We’ve been asking economics students who support Obama a few questions.

Here they are, with a representative sample of the answers:

1. Did you support NAFTA and CAFTA? “Yes.”

2. Do you support the Columbia Free Trade Agreement? “Sure.”

3. Do you support the South Korea Free Trade Agreement? “Yeah.”

4. Do you support increasing tariffs on Chinese goods? “No.”

5. Do you support farm subsidies? “No.”

6. Do you support corn ethanol subsidies? “No.”

7. Are you against importing more efficient sugar ethanol from Brazil? “Nope.”

8. Did you support the Byrd amendment, which rewards American companies for filing pricing complaints? “Of course not. That goes against everything we know about economics.”

9. Do you want to abolish the secret ballot in the certification of unions? “Who in their right mind would vote for that?”

10. Do you want to further restrict the number of visas for skilled foreign immigrants? “No way.”

That’s 10/10 against Obama and for McCain.

“Oh.”

So why do you support Barack Obama?

“He’s kind of handsome, I guess.”

“I love Barack so much!”

“He’s cool.”

“Fight for it. You will come out on the top.”

The Republican base is angry but they are in no mood to punish their party now. They’re determined to defend the America they love.

A few days ago, while going door-to-door for McCain-Palin in New Hampshire, I met a man who was worried about the future of our country.

He was worried about Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes, and he was none too pleased about Obama’s record on abortion, either.

He said he was solidly behind McCain and Senator John Sununu, but was really angry about the $700 billion bailout package.

Yet he recognized that letting the Democrats win both the White House and Congress could spell disaster.

He had put McCain signs up in his yard. He said it was the first time he had ever put up political signs before. They kept getting torn down, but he kept putting them up.

We spoke for about twenty minutes. We exchanged e-mail addresses.

Yesterday I heard from him. He had been inspired by our conversation, and went down to the McCain-Palin headquarters himself the next day, and went door-to-door all day.

And who knows how many he inspired, in turn?

This will, I hope, be told on Wednesday morning as the story of how John McCain won New Hampshire and the 2008 election.

It will be a story about how ordinary people triumphed over fickle media elites and political opportunists.

It will be a story about how the so-called “party of the rich” became the “party of the ordinary American man and woman.”

It will be a story about the man who achieved greatest political comeback of all time, and the millions of people who carried him to victory.

Do you know the answer?

No Googling allowed.

In that case, “personality” will definitively have triumphed over “issues,” and the transformation of the Presidency of the United States into the presidency of the student council will be complete.

Promoted from diaries. How… interesting. - Moe Lane

Yesterday speaking at a rally in Cleveland, Barack Obama thanked Rev. Otis Moss III, the incumbent pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ and successor to Jeremiah Wright!

Fast-forward to 5:37 -

“And also, a great friend and one of the wisest men I know. Please give a big round of applause to Reverend Otis Moss!”

This was the church of hate he supposedly left in May?

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I don’t know Rob Boyce, but kudos to him for spotting the possible true source of Obama’s “righteous wind” refrain.

Boyce cites Google Books:

The Ill Wind of Opportunism is Falling, the Righteous Wind of Socialism Is on the Rise”

Get out the vote, RedStaters. If we don’t turn some more states Red, we’ll be reading from Little Red Books.

Lots of door-knocking and phone-calling in New Hampshire this weekend to get out the vote.

There are McCain-Palin signs everywhere, even southern NH. The sign people have done a terrific job.

The Obama folks decided to give New Hampshire a try, after all–they must know they are in trouble.

We saw them working one of the same neighborhoods as us and waved a friendly hello. They waved hi back.

It seems the Obama campaign has no real plan for getting their supporters to the polls.

They are knocking on doors and calling voters in Republican neighborhoods.

It’s not overconfidence–it’s poor organization: just throwing money and volunteers at everybody.

The GOP is being more efficient, going after Republicans and independents. That will translate into more votes.

People are worried about what they’re seeing in the media, but that’s just making them more determined to turn out.

We did come across one Obama voter in a Republican stronghold. We were polite.

