Please remember, only purple state polls matter. For Presidents, the national popular vote is

[No Elephants]

irrelevant.

Nate Silver, who did such a great job in 2008, was on Rachael Maddow last night.

Silver placed Obama's chances of win this election (based on current data, of course) are something 70%. Before the debate, odds were in favor of Obama's winning by something like 85%, so Obama's Presidential debate performance (or nonperformance) did hurt him.

However, the damage was not as much as hysteria indicates.

[Enthusiast]

1. I fear the damage was enough to allow the unscrupulous GOP

to steal the election.

Although we were among the first to request absentee ballots in our small community, they have yet to arrive. I suspect Republican zealots are pulling dirty tricks and voter suppression in every precinct, nationwide.

I have been saying, the last thing the "new" third way Democrats want is voter enthusiasm. So they find it necessary to tamp down voter turnout. I suspect without the poor debate performance the President and the Democratic Party were poised to win seats and take back offices around the nation in an unprecedented way.

[No Elephants]

2. Anything is possible.

[No Elephants]

3. I spoke too soon. Obama's numbers have fallen in the purple states, too.