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Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States!

According to RealClearPolitics.com, Barack Obama maintains a strong lead in the Electoral Vote (270 electoral votes needed to win), but anything can happen on election day.

What are your predictions?

A recent cover story in Rolling Stone looks at John McCain and asks if he really is the Maverick he calls himself.

Barack Obama told us exactly what to expect from the McCain campaign months ago. He's called their every move. Since they have no substance, they need to make you afraid to elect him. How closely have they followed his plan? See for yourself:

If you missed Barack Obama talking to David Letterman, check out these highlights. He tackles the "lipstick on a pig" controversy, and addresses why he chose Joe Biden as a running mate.

In the debate last night, Barack Obama, at several times agreed with McCain, but in many more he differed with McCain, especially on Iraq, where McCain was clearly wrong or mislead. Here are a few examples:

In his smartest move yet, McCain is pulling out of Friday's debate with Barack Obama. Why is it smart? Well, no matter how Obama responds to this move, he can't win. If he agrees with McCain that they should go to Washington to deal with the economic crisis, he's just following the more experienced leader. If he disagrees, he's putting his campaign ahead of the economy. Lose-lose for Obama. Slick move for McCain, who knew he couldn't win against Obama in the debate.

One thing I still don't understand is why Bush and McCain are suddenly appreciating the economic crisis now. We've all been telling them that the economy is bad for months, if not years, and they've been assuring us that our economy is strong. Suddenly, they've "woken up" and faced what is happening. Are we supposed to tout them as heroes now?

And is Obama, who's been concerned about the economy from the start, supposed to drop everything now that Bush has finally gotten his head out of the sand?

Gov. Palin is so proud of her daughter, Bristol Palin, who is having the child of Levi Johnston. When the baby was conceived, however, Bristol was under the age of consent, implying that Levi Johnston committed statutory rape. Statutory rape is defined as "sexual activity - without force or violence - with anyone defined as a minor." The reason for these laws is to protect minors who are considered unable to legally consent.

People convicted of statutory rape are often convicted and fined. Upon release from prison, they are also registered with the national registry of sex offenders.

Why is Levi Johnston not being charged with an obvious criminal act and registered as a sex offender? Why is Sarah Palin so excited about her young daughter's pregnancy?

Since Palin was announced as McCain's running mate, not only did she have a make-over, so did Levi, shown below shmoozing with McCain.

Many of you who know me well know that I consider Just a Couple of Days among my very favorite books. I can read this over and over again and pick up new clever expressions, amazing language construction, new vocabulary that I wish was part of my repertoire, laugh my chops off again, and marvel at the skills and patience of an author, Tony Vigorito, that is capable of carefully selecting each and every word of his novel with complete intention and forethought.

My only complaint about Vigorito is that he has been recently silent (other than his blog on MySpace).

That is until yesterday. According to Amazon.com, Vigorito's latest book, Nine Kinds of Naked is in stock! Since I had pre-ordered it months ago, my copy shipped yesterday. I can't wait to get my hungry paws on this new bit of literary genius. You can read excerpts and reviews of both of his books at tonyvigorito.com.

Stay tuned for a detailed review coming soon.

Did McCain make a hasty decision in Palin? You decide: