I can't remember radio commentator Thom Hartmann's exact line about Libertarians but it's something like "they're Republicans who want to smoke pot." Meaning...no gov't. interference but want all the goodies like drugs and sex.

I see Karl Rove is trying to claim some credit for the success of the Democrats campaign, suggesting that they have copied many of his methods. I think he flatters himself. Whereas this time out the Democrats have built a genuine broad-based coalition for change , Karl Rove’s main tactic was to demonise and smear the opposition. He succeeded in getting the white working class to vote against their own interests out of fear.

Rove’s true legacy is a shrinking and nasty support base that chants ill-thought out mantras that are often code for prejudice. The Republican Party no longer has any intellectual credo or credibility. It has pandered to the social conservatives and his now mired in their politics. The neocon and libertarians wings of the party must feel ill at ease now.

There's no greater, and more harmful, government interference in the market economy than with regard to drugs. I wonder if President Obama will wade in to the Drug War debate. Probably better as a second term matter, but the percent of people we have locked up for non-violent crimes, plus the violence created by Drug Prohibition, are extreme and barely civilized. Prohibition was a failure in the 20's and led to an era of lawlessness, and Prohibition has been a failure for the last 25 years leading to high crime rates and lawlessness.

"Obama and Biden will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior."
----from that 80-something page "Obama-Biden Blueprint for Change" PDF that you can download on his website.

I heard that the last of Taos County's absentee ballots were mailed today. This means a very short turn-around for voters to get ballots in by the deadline. Not only that, but mailed-in ballots require three 42 cent stamps! How many people are going to pay attention to _that_ particular detail?

I think this problem IS being addressed by the local Obama campaign but it is draining resources from canvassing and other vital activities.