What's Important For Nov. 4th?

Now that we are (finally) getting to the end of the campaign season, it is even more interesting (to me, at least) reading the election coverage. Most of what I see, even on right leaning websites/papers, is that McCain's campaign is circling the drain. There aren't any states that Kerry won on '04 that have flipped, while Obama has put several in his category, particularly in the upper midwest. The surest sign of a campaign in trouble is when they start talking about the inaccuracy of the polls, or pretending that relatively large differences (like the 6-8 percentage point spread in PA) don't exist.

So, the media is starting to focus on why the McCain campaign didn't really catch on. Was it him? The economy? People getting sick of the republicans? Or, all of the above? One thing is for sure, the media has not quit getting in their whacks on Sara Palin.

There was a story in today's NY Times about her billing the campaign for her shopping trips in NYC (I guess you gotta go to faux America to buy the good stuff). The story also outlines her habit of getting free family travel courtesy of the Alaska taxpayers.

The key question is whether Obama, Biden and McCain bill their respective campaigns for equally frivolous things or, it is a better story when a woman bills her campaign for clothes and makeup. Though, to be fair, Bill Clinton's and John Edwards's expensive haircuts made big news as well. Regardless, you get the feeling that the coverage of her is like kicking dirt on a coffin. Then again, she seems to be shovelling as fast as anyone.