Hello, hello...I'm getting sick of a song called "Vertigo."

Well, maybe it's OK -- it's just that Atrios ruined it for us when he remarked several weeks ago that the song is a remarkable rip-off of the Supremes' 1966 classic, "You Keep Me Hangin' On." (although not the dirge-like Vanilla Fudge remake.)

Now we wonder if Motown songwriters Holland/Dozier/Holland have called their attorney yet. My sweet lord!

We're waiting for the next U2 disc, "Bono Sings Bono," the first single of which will sound remarkably like "Beat Goes On."

As Michael Jordan said...

We're back!

OK, actually he said, "I'm back" -- but he didn't speak in the editorial "we," or have a tapeworm.

Did you miss us? (don't answer!)

Why doesn't the media ever report the good news out of Iraq?

Uh, like this?

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S.-Iraqi raid on the Abu Hanifa mosque — one of the most revered sites for Sunni Muslims — spawned a weekend of street battles, assassinations and a rash of bombings that changed Baghdad. The capital, for months a city of unrelenting but sporadic violence, has taken on the look of a battlefield.

Tin-foil hat time

The other day, we had the honor of speaking to a journalism class at Temple University about the election and all the stuff the media did wrong (i.e., just about everything). Afterwards, we met a crusading student journalist named Chris Reber, who asked us about voter registration scams.

You remember these -- the kind where students thought they were signing a petition to legalize pot when actually they were changing their voter registration from Democratic to Republican. Reber is investigating a report that the same thing happened at Temple as happened elsewhere -- most notably the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Florida, and Oregon.

We hadn't thought much about this registration scam since 11/2. And we were puzzled at the time the story broke. Why change someone's registration from Democrat to Republican, when that would have no bearing on whether that person could vote or whom he could vote for in the general election?

This morning, we dusted off our tin-foil hat, and came up with a conspiracy theory (did we mention we love conspiracy theories?) that would connect this bizarre and seemingly isolated event to the broader theory -- that there was massive GOP voter fraud, especially on electronic voting machines with no paper trail, that gave the election to Bush.

How so? Well, to pull off such a scam, you would need phantom Republican votes, right? But the problem is you can't have phantom Republican votes unless you have phantom Republican voters. Think about the dynamic here. Take a heavily Democratic district including a college campus where you had 3000 registered Dems and 1000 registered GOPs.

Now, take a subject that would tend to appeal to liberals -- like legalizing marijuana -- and use that as the basis of a petition scam to switch 500 of those campus Democrats to the GOP. All of a sudden, that same precinct is 2,500 D and 1,500 R. And so a solid vote for Bush & Co. suddenly looks a lot less suspicious to anyone (like Bev Harris) with the gumption to investigate, post-11/2. Thus, Bush's new votes don't look so suspicious when compared to the registration numbers. They only look suspicious when compared...to the exit polls!

Do we believe our own theory? Not necessarily. That's because we also believe in Occam's Razor, that the simplest explanation is usually the best. The simplest explanation isn't voter fraud, but greed. In some if not all cases, the registration seekers employed by the private companies contracting with the GOP were paid for each new Republican sign-up.

College campuses are a place to get a lot of people at one time, but the problem is that a majority of students are Democrats. So, instead, devious and greedy workers made up a scam to pocket GOP cash. (Hey, we might actually support something like that...just kidding).

On the other hand, it's amazing how the scam could replicate over a distance of 3,000 miles without high-level coordination. Our broader point is this: Regardless of whether the motive was vote-rigging or greed, we hope that the DAs in the areas where registration fraud took place will continue to investigate, even now that the election has passed. We still need to find out who did this. Only then, we will find out the reason why.

OK, you did show us one thing

Earlier this week, we asked our readers to "show us" worthy proof of election fraud. Through that we've learned that Philly's own Paul Lukasiak -- whose citizen investigation of W.'s National Guard record was nothing short of heroic -- is on the case, and today he sent us this link.

Steven F. Freedman is a Penn professor with a Ph.D. from MIT, and so we should listen to him. And when he looks at the exit poll numbers compared to the results, things just don't add up. He does some of his own debunking -- of the various explanations of why the exit polls might be wrong. It's a great article, although in a way it leaves us where we were two days ago. The circumstantial case is compelling. The hard evidence is lacking.

Read it for yourself.

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

In George W. Bush's America, Bob Dylan lyrics can bring a knock from the Secret Service.

More "moral values" from the Bush administration

From today's Washington Post:

Robert D. Blackwill, who resigned last week as the White House's top official on Iraq policy, was recently scolded by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice after Secretary of State Colin L. Powell told her that Blackwill appeared to have verbally abused and physically hurt a female embassy staffer during a visit to Kuwait in September, administration officials said.

The incident took place as Blackwill was rushing to return home after a visit to Baghdad to join a campaign swing planned by President Bush. As six officials describe the incident, he arrived at the Air France counter at the Kuwait airport and learned he was not on the flight manifest. Blackwill then turned in fury to an embassy secretary who had accompanied him to the airport and demanded that he be given a seat on the flight, grabbing her arm at one point, the officials said.

