John Kerry has reportedly asked Joe Biden to be his Secretary of State, and Biden is expected to accept.

Recall what I wrote two and a half weeks ago:

I’m heartened by the mention of the hawkish yet sensible Joe Biden for Secretary of State. I wish Kerry would pre-emptively appoint him to a Shadow Cabinet; I’d feel much better voting for him if he did. (This despite my anger at Biden over the RAVE Act, which sucks, but doesn’t really affect the Department of State.)

More importantly, recall Biden’s almost Tony Blair-esque speech (I said almost) at the Democratic National Convention in July:

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Bill Buckner doesn’t want to be forgiven.

THREE STATES TO PICK THE PRESIDENT, SAY EXPERTS

Napoleon Piggywig and President Bun meet in the fourth and final debate Thursday in the key battleground state of Kitchen.

Barring any significant upsets, the 2004 Adollyan presidential election has come down, most analysts and campaign consultants believe, to just three battleground states: Dining Room, Kitchen and My Bed.

For Napoleon Piggywig, candidate of the Unity Party and the Dollycrats, winning Dining Room alone would clinch the nomination, assuming all non-”tossup” states vote as expected. Winning both Kitchen and My Bed would also do the trick.

For President Bun, the Republidolly nominee, the math is a bit trickier. Again assuming no upsets, Mr. Bun must win Dining Room and either My Bed or Kitchen.

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George W. Bush: “A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief when it comes to your security.”

*cough* *cough* IRAQ *cough* *cough*

The FBI is looking into allegations by a member of the Army Corps of Engineers who is involved in military contracts stating that Halliburton was unfairly awarded their no-bid contract in Iraq.

It might be too late to be any kind of October surprise, but it will be interesting to see how this all turns out.

The College Republican National Committee has raised $6.3 million this year using deceptive tactics and targeting the elderly. Then again, with the example being set by the current adminstration, are we really all that surprised?

Five days away from Election Day — and two days away from my birthday — a few earnest birthday wishes for the 2004 presidential race.

I hope Kerry wins.

But if Bush wins, I hope he gets a majority (or at the very least, a solid plurality) of the popular vote.

I hope the popular-vote winner wins the electoral vote. Especially if the electoral-vote winner is Bush.

I hope the election isn’t effectively decided by the Supreme Court again.

I hope liberals don’t come away, again, with the sense that They Wuz Robbed. I can scarcely imagine the horror of four more years listening to Michael Moore & co. whine about Bush “stealing” the election. On the other hand, although I don’t like Bush, I would actually take a certain degree of satisfaction in seeing the Loony Left shocked & chagrined at Bush actually winning a solid victory. Their whole belief system would crumble before our very eyes! It’d be great! :)

If Kerry wins, I hope his presidency is not as bad as Andrew fears it will be.

If Bush wins, I hope his second term is not as bad as I fear it will be.

I hope “this year’s Florida” isn’t Florida. Those poor election officials deserve a break.

I hope the outcome of the election is known within 48 hours of the polls closing. Nevermind the good of the country; my study schedule can’t handle a protracted recount/contest period like in 2000.

I hope the Democrats, somehow, retake the Senate. Especially if Bush wins.

I hope Ralph Nader gets less than one percent of the vote.

I hope Michael Badnarik gets more than one percent of the vote.

I hope America is stronger, rather than weaker, when all is said and done.

I have spoken.

Go Sox! Go Kerry!

Pay no attention to the ace behind the curtain. :)

National Review’s Kerry Spot says the Bush campaign’s internal polls show that W has a solid lead in Florida, outside the margin of error. Some public polls differ, but I am inclined to agree with the Bushies that Florida is probably going to end up in their camp. The trend has seemed to be in that direction.

More disturbingly, Michigan now clearly appears to be unexpectedly in play. This is very bad. Kerry obviously must win Michigan (and Pennsylvania, though that seems to be less of a problem).

