Why do people think being a liberal is, by default, a bad thing?

“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.”

“Somebody came along and said liberal means soft on crime, soft on drugs, soft on communism, soft on defense, and we’re going to tax ya back to the stone age, because people shouldn’t have to go to work, if they don’t want to. And instead of saying ‘Well, excuse me, you right-wing reactionary xenophobic homophobic anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun, leave it to beaver trip back to the fifties,’ we cowered in the corner. And said ‘Please Don’t Hurt Me’. No more.”

oh, thats from The West Wing..

More Bad News Today:

RealClearPolitics
Obama McCain Spread

RCP National Average 51.2 44.2 Obama +7.0
Favorable Ratings +17.0 +9.3 Obama +7.7
Intrade Market Odds 90.7 10.0
Electoral College
RCP Electoral Count 278 132 Obama +146
No Toss Up States 338 200 Obama +138

Battleground States
Florida 48.5 46.0 Obama +2.5
North Carolina 47.8 47.8 Tie
Virginia 50.0 45.8 Obama +4.2
Ohio 49.3 45.0 Obama +4.3
Missouri 47.2 47.6 McCain +0.4
Colorado 50.5 45.0 Obama +5.5
Nevada 49.6 43.4 Obama +6.2

LA Times
Nov. 3

Final Rove electoral map sees large Obama win over McCain

Well, the final day before the official presidential voting and the final version of Karl Rove’s exclusive national electoral map sees a strong victory for Barack Obama, gaining the most electoral votes since Bill Clinton’s lopsided win over Bob Dole in 1996.

According to the research of compiled state polls by Karl Rove & Co., the hypothetical electoral college numbers suggest an Obama win over the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin of 338 electoral votes to 200.

For the final report, Rove has allocated each state to the candidate leading there in state polls today.

According to these calculations, Obama takes hard-fought Florida. But McCain edges ahead in Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota and North Carolina.

Rove notes that Obama and McCain are in dead heats in North Carolina and Missouri, but the most recent polls over the weekend show a trend toward the Republican ticket. “Florida, too, could end up in McCain’s column,” Rove adds, “since he’s benefited from recent movement in the state.” But it’s not enough for the Arizona senator to capture the necessary 270.

For an explanation of the research methodology and for a chart showing the study’s movements week by week since July 1, click on the Read more line below. The Ticket’s appreciation to Rove & Co. for its permission to publish these polls simultaneously throughout the recent hotly contested months.

–Andrew Malcolm

The Street.Com
Polls: Obama First, McCain Second

11/03/08 – 05:01 PM EST

Eight national presidential polls released Monday put Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) behind Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) in the race for the White House Tuesday. McCain loses in every poll by an average of more than seven points, confirming predictions by many pundits of a McCain loss in the popular vote.

McCain’s only chance for a win would be an unlikely scenario similar to 2000 when President Bush upset Al Gore by winning the electoral college. However, the swing state polls show McCain is in the hole there as well, and any upset scenario forces a focus on the several big states — Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Ohio has served as an accurate predictor of the presidential race since 1960. Despite McCain focusing on the home state of Joe the Plumber, he has fallen behind in Ohio in most presidential polls. The most favorable poll for McCain, conducted by Fox, has McCain tied with Obama. The poll least favorable to McCain’s chances, Quinnipiac, has him down seven points.

Monday, November 3, 2008 – 10:28 AM EST
New poll: Obama leads by 10 points in Pa.
Pittsburgh Business Times
A new poll finds Democrat Barack Obama holding a substantial lead over Republican John McCain in Pennsylvania, as the two candidates campaign down to the wire Monday.

The final pre-election poll from Quinnipiac University shows Obama with a 10-point lead over McCain. Obama leads 52 percent to 42 percent, the poll found, compared to last week’s poll, which showed Obama with a slightly larger lead of 11 points, with 53 percent to McCain’s 41 percent.