Last week, Robert D. Blackwill resigned his post in Iraq to join a lobbying firm. Powell found out about the incident and informed Rice. He then had staff members gather facts and materials to present to Rice, including photographs of the woman's arm, a State Department official said.

Some thoughts on "the Stolen Election"

For the past few days, we've been struggling with what to say about the idea that Bush somehow stole the election through voting irregularities -- especially through computer hacking in parts of Ohio, Florida and elsewhere that used "black box" voting machines -- electronic devices with no paper trail to audit.

Much of the focus has been on Ohio and Florida -- which were won by Bush by relatively small margins and which, if somehow reversed, would tilt the Electoral College back to Kerry.

But our thoughts have been migrating to a different state of mind: Missouri, "the Show-Me State."

Show us.

So far, the only argument that that can be made for the idea that the election was stolen is the circumstantial one. Why did the exit polls that were released by late afternoon -- often, but not always, a reliable indicator of how the actual vote would go -- show Kerry winning Ohio and Florida by small margins, winning the popular vote nationwide (when he lost by 4 million tallies), and carrying other states like Pennsylvania than a larger margin than he ultimately won them by.

Such deviations are rare, and when they happen, as in this election in Venezuela, they're considered a sign of likely fraud. However, as this excellent article notes, the errors in U.S. exit polling last week were no worse in states with "black box" voting than in states with old-fashioned paper balloting.

That may suggest flaws in exit polling rather than fraud. Perhaps Kerry's voters showed up earlier in the day or were more willing to be interviewed by the pollsters -- or maybe some Democrats who voted for Bush lied about it.

The devil is in the details. Without any specifics, it's hard to write a newspaper story about "the stolen election" -- other than the old classic, "Can you believe some nuts out there actually think the election was stolen?!" We don't want that story, and neither do you.

And those specifics, those devilish details are sorely lacking. What's worse, the advocates of a stolen election theory have really shot themselves in the foot so far -- by grasping at any straw, in ways that at times have seemed more than a little pathetic.

How so? Consider all the excitement over a screw-up in the key region of Franklin County, Ohio, where officials acknowledged that they may have improperly counted votes for Bush because of a touch-screen voting system malfunction. A precinct in the county reported that a 4,000-vote margin won by Bush appeared to exceed the number of registered voters.

Interesting. It was also so obviously wrong that it was caught right away and fixed. It seemed very much like the kind of vote-counting screw-up that takes place -- and is usually discovered -- in every election we've ever followed. If it was an effort to steal the election, it was a pretty stupid and clumsy one. It also raises the question of where are the other 135,000 votes that Bush had to "steal" to win Ohio. (This brand-new story debunks another voting fraud myth out of Ohio.)

Than there's the analysis by Thom Hartmann, which was posted on Commondreams.org and has been getting so much play on "the Internets." We're not familar with all of his work but -- to be brutally honest -- we found this article to be intellectually dishonest, perhaps deliberately so. The hook of the article is four counties that use electronic voting with heavily Democratic registration in which Bush recorded large majorities.

Shocking -- but only to someone who's never actually lived in a southern "Red State," (we have -- Alabama, no less) and pathetically laughable to anyone who has. Thanks to a little thing called the Civil War, Democrats retain a registration edge throughout most of the Deep South, which includes these counties in the Florida Panhandle. In fact, the counties in question even supported the politically lame Bob Dole over southerner Bill Clinton in 1996. Maybe the GOP tried (badly) to steal that election, too.

So what is to be done in the real world? Two things.

A) Count every vote, pursue every audit trail, and investigate every lead as if the election truly was stolen. Give money to blackboxvoting.org (if you have any), write letters to the editor, and ask elected officials to support recounts and investigations wherever they are needed.

Gather all the evidence without pre-conceived notions, and follow it where it leads. If crimes were commited, let's send the offenders to jail. And what if substantial pro-GOP fraud -- computerized or otherwise -- is uncovered?

Well, don't forget -- George W. Bush has not been elected to a new term yet, and he won't be until the Electoral College votes on Dec. 13 and Congress certifies the results. John Kerry's concession was merely a political gesture. It is in no way legally binding.

2) Fight like hell to change the system. By 2006, it should a goal (maybe the goal, after ending the immoral war in Iraq) for progressives of reforming the national election process, developing uniform standards and banning any voting method that does not offer a way to analyze and, if necessary, recount the initial raw votes.

But eliminating "black box voting" needs to be just one part of a sweeping reform. If Republicans did cheat the will of the people on Ohio on Nov. 2, they arguably did so in a way that was shockingly low-tech and (sadly) legal -- by not putting enough voting machines in poor and working-class neighborhoods. Progressives need to also address this problem so it doesn't happen again in 2008.

