I was not thinking about voting Republican this year, not that it matters for me - my state is Obama's home state and will go democratic this year as they do most every year.

But I don't think this election is a foregone conclusion by any means.

I was hoping that, in the event that McCain gets elected, he might revert to his true beliefs and positions - positions he seemed to hold in 2000 and which were far more reasonable than what we've experienced in the last 8 years. But the selection of Sarah Palin as veepee would seem to signal that not only will McCain hold firm on his adherence to the policies of Bush/Cheney, but that he might even be more right wing.

Unless, and this is really cynical, McCain just expects to be president for one term and doesn't care about passing the mantle to his veepee, and wants to cement his base with the right wing neo-con religious right (redundant, yes, but...) Could he believe that Palin might help him get elected, but then he's going to relegate her to Dan Quayle status? A more serious choice on the far right (Romney?)might not have been so easy to ignore, and might have commanded the party in 2012 if McCain doesn't go for a second term. After all, he IS 72 years old, will be 76 in 2012. Has he really and truly gone this far to the right in the last 8 years after being pretty moderate for his first 64 years?

Far fetched, improbable.

On another note, I watched Obama's campaign for Illinois' Senate seat a few years back when he was pitted against Jack Ryan, a trader turned inner city teacher, a multi millionaire whose ex-wife was TV (Star Trek) star Jeri Ryan. But then Ryan's personal life got in the way and Obama seemed to get pretty lucky and got elected. And he's been staying lucky since.