Obama also leads McCain in Ohio by seven percentage points, 50 percent to 43 percent. The other swing state in Quinnipiac’s poll, Florida, is still too close to call, the poll found.

The poll surveyed likely voters between Oct. 27 and Nov. 3.

Poll Shows Obama Deflected Recent Attacks
Republicans Challenged Democrat on Taxes, Readiness and Crisis Management

Monday, November 3, 2008; Page A09

With one day to go, Democrat Barack Obama appears to have rebuffed recent GOP efforts to label him as “too liberal” or too big a gamble.

The new Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll puts Obama well out in front over Republican John McCain and finds that Obama has firmly reestablished his advantage on handling the economy, beaten back a challenge on taxes and has an edge in terms of perceptions about which candidate would better deal with an unexpected major crisis.

November 2, 2008, 7:00 PM
CBS Poll: Obama Maintains 13 Point Lead
Posted by Brian Montopoli| 138

With two days left until the presidential election, Barack Obama continues to lead John McCain by 13 points among likely voters, 54 percent to 41 percent, a new CBS News poll finds. The margin in the new poll, released Sunday, is identical to that in a CBS News poll released Saturday.

As the number of undecided voters has dwindled, so has the number that says their minds can still change. More than nine in 10 of each candidate’s voters now say they have made up their minds about who to vote for and are not likely to change. Just seven percent of Obama voters and 8 percent of McCain voters say they still might change their minds.

With two days to go, only 8 percent of likely voters are uncommitted – either they have not yet chosen a candidate, or their minds could still change. Nearly all of these uncommitted voters say they plan to vote.

ABC News

Daily Tracking Poll: Not Just Economy and Bush; Palin Is Trouble for McCain Too
Obama Leads McCain 54-43 in Latest ABC News/Washington Post Poll
ANALYSIS by GARY LANGER
Nov. 3, 2008
Barack Obama’s strong close in the 2008 campaign has been boosted by more than the shell-shocked economy and the Bush legacy. There’s also Sarah Palin, and the concern she incites, especially among voters who are worried about John McCain’s age.
More PhotosForty-six percent of likely voters now say having Palin on the ticket makes them less likely to support McCain — up 14 points in just the past month and more than double what it was in early September. And among those who call the candidates’ age an important factor in their vote, more, 61 percent, say Palin makes them less likely to back McCain.

Nat Public Radio
All Things Considered, November 2, 2008 · The final Pew Research Center poll of the 2008 presidential election gives Barack Obama a 49 to 42 percent lead over his rival, John McCain. Though still a significant lead, it’s suddenly a much tighter race than Obama’s 15-point lead from last week.

There are two things closing the gap, says Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center. First, McCain has made some gains among whites, independents and middle-income voters. But the other boost he’s enjoying comes from narrowing the pool of responses from registered voters to likely voters.

Typically, Republican voters tend to vote more regularly than some Democratic voting groups — particularly young people and blacks, Kohut says. So while turnout is up among those groups, it’s also up across the board — giving Republicans a boost when the poll focuses on likely voters.

It may not be as strong as a week ago, but Obama’s lead in the Pew poll agrees with several national polls that have him ahead by a 5-point average.

“This is a pretty substantial lead,” Kohut says. “We haven’t had a lead for a candidate this substantial since 1996, when President Clinton was leading Sen. Dole in the final weekend of the campaign.”

But that’s not the only poll data leaning in Obama’s favor.
The strength of each candidate’s support among likely voters has historically been a significant indicator of a race’s outcome. According to the Pew poll, 36 percent of likely voters say they strongly support Obama, while only 24 percent say they are strong supporters of McCain.

“Typically,” Kohut says, “if we look back to elections going back to 1960, invariably the candidate with the stronger support wins the election.”

IGNORE any early POLLS or predictions. HISTORY shows that they are often biased, flawed, or used as a tool to thwart voter enthusiasm.