This site, and this journalist, has always been devoted to questioning the official version of events, from 9/11 to the real reasons for the Iraq War. Trust us, we would love to write how the 2004 election was stolen -- it would truly be the story of a lifetime.

Show us.

Drinking Liberally

If you didn't need it before, you need it now.

6 p.m. at the Ten Stone. Tonight.

Bush's first man date: Clarence Thomas?

Bush insiders use Drudge to float this trial balloon:

President Bush has launched an internal review of the pros and cons of nominating Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as the chief justice if ailing William Rehnquist retires, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Officially, Bush advisers call any Supreme Court vacancy talk premature.

America or Arafat?

Which does this quote describe?

"I assure you that he is not brain dead," she said. "He is in a coma. We are not sure what type. But it is a reversible coma."

Blame America

From Reuters:

OTTAWA - The number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration Web site has shot up six-fold as Americans flirt with the idea of abandoning their homeland after President Bush's election win this week.

Bush's victory sparked speculation that disconsolate Democrats and others might decide to start a new life in Canada, a land that tilts more to the left than the United States.

The DN: while we were sleeping

Inside the Daily News: Life goes on. If the paper is so committed to building back its circulation, why our we urging our remaining readers to move to Canada? And why did we do it twice? And a third time? And why did Canada feel the need to respond to us?

Wait, now we remember what this feels like: Rooting for the Eagles. John Baer analyzes Bush's message to blue states: Go (Cheney) yourself! Signe Wilkinson captures W's hypocritic oath. What a week -- the Phillies chose the wrong guy, too. But frankly, we didn't didn't know what to think until Stu Bykofsky told us.

Don't stay home and mope

Just because Bush won and Kerry lost, that's all the more reason to show up TONIGHT!! at the historic Pen & Pencil Club, located at 1522 Latimer Street in Center City, for a free panel discussion with some of Philly's top bloggers, discussing the future of the blogosphere under W.-II.

It's open, free of charge, to anyone who loves blogging and/or journalism. If you've never been there, the P & P is a cash (or credit card) bar, and there is a dinner menu. The event officially starts at 7:30 p.m., although the panel will start a little later. It features three of Philly's finest bloggers, and one wannabe.

Here's the official anouncement:

Bloggers in politics

All of a sudden, bloggers are everywhere - overrunning the political conventions, breaking stories like the "60 Minutes" scandal. On the day after the election, we'll ask if they're journalists...or something else and explore how much influence they had on the race for the White House. Philadelphia is a blogging hotbed. And on Nov. 3, we'll have a lively Q and A with several of them, including:

Atrios (a Center City economist named Duncan Black), whose blog called Eschaton gets over 100,000 hits a day and is one of the most popular political sites on the Web;

James M. Capozzola of the influential Philadelphia blog The Rittenhouse Review

Former Delco journalist and Suburban Guerrilla Susie Madrak, whose anger at the Bush White House sent her into the blogosphere.

Will Bunch of the Daily News, who started blogging in late August with his site currently called Campaign Extra!, will be the moderator.

What the election was really about

On Wall Street,

Halliburton, up 3.6 percent
Sinclair Broadcast Group, up 3.2 perent
Boeing, up 3.3 percent.
Pfizer, up 4.2 percent
Altria (formerly Philip Morris) up 2.5 percent.
Lockheed Martin, up 3.2 percent.
Raytheon, up 2.4 percent.
Exxon Mobil, up 1.7 percent.
USG Corp. (asbestos polluter), up 22.4 percent.

In Iraq, the U.S. is getting ready to unleash Hell.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda

It's looking pretty grim for Kerry-Edwards '04, with only a miracle seemingly able to pull it out for the blue team. now that they've conceded the 2004 presidential race. So of course it's time for the pundits, amateur and professional, to explain what would have made the difference.

So let's hear it - What's the main thing that should have been done, and when, by whom? Or: What factors outside the campaign's control might have tipped the scales?

Best Drinking Game
WINNER: Aron Brall

Planning on watching the coverage of Election night on TV? Have you devised a clever drinking game to get you through it? Or do you have a drinking game to deal with the real-life events that will follow the closing of the polls?

Tell you what. Post your proposed drinking games on this thread by 6:00 by 8:00 Tuesday night, (nobody's gonna start drinking before PA polls close, right?) and whoever posts the one deemed the best by DN columnist Joe Sixpack will win a Daily News T-shirt and a mention in the paper. And remember, of course: Drink responsibly.

UPDATE 11:55 P.M.: The Judge has spoken. Joe Sixpack has determined that the Best Drinking Game is that of Aron Brall, in the comment below submitted at 3:59 PM. Namely: "Buy at least a case of a conservative beer, i.e. Coors or Miller and a case of a Liberal beer, i.e. Budweiser or Sam Adams. When a state is declared for Bush drink the Coors, when its declared for Kerry, drink the Bud. When Pete Coors loses Colorado, throw his trashy West Coast beer down the drain."

