The Economist thinks that this year, instead of red and blue states, the electoral map could be drenched in purple. USA Today ran a similar piece this week. It has been a recurring theme in the media coverage of the campaign.  But there is probably less there than meets the eye. Dan Collins reminded me recently of electoralvote.com, so I should have thought of this before someone flagged it for

“Sex and the City Not Just for Women: Also for fey poseurs,” or “Why Notions Need Fortification”

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said in a statement he was “deeply disappointed” in Father Michael Pfleger, after the priest –in a scene caught on videotape– mocked Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y) from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago–the home church of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. UPDATE Click below for Pfleger apology “As I have traveled this country, I’ve been impressed not by what divides us, but

Jeffrey Birnbaum reports in the Washington Post: The co-director of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in Puerto Rico is a Washington-based federal lobbyist for the government of Puerto Rico. Ethics watchdogs said that the high-profile role of Francisco J. Pavía appears to contradict the Obama campaign’s ethics guidelines, which forbid federal lobbyists from working on staff. But Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Pavía is an “active volunteer” — not a paid

There is plenty of buzz at the moment over the claim made by CNN’s Jessica Yellin to Anderson Cooper that White House reporters “dropped the ball” during the run-up to war. The Politico’s Mike Calderone reprints the relevant transcript: “And my own experience at the White House was that the higher the president’s approval ratings, the more pressure I had from news executives — and I was not at this network

Vive la France! (with an “r”) Publisher of McClellan book front for Soros.

Sex and the City movie sucks and blows. Whodathunkit? They didn’t really know what they wanted – career or husband, baby or Balenciaga bag? – but what they didn’t want was to turn out like their mothers. And while straight men universally hated SATC (they professed to find Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw repellent, while in reality being unable to cope with her straight-talking prickliness), women – pretty much all

for stance on immigration. Think Progress on search terms Pope + abortion. I guess the Pope is only infallible when he agrees with Think Progress. You’d be paranoid about buggery, too, if you were such an ass. More religion in the news: Arctic Sea Ice Traps Climate Tour Icebreaker “Now, only nature can help this ship.” So start burning stuff. What is karma, again? Oh, yeah.

Academia for Conversos, only: Today, the Universities and Colleges Union is discussing whether universities should single out Israeli and Jewish scholars for active discrimination. Yes, you read that correctly. The UCU is debating a motion which not only raises the spectre yet again of an academic boycott of Israel but demands of Jewish and Israeli academics that they explain their politics as a pre-condition to normal academic contact. The motion

At Salon, Democratic pollster Paul Maslin looks at whether the youth vote can deliver the presidency to Barack Obama.  Most of Maslin’s point echo my assessment of the youth vote from May 26, but it is always good to get independent confirmation.  Maslin agrees that even a large increase in the youth vote would produce only a small impact on the actual makeup of the electorate: Despite the gains of 2004, however,