This just in: Obama admits to sharing his toys in Kindergarten.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Absentee - Last Day
This is the last day you can request an Absentee ballot in Oklahoma. We are requesting that everyone vote this way this year, in order to free up line space. This will be particularly important for working folk, those with small children, and those who can't stand in line for hours due to physical infirmity. However, the request needs to be in your county election board's hands today!
Download and print out the request from from the state board of elections website.
Complete the form, and fax it in (or hand-carry it) to your county board of elections. The area Fax numbers are.
- Tulsa County - 596-5775 (Closes at 5PM)
- Osage County - 587-4820 (Closes at 4PM)
- Creek County - 227-6332 (Closes at 5PM)
- Rodgers County - 341-4666 (Closes at 5PM)
- Wagoner County - 485-8063 (Closes at 4:30PM)
A couple of days after you do this, you will receive your ballots in the mail. Mrs. Mule and I both have already received our ballots and marked them. I'm sending mine in today, and hers goes in Friday.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Electoral College Update
It has been more than a week again since I last went over this. News has just been too heavy to have time to revisit the Electoral College since then. Obviously that isn't going to happen again this cycle though. So from now until this time next week I'll try to put the FiveThirtyEight map at the top of all the morning posts.
There has been even more talk about tightening in the general election polling. For example, Gallup shows Obama's lead down to 5 points with a week to go.
What you don't seem to hear as much is that when you split the polls by state and look at the electoral college counts, Obama's lead is not narrowing. Pollster has it at 306(315) to 142(157), Rasmussen has it at 313(305) to 174(174) and CNN now has it at 277 to 174 (same). (Last report's numbers in parentheses). The statistics-based site FiveThirtyEight is actually seeing Obama's lead starting to widen. He now places it at 351.1(343.9) to 186.9(186.9).
Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight explains:
Yes, you saw that right, Oklahoma is moving in Obama's direction. Here's the pollster graph.
It's still pretty far away from being competitive. However, there's a week left for it to keep going that direction, and I personally think this state is liable to be greatly affected by both new voters and a strong Reverse Bradley effect come election day. Something amazing could very well happen here.
In order to help this process along, I'd like to request everyone please request an absentee ballot today. This is the last day, so I highly suggest you either fax in your request, or hand-carry it to the office.
There has been even more talk about tightening in the general election polling. For example, Gallup shows Obama's lead down to 5 points with a week to go.
What you don't seem to hear as much is that when you split the polls by state and look at the electoral college counts, Obama's lead is not narrowing. Pollster has it at 306(315) to 142(157), Rasmussen has it at 313(305) to 174(174) and CNN now has it at 277 to 174 (same). (Last report's numbers in parentheses). The statistics-based site FiveThirtyEight is actually seeing Obama's lead starting to widen. He now places it at 351.1(343.9) to 186.9(186.9).
Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight explains:
If the state polls aren't showing movement toward McCain, then it is probably the case that any perceived movement in the national polls is sampling noise. If anything, in fact, the state polls are showing movement toward Obama on balance, not just in battleground states like Virginia, but also in non-battlegrounds as diverse as New York, Oklahoma, Oregon and Arizona.
Yes, you saw that right, Oklahoma is moving in Obama's direction. Here's the pollster graph.
It's still pretty far away from being competitive. However, there's a week left for it to keep going that direction, and I personally think this state is liable to be greatly affected by both new voters and a strong Reverse Bradley effect come election day. Something amazing could very well happen here.
In order to help this process along, I'd like to request everyone please request an absentee ballot today. This is the last day, so I highly suggest you either fax in your request, or hand-carry it to the office.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Apply Today
You only have until Wednesday to apply for an absentee ballot. The form can be downloaded from the Oklahoma State Election Board's website. Fill it out and fax it in to your county Election Board office (for Tulsa County: 596-4536).
Lines are expected to be extremely long this year. This means voting absentee is your easiest way to amplify your vote. Not only does it ensure that you will have the time to vote, but it makes the line at your polling place a smidgen shorter, which may make the difference in someone else having a chance to vote.
Myself and Mrs. Skinner faxed in our applications on Thursday and Friday respectively. We both received our ballots on Saturday. Another nice benefit of voting this way is that we get a chance to do research on the little-publicized down-ticket items on the ballot (such as judges and state questions) from the comfort of our own home, rather than in a polling place full of people with impatient multitudes waiting on us to get done.
One thing I should warn you about is that when you get your ballots mailed to you you will need a couple of things to complete them: A number 2 pencil (just like being back in school) and a Notary Public. The pencil shouldn't be tough for anyone. Notary publics can be found at most banks and car dealerships. If you work at an office, there is probably one there too. Ask your head secretary. By law, Notaries cannot charge you anything for notarizing a ballot.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Missed Opportunity
Today Barack goes back on the campaign trail after taking a couple of days off to visit his gravely ill grandmother.
Those two days represented a great opportunity to the McCain campaign. Late in the election they had two precious days where they would have the news media essentially to themselves. They could get their message out with no real competition, perhaps even seize the initiative in the campaign finally. Friday in particular was crucial, as more people are generally paying attention on weekdays. This was a rare and precious gift.
So how did they use their time alone in the spotlight? To make themselves look foolish. Here's an abbreviated list of what the media reported the McCain campaign doing on Friday.
To give you some idea of the condensed effect of all this, check out this video from Talkingpointsmemo; October 24, 2008: The Day in More Than 100 Seconds:
The really sad part about this is that the boobs running this horrible campaign could indeed still win. Could you imagine the country being run this way?
Remeber, one of the best things you can do right now is request an absentee ballot. Fill out the form and fax it in today.
Those two days represented a great opportunity to the McCain campaign. Late in the election they had two precious days where they would have the news media essentially to themselves. They could get their message out with no real competition, perhaps even seize the initiative in the campaign finally. Friday in particular was crucial, as more people are generally paying attention on weekdays. This was a rare and precious gift.
So how did they use their time alone in the spotlight? To make themselves look foolish. Here's an abbreviated list of what the media reported the McCain campaign doing on Friday.
- Reports that their VP spent $150,000 of campaign funds on clothes.
- Reports that their highest paid staffer is their VP's hairstylist
- Their VP testified to a grand jury looking into her abuse of power.
- Their VP gave a speech outlining her support for "special needs" children and their families (good thing) while taking a swipe at research into the causes of autism (WTF?). In the same speech! Usually politicians at least make you hunt around a bit to find their hypocrisy.
- Their Ohio campaign faked a racial incident and got caught.
- Bush's press secretary for nearly half of his administration endorsed Obama.
- A lot of talk about Obama being way ahead in the polls.
- All kinds of stories about supporters dumping on the campaign, the candidates, Bush, the party in general, etc.
- Stories about the VP herself dumping on the campaign.
To give you some idea of the condensed effect of all this, check out this video from Talkingpointsmemo; October 24, 2008: The Day in More Than 100 Seconds:
The really sad part about this is that the boobs running this horrible campaign could indeed still win. Could you imagine the country being run this way?
Remeber, one of the best things you can do right now is request an absentee ballot. Fill out the form and fax it in today.
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