Here's what Joe Sixpack has to say: "Much as I can't come to grips with the notion that Bud is a 'liberal' beer (it's brewed by a guy named Busch, remember), this drinking game is the winner. It's simple (you don't actually have to listen to the nattering TV announcers) and -- given the early Senate results from Colorado -- appropriately dispenses of that trashy Coors."

When will we know?
WINNER: kevin

Some amateur pundits are predicting a big, clear win, while others are ready for another extended fight that drags on past tonight. Tell us in the comment thread below when you think the election will be officially decided - defined as one candidate beginning a concession speech to the other, and here's the kicker, a concession that is not retracted on the same calendar day. All you need submit is a date, a time, and a valid e-mail address.

The winner of this contest will receive, courtesy of the Daily News, a gift certificate for dinner at Philadelphia's Pen & Pencil club, favorite hangout of journalists and occasionally of politicians. All submissions must be timestamped prior to 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 2nd, so get cracking!

UPDATE 11/3: Our winner is "kevin," who guessed "wed. nov. 3, 9:07 AM" yesterday at 1:00 PM. Congratulations!

Ellen Gray: Now we play The Waiting Game

2:00: "We're prepared to stay here and we hope you are, too," said Tom Brokaw a few minutes ago.

Easy for him to say -- it's Brokaw's last election as anchor. Four years from now, he'll be at most a talking head emeritus, free to wander off the set for a nap whenever he likes.

On CNN, Jeffrey Toobin and Judy Woodruff are doing the math in Ohio -- which CNN hasn't yet called, though NBC and Fox News Channel have moved it to Bush's column -- and they're suggesting that there may be as many as 600,000 votes still unaccounted for there.

Plus, it seems that Iowa election officials, dealing with broken machines and worker fatigue, are delaying their final results till sometime Wednesday. Which is already today.

It's been a long night. It could be a longer morning.

12:35: This is where it all started to get interesting four years ago -- well after midnight and no clear end in sight. And, of course, they're still voting in Ohio.

The anchors should be starting to get punchy, but perhaps they got more sleep this week, knowing that this might happen, because most seem OK (though Brit Hume's looked a little sleepy for hours). As CNN's Jeff Greenfield noted an hour or so ago, most TV news people at least knew enough this year not to schedule any expensive vacations for some time after Election Day.

10:38: As I was listening to the soothing voice of Brit Hume, I apparently missed the first sign that Tom Brokaw may be, as a colleague puts it, "losing it."

He just said, "You want reality TV? We've got reality TV. Before the night is over, somebody will be voted off the island."

At this point, of course, it might be overoptimistic to think tribal council's going to end before dawn.

10:35: Brit Hume, introducing a live picture of U.S. soldiers in Iraq watching election results, seems mildly embarrassed as he realizes they're watching him on the Fox News Channel.

At first he sees the figure as talking head Mort Kondracke, but then corrects himself. "That's my tie."

Hume, for those of you who don't watch Fox News because of what Shepard Smith or Bill O'Reilly or Neil Cavuto might do to your blood pressure, is the best reason to watch the channel, actually taking the "fair and balanced" thing so far that even with 100 percent of the precincts in, he was holding off on calling a Senate race for the Republican incumbent in Kentucky, former Phillies pitcher Jim Bunning.

9:55: CBS publicists, busy as Texas beavers, have once again compiled their own list of Dan Rather-isms, including some we missed:

ABC declares Fla. - Bush

Apparently as Guam goes, so goes the nation. Kerry will need a Hail Mary pass in Ohio, or we'll be filing our next entry from Toronto.

Election Day photos

Photos by David Maialetti

A large puppet of George Bush being spanked by Uncle Sam is pulled along Market Street in Old City.

David Lee, left, a volunteer for People for the American Way, stands outside a polling place at 47th and Locust Street.

Mike Uribe of City Line Avenue rides his decorated bike along Kelly Drive earlier today.

Volunteers from MYVOTE1 work computers inside the National Constitution Center to help voters who were experiencing difficulties in voting.

Poll volunteer Cynthia Scott of North Philadelphia leans against a sign-covered wall as Democratic committeeperson David Senoff works his cell phone outside the 38th ward polling place in East Falls.

ABC declares Pa. - Kerry

Kerry wins!

Most obvious line of the night

Penn State football legend Joe Paterno's son Scott, is losing his GOP bid for a congressional seat in central Pennsylvania.

Channel 6's Jim Gardner: "Unfortunately, the Paternos are getting very used to losing these days."

Manic suppression

ABC reporting that black turnout is up everywhere in the nation -- except Ohio. Is it bad weather, or just very good GOP suppression?

ELECTION NIGHT SPECIAL:

Read his lips

Bush thinks he'll win tonight.

We don't know who will win. But it won't be tonight.

Finally, an open White House

OK, so why is W. letting reporters into his PRIVATE living quarters in the White House to make a statement. It seems the Bush people are very nervous about an early call for Kerry.