We just said: “Well, we’re here for McCain, but let’s hope that if Obama does win, he’ll be a good President.”

He replied: “Yeah, let’s hope. You guys are good foot-soldiers.”

Indeed we were–and there were thousands of us all over the Granite State.

We feel that momentum.

We’re going to keep working.

We will win!

From Politicsweb.co.za, a South African political blog:

The American idea is in danger. The vision of limited government and unlimited opportunity that the United States cherished long after other nations succumbed to the false temptations of socialism is hours away from execution. It is being killed by a vain radicalism that lost the political and ideological battles of the Cold War but has returned in the guise of pragmatism and the personality cult of Barack Obama…

The Democrats are poised to win the executive and sweep the legislature. All that stands in their way are the millions of Joes who have not lost faith in the American dream, despite the failures of the Bush presidency. They are fighting for a cause greater than McCain. If they show up to vote, all is not lost.

Most people have overlooked the fact that Sen Barack Obama wasn’t the only guest at Rashid Khalidi’s farewell.

The guest list included Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who would surely be embarrassed by the release of the tape of the event currently being held by the L.A. Times.

The fact that the L.A. newspaper is owned by the Tribune Company of Chicago is of more than passing interest. So, too, is the fact that Daley has already been forced to cover up for another radical Obama associate:

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The New Hampshire GOTV is up and running! And it is awesome.

I have never seen more enthusiasm in a political campaign than I’m seeing in New England right now.

At call centers, you can’t get a spare seat or a free telephone.

Students are piling into vans from all over the region.

The Democrats? They’re busing their people to Ohio.

Either they’re supremely overconfident or they’ve already given up the Granite State.

We are going to win this one for Mac again, and carry him over the finish line one more time.

To all of you folks fighting for Mac, Sarracuda and America all across the nation:

Fight hard, and follow us!

Wow. Barack Obama’s endorsement in 2000 from the Democratic Socialists of America:

Barak Obama is serving only his second term in the Illinois State Senate so he might be fairly charged with ambition, but the same might have be said of Bobby Rush when he ran against Congressman Charles Hayes. Obama also has put in time at the grass roots, working for five years as a community organizer in Harlem and in Chicago. When Obama participated in a 1996 UofC YDS Townhall Meeting on Economic Insecurity, much of what he had to say was well within the mainstream of European social democracy. To volunteer, call 773 846 2262. Contributions may be sent to Obama for Congress 2000, PO Box 497987, Chicago, IL 60649.

I want a president who’s well within the mainstream of American democracy, thank you very much.

The new White House Chief of Staff is Chicago congressman Rahm Emanuel.

President-elect Barack Obama has it all figured out already. Axelrod’s angling for a White House job, and there will be plenty of other Chicago friends coming along.

There’s just the minor formality of an election now, which they’re doing their best to buy or steal…

We can still stop them, folks. We’ve got to win this election.

The Economist has endorsed Barack Obama for president.

Given Mr Obama’s inexperience, the lack of clarity about some of his beliefs and the prospect of a stridently Democratic Congress, voting for him is a risk. Yet it is one America should take, given the steep road ahead.

Yes, folks, that is an actual endorsement. Talk about damning with faint praise!

There’s more:

So Mr Obama’s star quality will be useful to him as president. But that alone is not enough to earn him the job. Charisma will not fix Medicare nor deal with Iran. Can he govern well? Two doubts present themselves: his lack of executive experience; and the suspicion that he is too far to the left.

There is no getting around the fact that Mr Obama’s résumé is thin for the world’s biggest job. But the exceptionally assured way in which he has run his campaign is a considerable comfort.

Yet another elite voice that is prepared to gamble the world’s future on a man whose only achievement is running for president.

And talk about indulging in fantasy:

Our main doubts about Mr Obama have to do with the damage a muddle-headed Democratic Congress might try to do to the economy. Despite the protectionist rhetoric that still sometimes seeps into his speeches, Mr Obama would not sponsor a China-bashing bill.

