Odds and Ends

For those of you following along on IE, this is the night when the blog's front page goes back to normal.

I can't speak for anybody else's experience, but this weekend has felt very much like the presidential election is in a holding pattern. We're just waiting for November 4. It sort of feels like a badly paced movie, in which all the elements of the climax are lined up but for various reasons--running time, studio meddling--the end of the movie is delayed for five or ten minutes while other business is taken care of onscreen. I have to say, I'm still nervous for the time being. The polls are looking good (TPM Election Central has polls for state and local races among the presidential numbers), and there's no rational reason for keeping my guard up, but I'll just be much more comfortable once we get through Tuesday night.

In the meantime, I'm afraid we're very much left with distractions. To pretty much no one's surprise, I suppose, Joe the Plumber has joined up with the McCain campaign. He's going the full Sarah Palin route, questioning Obama's loyalty to his country. Speaking of country, you may have heard the rumor that Joe's looking to pursue a country music career. Joe insists that any such claims are untrue, and he used his new Nashville publicist to get the word out.

There's been another rumor out there that Obama is actually the secret child of Malcolm X. While I guess that would be intriguing, it seems extremely unlikely. But Ezra Klein took the opportunity to speculate on what other X-people Obama may or may not be related to.

I've never been a fan of Andrew Sullivan, so it annoys me that his blog has become a must read during election season. Annoyed as I may be, however, it's certainly worth reading, and I highly recommend it. But I mention Sullivan here because last week he introduced a new blog, Margaret and Helen. Margaret's something of a silent partner, but Helen, an 82-year-old woman living in Texas with very strong opinions, is a delight to read. I have no idea what she might have been like when she was younger, but I imagine that by the time you get to 82, there's not really any reason to tell anything less than the truth. Her posts are good for a look.