We just hope he doesn't get snippy on us.

Calm before the storm

Is it just us, or is the TV coverage about 10 percent as frenetic as it was in 2000. We're watching ABC, and Peter Jennings is talking like he's on Prozac. It's like they know it's going to be a long night, and they're deliberately conserving energy.

Feeling more like a deadlock than the Kerry win it felt like a couple of hours ago. Bush seems to have a large lead in Fla., but that's exactly how the returns came in in 2000, until Gore caught up.

Sort of.

Girlfriends Locker Room - Nervous snacking

THERESA: OK, it's election night in the Daily News newsroom and reporters, editors, columnists and photographers are all stuffing our faces with barbecue and macaroni and cheese and cole slaw and yummy candied yams that we ordered to stave off starvation while we wait for results. Add to that pounds and pounds of leftover Halloween candy, big sacks of which are everywhere throughout the newsroom. And it's still early as I write this (9 p.m.) so we're all keyed up and we don't have much to do quite yet, EXCEPT eat. In the Inquirer newsroom tonight, they're wolfing down pizzas and soda. It's a similar scene in newsrooms all over the America. And I'm guessing folks at home are doing the same, enjoying chips, cookies and other snacks as Election 2004 draws to a close. Am I right?

So tomorrow, whether your candidate wins or loses--- elect to HIT THE GYM, or the running trail, or the weight room or the rowing machine or Pilates class. You can burn around 600 calories just jogging slowly for an hour. There's no better way to put this long election season behind us...

WENDY: Yes, my tummy hurts from all this candy. Halloween so close to election = bad idea.

JILL:Actually, eating all this junk is the only thing that makes the anxiety tolerable. Otherwise, we'd all be drinking. And then what would the newspaper look like tomorrow???

YVONNE: I want to hear from people what they are eating and doing at their election parties. My sister is at an election part tonight, but maybe that's only a D.C. thing. But it seems like people used a lot of unusualt events as excuses to get together this year. Remeber those debate parties? And the baseball playoffs seemed to have been wathec by more people in groups than ever. Were we all trying to bond to get through the angst of this very contentious election year?

ELECTOPALOOZA: Signe Sketchbook

Daily News editorial cartoonist Signe Wilkinson was watching with her cartoonist's eye for slices of life this Election Day. Here are a couple of her sketches taking off from the day's events:

_____________________________________

NBA -- shame on you

In a sport where a majority of the athletes are African-Americans, you'd think the National Basketball Association would be sensitive to the issue of voting. After all, blacks thoughout the Deep South were prevented from voting until the 1960s, and many are still battling voter suppression today.

So, in the what-are-they-thinking! department, why in the name of God is the NBA starting its season tonight with three marquee games? They couldn't wait one additional day?!

In fact, the games start at 8 p.m. in Detroit and 7:30 in Dallas and Los Angeles, even thopugh the polls in each state don't close until 8 p.m. local time. Some fans may be deciding right now between voting or using their high-priced tickets.

NBA officials ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Carol Towarnicky of DN Editorial Board

THE DIFFERENCE

If Kerry loses, and it's looking that way, it feels as if gay marriage did him in. The gay marriage amendment brought out voters and it may have sheared off Catholics and African Americans.

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, R.I.P.

Conventional wisdom has always said that high turnout favors Democrats. Before tonight, both sides would have said a turnout this high would mean a Kerry victory hands down.

The conventional wisdom has been upended – most astonishingly in Florida, which got a million more voters, people who waited in the sun in long lines . . . incredibly, to keep the status quo.

Clearly the exit polls – usually reliable – were wrong, but the other polls were right. They called the race tied, too close to call, and here we are.

John Kerry isn’t dead. He’s on life support, but has a chance to pull through. It depends on those folks still waiting in line in Ohio, God bless them.

OVERWHELMED

After all the whining about low turnout for so many years, it’s now clear that – when people really do turn out – the nation’s voting system(s) isn’t prepared to handle it.

People sometimes say that the public schools depend on truancy: That if all the students showed up for school, there wouldn’t be enough space for them. Same thing, apparently for voting.

Long after the close of polling places, people are waiting in lines in Ohio and western Pennsylvania. In Ohio, a federal judge has ordered that paper ballots be given to people in these incredibly-long lines of three and four hours. Polling places from coast to coast have run out of ballots. Goodness, what if civic involvement becomes a trend?

After the 2000 fiasco, there were calls for federalizing elections – that is, standardizing the method of voting and the standards by which voting questions are judged. Making everyone use the same voting machine would be incredibly costly – and who would get the contract? But at least we could have a national standard on some things, like counting provisional ballots. In Pennsylvania, for example, a provisional ballot counts if the voter is registered but not voting in the right precinct. In Ohio, a voter who’s properly registered but casts a provisional ballot in the wrong precinct loses his vote.

Experts point out that close to $1 billion dollars will be spent on ads from all sources in this campaign. We need to spend a small fraction of that to standardize our voting system, but don’t look for it to happen.

