Great post Foxy, I agree with you. Not only me, but most of the
rest of the world. The Economist (not really left wing) ran a poll
and it was a landslide for Obama. Even their editors agree and
are supporting him.

Keith you are correct, anything could happen. Electronic voting
without a paper trail is IMHO very risky and I don't trust the Republicans
one little bit. They will play every dirty trick in
the book or outside the book, so nothing will surprise me.

After all, every gun swinging extremist or religious nut is in the
the republican party and I certainly don't expect honesty from that
lot.

America needs to return to voting with a paper trail, or its an
open invitation for somebody with great software skills, to rig
elections.

Oh dear Yabby,

You point to the extremes of the Republican just as easily as I could point to the plethora of 'wealth sharin'(only others not their own) socialists, terrorist loving and friendly (Obama Biden), hate America nuts and ravers (Rev Wright, Michael Moore), liars (Gore and Pelosi), economic wreckers (Clinton, Raines, Franks), freedom loathers and anacharists (Bill Ayers), and billionaires (Buffet and Soros) that litter the formerly great liberal democratic party.

But wait there is a difference. I can name names. Why don't you do the same ... instead of hiding behind generalities?

Oh by the way. Joe Biden owns guns, hunts and supports gun ownership and he is the democratic vp candidate. Something doesn't quite add up with your generalised claim.

Awwww heck Yabby... Obama is the only candidate on record as saying he will attack over Pakistani soverign territory. And you should check Obamas stances on Iraq and his stance on Afghanistan ... You should take off the blinkers before you start assigning judgement.

That's the thing about the few uncommitted US voters ... they tend to do that.

Yeah I agree something needs to be done about the voting especially in regards to Acorn and it's fradulent vote registrations.

Every poll up until Friday (US time) had Obama ahead. I prefer the Zogby poll. It's the latest (Friday evening US), is conducted for Reuters (Who don't have an interest in the outcome and who are not barracking for either candidate), it polled over 1,000 people and is conducted along the traditional lines. ie not one of those weighted 'tracking polls' which deliberately poll twice as many Registered Democrats as Registered Republicans.(They do that simply because there are twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. Perfectly logical but I think it flawed ... for a number of reasons). It astonishes me that in those 'tracking polls' Obama continually struggles to reach 50%

Hummmmm Wednesday is going to be quite a day and the Melbourne cup will have been run and won by ... Bauer.

Keith, there is this little thing called wisdom. Its about realising
that you know what you don't know.

So unlike you, I don't predict the winner of the US elections or
the winner of the Melbourne Cup, for there are so many variables
that could change things in either race.

So as I am clearly wiser then you, I have my hopes and opinions
based on the balance of probabilities, but don't claim to be able
to predict the future as you do.

Obama has had all sorts of associations in his life, so have I.
So what? If I think back to my teens in Paris, there was a
pimp and a white collar criminal amongst the associates who used to
go out to dinner in a large group. They were interesting people
who taught me much about the real world out there, but I certainly
did not share their convictions. Trying to label me with their
convictions is no different to what you are tyring to do to Obama.
Fact is, we associate with all sorts of people, that does not mean
that we agree with them.

What Obama has shown so far is very good judgement and great organisational skills.
Unlike your mate McCain, he does not have
a bad temper and is able to change his mind if circumstances change,
showing intellectual flexibility, for which it seems, McCain is simply
too old.

So far, his election campaign has be shown to be slick and well
organised, unlike McCain.

mccain is not nearly as bad as he pretends to be, and obama is not as good as i wish.

but mccain has run a pointless, nasty and shockingly dishonest campaign. and, he represents a party which has behaved like a gang of murderous psychopaths. he deserves to be trounced.

Thanks for all the comments. Sorry I can't replay to all: authors don't have special rights to post more comments than everyone else. Very democratic. If you would like a more direct dialogue, post comments you would like followed up on my blog (http://opinion-nation.blogspot.com/2008/10/obama-landslide.html). Also, for light relief, see my YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOovv0O5LkQ) responding to the "Obama is a socialist" tactic.

I realise I am sticking my neck out by making predictions like this but we will soon see who's right on the election outcome. My view is that polls are more likely to underestimate the appeal of a candidate who brings out voters who don't usually bother and therefore are hard for pollsters to model. This gives Obama a reverse-Bradley effect, i.e., polls underestimate his vote. This happened a few times in the primaries.

As to how good a president he would be, time will tell. But the ability to inspire is an important factor, as is the ability to stay cool under fire and to exercise judgement in complex situations.

McCain has disappointed me in abandoning his true persona to fit in with the Bush Republican Party (Palin cannot possibly be his personal choice: he hardly knew her before). He has also been erratic and disorganized in his campaign, with blunders like welcoming "Joe the Plumber" to a rally when he wasn't there and (more seriously) offering up an economic rescue package that in effect rewarded mistakes. But I don't think this is in itself the deciding factor: the "it's time" effect and Obama's ability to inspire are the critical factors.

Obama had better beef up his security.I just don't trust the Bush administration or particularly the forces that are backing them.

If Obama is assassinated,we could see the constitution suspended and the military take control.The patriot act has already weakened people's rights.Things just don't smell right.