If Kerry holds MI and PA, the race comes down to Ohio — or at least, that’s the conventional wisdom. Everybody says that if Kerry wins Ohio, he wins the election, and if Kerry loses Ohio, he loses the election. The second part of that equation is almost certainly true (unless he pulls an upset in Florida), but as to the first part, well… I did some math, and even if Kerry wins MI, PA and OH, Bush can still win the election if he wins a) two out of three in Wisconsin/Iowa/Minnesota; or b) Iowa, New Hampshire and New Mexico (though Option B would leave him with only 270 EVs and thus vulnerable to a Richie Robb defection throwing the election to Congress). Note that “Oregon” can also be substituted for “Iowa” with the same results, and “Hawaii” can be substituted for “New Hampshire,” though both of those seem somewhat less likely.

The most plausible of these scenarios is probably Iowa and Wisconsin both going red. How much would that suck — Kerry wins Ohio, but Bush becomes the first Republican ever to win a presidential election without the Buckeye State because Kerry can’t hold onto two Midwestern blue states.

Even so, Ohio is clearly the #1 state to watch. And with the youth vote especially unpredictable, watch out for the Ohio State University factor. Electoral-vote.com writes: “Let’s call Ohio a tie. Which way it goes will almost assuredly depend on the turnout Tuesday, especially among younger voters. Could OSU elect the next president? It is not out of the question.” Hey, they do have like 40,000 students, right? Let’s hope they’re feeling “blue,” so to speak. And motivated to actually freakin’ vote.

P.S. Can Kerry, if he wins Ohio but loses Florida, prevail without Michigan? Yes, but in addition to holding Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and Hawaii, he’d have to pick off New Hampshire and one additional red state: Nevada? West Virginia? Arkansas? None of those look very likely right now. Or else he’d need the Colorado referendum to pass, and be upheld by the courts. Again, unlikely. Or, if the referendum fails but he wins Colorado, that would do the trick even without New Hampshire. But, yet again, that seems unlikely.

Is it too late for me to move across the border to Michgian? I’m only a few miles away… :)

I just uploaded a gallery of newspaper front pages from around Red Sox Nation (and a few from New York). A few favorites:

More here. Also, front pages from after Game 7 of the ALCS here.

Sorry for the loooong downtime. The server was down for more than four hours. Crappety crap crap.

The Curse of the Bambino is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But now we have to stop and think . . .

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@messaging.sprintpcs.comI’m in the line to get basketball tickets, which is impressively long.

My roommate Chris got back from the law school a little while ago. (His Legal Writing memo is due tomorrow.) He said there were 50 or so people watching the end of the game in the student lounge. Among them was Rob, the aforementioned Sox fan who lives in our apartment complex. According to Chris, Rob appeared extremely tense until the very last out was recorded — “I really think he honestly believed they were going to lose, even when there were two outs,” Chris said — but then, a split-second after the game ended, Rob basically exploded, yelling something to the effect of: “OH MY F***ING GOD!!!! WE F***ING WON THE F***ING WORLD SERIES!!!!!” He then reportedly sprinted across the lounge, jumped on top of the tables, leapt from table to table with astonishing speed, and ran out into the hallway, hooting and screaming all the way.

Heh. I wish I’d been there to see it.

(Incidentally, yes, I am staying up all night. I have to be at the football stadium in an hour to buy my basketball season tickets, so I figure I might as well. In the mean time, I’m reading Contracts. Well, I was reading Contracts, until Chris came home. Speaking of which… I gotta back to work!)

P.S. Along the same lines as Rob’s reaction is this blog post:

At 11:40 pm, the Boston Red Sox were crowned Champions of Baseball for the first time since 1918. … I just cna;lksafj’vkv’ain lkaevn’f ndbal;KSwr[gioWN< m cmX L"KN"VILBkms ,M,ASnlkmdx'boja'k ,.NZS"Kens'iUO0GJLBMVLCM
BL;mlkmdjvmfcjkdytr7t03lfdns7ewio

Hehe.

Good roundup of Sox blog links here.