A NEW DAY

The Daily News not only was the first newspaper in the nation to endorse John Kerry. It also urged Philadelphians to work for Kerry’s election – and even to give money. With the stakes so high, we were unwilling to treat this election like the others.

With the Bush presidency a disaster, with a president unwilling to admit a mistake, with a campaign using every possible dirty trick, we knew that voting wasn’t enough, that Philadelphia area citizens needed to leverage their citizenship by volunteering. The size of the margin in the Philadelphia region is key to winning Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania is key to winning the election.

So we took the highly unusual step of not only making the case for Kerry, but exhorting Philadelphians to register, get others to register, and volunteer to get out the vote.

Of course, we weren’t alone. This election saw the rise of two amazing groups: America Coming Together and MoveOnPAC. Both groups enlisted volunteers to, not only register voters, but to establish relationships with prospective voters, engage them on the issues and on the importance of voting.

It looks like it’s working, but no matter what happens, America has been changed.

BUCKEYE REPORT
From my brother Mike, who – before he went to work for Cuyahoga County in Ohio -- worked the polls with my mother, a Democratic committee woman, for many elections:

Driving home I passed several voting places. All, and I mean all, had lines stretching outside their buildings. In the rain and cold and looking to be mannered. AMAZING TO ME, seeing how turnout has been so light during my voting years.

Word is that polls are slow but getting the job done.

While I was waiting in line, several people were discussing how to better the set up of the voting area. They were “complaining” by suggesting better ways to do the election process.

None were willing to leave. None showed any displeasure in having to wait. A real different feeling from past elections. In past, I had several occasions where people yelled and stormed out in frustration.

This election reminded me of the lines you see in the movies of the old Russia, where people got in lines to hopefully get the chance to purchase something. They would be seen complaining, but staying in their spot in line until they got their chance.

CIVIC PRIDE
As I waited in line to vote this morning, I felt a little like I did in eighth grade civics class, following the first election I cared about -- Kennedy v. Nixon.

This morning was glorious weather and, even though the line was long, people were in a great mood (of course, I expect my polling place to go 4 or 5 to 1 for John Kerry, so we were all on the same side.) Nobody had ever seen turnout like this. By 9 a.m., more than half of the record vote for our precinct had cast ballots.

My 25-year-old son was in line with me and was subject to well-meaning but condescending attention from the man behind us: "I'm so glad to see you here. We're depending on you. Do you know how to read a ballot?"

At one point, one of our committeemen came out to tell us that the wait wasn't due to the machines but the fact that there were new voters who needed to show ID. "So please be patient," he said, but he didn't need to ask.

At another point, a poll worker told us there was a sick woman (undergoing chemotherapy) who was arriving. Would we mind letting her in ahead of us? Of course not, we all said. The woman clearly was very ill and I was moved nearly to tears at her commitment.

A friend took her 20-year-old physically disabled daughter to vote for the first time. There were 40 or 50 people ahead of them, neighbors who chatted, others who introduced themselves, including a man who works on Wall Street. "I thought to myself, we are all equal today," said my friend.

My brothers, who live in Cleveland and Columbus, reported similar long waits, and similar excitement.

Something important is happening in a wide swath of America, I think: a feeling of community and energy that should have lingered after the Sept. 11 attacks but which was squandered by George W. Bush. It feels like a Fresh Start.

Dan Wiggs: Would We Lie?

Dan Wiggs writes the Weblog "Would We Lie?" for the Daily News, spotlighting strange or oddly-shaped stories that you won't find anywhere else. Tonight he stops by with a special Electopalooza edition...

Bush wins in a landslide

Guam, that is...

Dems say early numbers look good

Stan Greenberg is John Kerry's pollster, so while he has a good reputation and track record, it's important to also take that into account. Campaign Extra! has gotten its cyberhands on a mid-day email he sent out on states where there was early voting, and it looks pretty good for Kerry.

Here goes:

Early vote

Florida - 30 percent of state -- 53-47 for Kerry

Iowa 57 to 41 percent for Kerry (compared to about +6 margin in early vote in 2000)

Oregon - early vote (which is the whole electorate) 53 to 47 percent for Kerry

New Mexico 51-48 for Kerry

Nevada 48 to 50 with Bush ahead

Drudge: Wrong on Philly

From the Daily News reporter Theresa Conroy:

Dep. City Commissioner Ed Schlugen stood up just now and announced that there were NOT votes on the machines. The poll workers were looking at a counter on the back which tallies the total number of votes cast -- ever -- on the machine. It's called a "protective counter." He said there were no votes on the machines when they opened.

Also, Josh Marshall is printing a statement from Marge Tartaglione:

"Recent press reports have stated that machines in at least one precinct were not properly calibrated to ensure an accurate accounting of the number of votes cast."

"These allegations are completely unsubstantiated and have no factual
basis whatsoever."