But he has already voted for a “China-bashing bill.” In 2005 he voted to slap sanctions on China.

That should count, no? And you’d expect a magazine called the Economist to know that, right?

Never fear: the best part of this is that an endorsement from the Economist is the kiss of death.

No candidate whom the Economist has has endorsed since 1980 has won a majority of the popular vote.

Here are the Economist’s endorsements in the past six elections, and their showing at the polls:

1984: none

1988: none

1992: Clinton (43.0% - won)

1996: Dole (40.7& - lost)

2000: Bush (47.9% - won)

2004: Kerry (48.3% - lost)

I’d say that the Economist has just inadvertently predicted that McCain will win the popular vote.

Via the Boston Herald (emphasis added):

“I’ve been a hardcore Republican my whole life,” he told the Herald. “My mother and father drilled into me from the very start that if you work hard and be positive, you’ll get what you’re working for. I guess I’m living proof of that.”

Of criticism about McCain’s age, Perry said: “My mother’s in her 80s and she does aerobics. My manager’s 70 and he’s right there. That doesn’t bother me.”

And despite lopsided polls, he urged his fans to get out and vote.

“I’m an optimist. It ain’t over till its over,” he said. “I think that he’s got a chance.”

Of the rocker’s endorsement, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said: “Joe Perry is an icon of rock-and-roll and a great American. John McCain absolutely appreciates his support.”

Finally, a Harvard man who rocks the Straight Talk Express.

Via a local merchant, who will talk politics when no one else is in the store, comes the story that e-mails are circulating in the Cuban-American community claiming that Sen. Barack Obama’s father was Cuban.

The e-mails are apparently being circulated (in Spanish) by Obama supporters to encourage Cuban-Americans to vote for him. (I have yet to find independent information to confirm this.)

The story–which sounds like total rubbish–goes that Obama’s mom spent some time on a commune in Cuba in the 1960s and met a young communist with whom she conceived a child. She then returned to Hawaii and married Barack Obama Sr.

I was told that nobody is taking the story seriously, but that this e-mail (and others) have become ubiquitous in the run-up to Election Day.

Has anyone else seen these?

Forget the media polls. We’re winning independents in New Hampshire.

McCain HQ in Boston was packed with volunteers tonight–barely a seat or a phone went free.

The attack on Obama’s socialism is working among residents of the “Live Free or Die” state.

We are going to win the Granite State. Get out there and make it happen.

And all you folks in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado–we need you to make it happen, too!

“What’s he done?”

Jeffrey Sachs, who has had months to think of an answer to the question, waffles on MSNBC (no less).

He tries to argue that Obama “has brought the country together.”

Say what?

Half–more than half, I dare say–of the country is about to vote against him.

Got anything else, professor?

Evidently not. And neither does Obama.

This is a goal-line stand, people. We have to stop them from scoring, force a fumble and carry the ball 99 yards for a touchdown in the closing seconds of the game.

WE MUST DO IT.

And we can, if the latest Rasmussen poll is anything to go by:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows Barack Obama attracting 50% of the vote nationwide while John McCain earns 47%. This is the first time McCain has been within three points of Obama in more than a month and the first time his support has topped 46% since September 24 (see trends).

The good news for us is that it’s fourth and goal for them. They haven’t put the game away yet, and they can’t if we stop them.

If we can drop Obama below 50 percent–and we’re moving him backwards already–then the undecided voters can break for us and we can win this one.

Do whatever you can–volunteer, phone bank for 30 minutes, stand by the side of the road with a sign, confront your Obama-pushing professors in class, donate money–whatever you can manage, every day.

We can win this one for the Mac.

An article in the Harvard Crimson reports that astronomy professor John P. Huchra has switched sides from McCain to Obama over the Sarah Palin pick.

His defense?

Huchra criticized in particular Palin’s view on scientific questions, including teaching creationism in public schools, which he described as “not consistent with a modern view of the world.”

Amazing. Another Harvard intellectual–a scientist, no less–who has apparently swallowed the Palin smears without bothering to examine the facts.

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