Blast Off! Radio today at 4:00 pm EDT: Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

Okay, I'll admit it: I'm tired. Yeah, I'm physically tired (that big Bucs victory over Carolina yesterday was fun, but damn was it hot in Raymond James Stadium!), but I'm tired of politics.

Yeah, I don't mean generally tired, like I'm going to give up blogging (sorry about that), but I mean tired of this campaign. You knew it was only a matter of time when, out of a combination of hatred and desperation (and maybe a hint of racism?), the McCain campaign was going to go negative. And boy, have they ever ...

But what really struck me is that during my 500-mile sojourn through America's Wang™ yesterday, I actually saw a LOT more signs and bumper stickers for Huggy Bear than for Obama. Is this a real trend or an anomaly? And what about those signs -- for both sides -- like the McSame billboards? Are they having a real effect or are they just, well, window dressing?

We'll talk about that on Blast Off! Radio this afternoon, along with a discussion of what causes someone to be a Republican, a look ahead to tomorrow Wednesday night's final presidential debate, and a consideration of down-ticket races in Florida and beyond. I might even mention the economy, too ...

You want to be a part of the show. You know you do. And here's how:

TIME: 4:00 pm Eastern TODAY

Click here to listen

Call in number: (646) 716-7543

E-mail: blastoffradio-at-gmail-dot-com

I'll look forward to talking with you -- and hearing from you -- this afternoon.

UPDATE (3:52 pm 10/13/08): Yeah, the debate is on Wednesday, not tomorrow. Mea culpa.

Worst. Campaign. Ads. Ever.

Huggy Bear is running ads during the Olympic telecasts that tell the viewer, "We're worse off than we were four years ago." This is true.

Now please explain why electing Huggy, who vows to continue nearly all of Drunky McStagger's failed policies, would alleviate the situation.

In Florida, Obama spends while McCain spins

This is a curious little statistic. Huggy Bear has spent no money on TV ads in Florida since at least May, and during the same period of time, Barack Obama's campaign has spent over $5 million.

Drawing on data compiled by the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin, the story [from the Washington Post, the source of this blog post] goes on to note:

"Equally striking is where Obama spent the money. He aired more ads in Pensacola -- the conservative Panhandle city where Navy pilots, including McCain, are trained -- than in Miami. Democrats in 2000 and 2004 ceded the Panhandle to Republicans, not airing any ads there, said the advertising project's director, Ken Goldstein.

"'I never understood that,' Goldstein said. 'Those are areas that are going to go Republican, but it's not like the electoral college. Every African American voter you bring out in the Panhandle offsets a Cuban voter in Miami' likely to vote Republican."

Obama, of course, had to play catch up in Florida once he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. He refrained from actively campaigning in the state before its January primary because the contest's scheduling violated national party rules.

And, as a New York Times story in May detailed, many Jewish voters -- traditionally Democratic -- had deep-seated doubts about him, especially his commitment to Israel.

As the blog post goes on to note, polling in Florida shows the state a virtual toss-up. Indeed, the most recent poll, by Quinnipiac University of likely voters, shows Obama with a two-point lead, well within the margin of error. But Obama's spending his money in traditionally red parts of the state, like Pensacola, where he stands to gain a lot and can't lose very much ... and each Obama vote in Escambia County will counteract each Huggy Bear vote in Miami-Dade County.

Still, why isn't Huggy spending here? Could it be that he doesn't have much money to spend?

Or maybe he just forgot. You know, senior moment and all that ... it happens.

Boca Raton ♥ Huggy Bear?

Driving in downtown Boca Raton this morning, I see that the Huggy Bear partisans have been out in force lately. Palmetto Park Road, the main east-west artery through Boca, is festooned with "McCAIN" yard signs all along the commercial district between Federal Highway and the Intracoastal.

I wouldn't have expected Boca to be very Huggy-friendly, despite its reputation as an upscale, higher-income community. And, indeed, a few signs on the road hardly defines a town as Huggy Bear territory.

But I know one thing: if I were a business owner and someone put a GOP campaign sign in front of my place, I'd have it out of there faster than you can say "dessicated, goiter-ridden near-corpse."

Huggy Bear needs an editor

Just when you thought the shit-for-brains Huggy Bear campaign couldn't get any stupider comes this ad (right) from this sucky blog right here. (Hey, I don't sell the ads ... and besides, if you click on them, money comes right out of the Huggy campaign coffers and -- presumably, someday -- goes into my pockets. Like a fraction of a penny at a time, but still ...)

Okay, first off, there's a lovely grammatical issue at the very start of the copy. Is the campaign really too ignorant to find and correct that?

Beyond grammar, though, let me try to parse this idiocy. If you, like me, are against judges improperly interpreting the Constitution to satisfy political ends, like the Roberts Court consistently does (often at the behest of Justice Scalia), then you're supposed to vote for Huggy Bear? Does. Not. Compute.

My friends (heh), if Huggy becomes president, you can say goodbye to things like a woman's right to choose, freedom of speech and of the press, and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures (if we haven't lost those things already), and say hello to direct government funding of religion, privatization of Social Security, and bigger profits for the oil barons at the expense of American citizens. That's not going to come from "proper interpretation" of the Constitution, but from the "legislat[ing] social policy from the bench" that Huggy presumably opposes.

Please don't be fooled by the propaganda. This election is way, way too important.

And, Huggy - get a fucking editor, for Jeebus' sake.

Huggy Bear has crystal balls

Our pal Huggy Bear has hit a new low in campaign advertising.

First, he's advertising on friggin' Facebook. Presumably, since Facebook attracts a largely young, college-age clientele (present company notably excluded), this makes Huggy hip.

Second, the ad fades from one image to the next:

Holy shit. This is ridiculous on so many levels.

I guess you could say that Huggy needs a hip replacement.*

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* Thanks. I'll be here all week.**

** It could have been worse. I could have said the ad was "Hillary-ous." So shut the hell up.