The bottom line is this: The GOP is falling all over itself looking for something wrong in Philly, even if it's not there. If the past is any guide, Bush will carry the rest of the state by a small margin, and sink here in the city. So they're trying to cast doubt on the process -- from the very minute the polls opened.

UPDATE: Cathie Abookire, spokeswoman for DA Lynne Abraham, said poll workers misinterpreted numbers they found on voting machines before the polls opened. Abookire said the city's new electronic voting machines have two windows that display voting numbers - one that shows the total number of votes ever cast on the machine, the other that shows the number of votes cast today.

Some poll workers saw the number of prior votes from past elections on the machines and thought that meant votes had been planted.

"They misread the machines," Abookire said. "There were no planted votes

Philly -- the new Florida? God help us

Here's the update from Drudge:

Before voting even began in Philladelphia -- poll watchers found nearly 2000 votes already planted on machines scattered throughout downtown... One incident occurred at 2601 N. 11th St., Philadelphia, Pa: Ward 37, division 8... pollwatchers uncovered 4 machines with planted votes; one with over 200 and one with nearly 500... A second location, 1901 W. Girard Ave., Berean Institute, Philadelphia, Pa, had 300+ votes already on 2 machines at start of day... INCIDENT: 292 votes on machine at start of day; WARD/DIVISION: 7/7: ADDRESS: 122 W. Erie Ave., Roberto Clemente School, Philadelphia, Pa.; INCIDENT: 456 votes on machine at start of day; WARD/DIVISION: 12/3; ADDRESS: 5657 Chew Ave., storefront, Philadelphia, Pa... Developing...

OK, uh, this looks bad. It also strikes us as odd, though. These are heavily Democratic and predominantly black (and some Latino) wards in North Philly areas, some near Temple U. or further north near Fairhill, arguably the city's poorest district. These could be prime areas for fraud, but wouldn't such large numbers of fake votes also raise turnout to obviously fake numbers? We'll do some more research, but there are some preliminary and probably unsophisticated thoughts:

a) This is a blatant ploy to steal the election by unsophisticated and unethical Democratic hacks -- sadly, we have those here.

b) This is a problem with new voting machines (possibly from preliminary tests?) and the fact that it was so easily detected means it's not as big a deal as Drudge is making it.

c) This is all a set-up by the other side. Why suggest that? Because the fraud was so obvious, and it was detected so early. This gives the Republicans cover to be more aggressive in challenging voters, or in challenging the entire Pa. result if Kerry ekes out a victory, as a majority of pundits are predicting.

If this actually the Philly Democrats, we're very disappointed. We thought they were much better at stealing elections than this!

UPDATE (From Drudge): ... A gun was purposely made visible to scare poll watchers at Ward 30, division 11, at 905 S. 20th St., Grand Court. Police were called and surrounded the location... Developing...

"A gun was purposely made visible"??? Oooh, scary. Matt wouldn't last a day in this town.

UPDATE (from Drudge) : Pennsylvania GOP is going to file suit in the Court of Common Pleas in an effort to have the machines in question impounded and have them replaced 'with machines that did not already have votes on them'... Developing...

Voting scandal in Philly? You're kidding!!!

Matt Drudge gives Philadelphia the red-siren treatment for this breathless alert:

Before voting even began in downtown Philladelphia (sic) -- poll watchers found nearly 700 votes already planted on machines... The incident occurred at 2601 N. 11th St., Philadelphia, Pa...

Don't know where's he's getting his info (uh, the GOP?), but we'll keep you posted.

30 seconds ending the race

It's all over 'cept the shouting, and there's going to be a lot of that. Here's one last poll -- it's a tie, people. There's already a lot of nostalgia. How bad was the election of 2004? Try wearing the wrong T-shirt. And do you remember these lies? And for this we spent $4 billion?

Iraqis don't know who they want, either. They have that in common with Ohio. And if they do know who they want, the GOP might challenge them at their polling place. Paul Krugman can't make an endorsement, so he wants a high turnout...hmmmm. The NYT op-ed page is invaded by bloggers! Here's one last thing to consider: Kerry has more money for the recount.

Daily (News) Show

Today's Daily News says it all: Vote! (What would they have done if the Eagles were on "Monday Night Football"?) Here's the 411 on voter suppression and who's looking out for you. Julian Bond says it's already here. But not if Peedi Crakk has anything to do with it. Been having nightmares lately? -- check out these five election scenarios. Here's where you can watch the nightmare unfold on live TV. Of course, if you're here you know where to go on the Web. And Ramona Smith debunks the myth that OBL wants to attack "red states."

OMG! Bush is winning! We're moving to Canada.

35-21, with one for Nader.

Kerry Caption - WINNER: Richard

What is John F Kerry saying while voting earlier today? Write a caption to this photo and add it to this thread. Whoever's caption is deemed best by the Daily News Editorial Board will win a Daily News T-shirt and recognition in the newspaper. Please include a valid e-mail address.

UPDATE 11/4: Our Editorial Board has spoken, and after chuckling over several of these, has awarded First Prize to Richard, for "I voted against myself before I voted for me!", with Honorable Mention going to tony mazzanobile for "can i get me a votin license here???" Congratulations and thanks to all who provided us with laughs on Election Night.

Bush Caption - WINNER: Eric

What is George W Bush saying as he emerges from voting earlier today? Write a caption to this photo and add it to this thread. Whoever's caption is deemed best by the Daily News Editorial Board will win a Daily News T-shirt and recognition in the newspaper. Please include a valid e-mail address.

UPDATE 11/4: Our Editorial Board has spoken, and after chuckling over several of these, has awarded First Prize to Eric, for "See, if you add another 4 years, that makes this many!" Honorable Mention goes to dan_prochniak for "Have you seen the size of Teresa Heinz Kerry's breasts?" (our Editorial Board insisted that the word "seen" would have been in italics if HTML were allowed in comments). Congratulations and thanks to all who provided us with laughs on Election Night.

Contest - Swing State Breakdown

How are the "Swing States" going to fall? Which ones will go to whom? We've picked the most likely "battleground" states where conventional wisdom says they could still go either for Bush or Kerry, and want your prediction on who will get the electoral votes of each state. Put your answers in this thread (easiest is to copy and paste this list into the comment window, following each state with an "R" or a "D" - or a "B" or "K," etc.), and whoever is closest will win a Daily News T-shirt and a mention in the newspaper.

NOTE: This contest closes at 11 p.m. Tuesday night.

Arkansas
Colorado
Florida
Hawaii
Iowa
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Note: A third option for Colorado is "Split," depending on their referendum.

Bloggers -- Meet the Bloggers!

What happens when you lock a bunch of mainstream journalists and and a bunch of bloggers and their fans inside a crowded bar? If you want to know the punchline, you'll have to show up this Wednesday night -- yes, the NIGHT AFTER TOMORROW'S ELECTION -- at the historic Pen & Pencil Club, located at 1522 Latimer Street in Center City.

It's open, free of charge, to anyone who loves blogging and/or journalism. If you've never been there, the P & P is a cash (or credit card) bar, and there is a dinner menu. The event officially starts at 7:30 p.m., although the panel will start a little later. It features three of Philly's finest bloggers, and one wannabe.

Here's the official anouncement:

Bloggers in politics

All of a sudden, bloggers are everywhere - overrunning the political conventions, breaking stories like the "60 Minutes" scandal. On the day after the election, we'll ask if they're journalists...or something else and explore how much influence they had on the race for the White House. Philadelphia is a blogging hotbed. And on Nov. 3, we'll have a lively Q and A with several of them, including:

Atrios (a Center City economist named Duncan Black), whose blog called Eschaton gets over 100,000 hits a day and is one of the most popular political sites on the Web;

James M. Capozzola of the influential Philadelphia blog The Rittenhouse Review

Former Delco journalist and Suburban Guerrilla Susie Madrak, whose anger at the Bush White House sent her into the blogosphere.

Will Bunch of the Daily News, who started blogging in late August with his site currently called Campaign Extra!, will be the moderator.

30 seconds left in the race

Down the stretch they come! Watch out for a muddy track tomorrow. Dick Cheney goes to Hawaii -- and gets a lei! (Why do you laugh?) And why does he seem nostalgic for Pearl Harbor? Do we really want America's "beer capital" choosing the next president? And check out what Barbara Bush (the non-party animal one) has planned for after the election.

Chelsea speaks! The headline says it all: "Most voting complaints are in Fla. so far." Also in the Sunshine State, "Stolen Honor" causes stolen football -- voters are not amused. And who should have the final word on the election? How about Helen Thomas?

Something is happening here but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?

Anybody missing from the current list of Google's names "In the News"?

Yasser Arafat
Osama bin Laden
Vijay Singh
Tabare Vazquez
Tel Aviv
Shosei Koda
Viktor Yushchenko
R. Kelly
Andre Agassi
Michael Vick

We hear Zogby's got Vick running ahead by two points over Yushchenko in Arkansas, but only among likely voters (and Vick has a huge lead in Georgia!). And apparently there's some kind of "October Surprise" involving Kelly and a sex scandal.

Daily (News) Show

Welcome to the Philadelphia Daily News, the only paper in America that projects a winner every Monday. In buried political news, Erin Einhorn offers up (scroll down) Gov. Rendell's take on the new Bush ad by Osama bin Laden. Clout's Gar Joseph (with an assist from Regina Medina) catches Philly election officials speaking bad Spanglish. (also scroll down).

You're not going to believe this, but there's a liberal named Michelle Malkin! Did we mention the DN editorial board supports John Kerry? Signe Wilkinson is probably offending somebody here, but we're not sure who. And last but not least, Ronnie Polaneczky goes back to Ohio (yes, her city was still there) to visit a family that understands the true meaning of Election Day.