Still resting

Hey, all:

I'm still here. Just resting. Gearing up for the New Year.

Plus, I'm worn out, having to schlep all of Condi's stuff into Powell's office.

Be back soon.

Love,

Barney

More Rove ... this time on Meet the Press with Russert

I didn't get my usual morning walk to the Mall Sunday because Rove was off showboating. I'm going to chew his loafers. He was on "Meet the Press," explaining his architect ways:

MR. RUSSERT: We asked the people leaving the voting booth why they voted for a certain candidate, what was the most important issue, and here is what we found. Moral values--22 percent said that was the most important issue. They sided with the president, 80 to 18. Those who said the economy and jobs--20 percent sided with John Kerry; same number, 80-18. Terrorism--19 percent of the voters, they sided with George W. Bush, 86-14. Iraq--15 percent opted for John Kerry; those who thought Iraq was the most important issue. And health care also overwhelmingly for John Kerry. When you read or see or hear moral values, what does that mean?

MR. ROVE: Well, I think it's people who are concerned about the coarseness of our culture, about what they see on the television sets, what they see in the movies, what they read in the newspapers, how they see the values of the country, what they see as the future for our country.

Later, Rove told Russert why he was so comfortable telling Georgie he couldn't, wouldn't lose, by relating his favorite movie quote:

You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something: I am God.

Hughes and I just roll our eyes. ... Pat Robertson just kneels and drools from the side of his mouth. I lick him to make sure he's OK.

Rove: The architect

If I hear one more time that Rove is the "architect" I think I'm going to barf in the rose garden. It's going to his head. From the Washington Post:

John Weaver, a strategist for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who ended a longtime feud with Rove this year when Bush sought McCain's help, said Rove has moved closer to the goal of creating a Republican majority not by seeking one big realigning election, but by recognizing that political change often is incremental and using every election to get a little bit closer.

"He gets three feet here, three feet there, constantly eroding the other side and grabbing turf," Weaver said. "He has proved his point that you can expand the base, and not just among white males, without drifting or modifying either language or policy. I'm not sure it would work with any other candidate, at any other time. But it worked, and he proved the skeptics wrong."

Rove's assessment is that the 2004 election pushed the country away from deadlock, where it had come to rest after the disputed election four years ago. "We now clearly are not the country that was 49-49," he said. "We're now at 51-48 and may be trending to 51-47. It is incremental but small, persistent change. We saw it in 2002, and we saw it again this year. . . . It tells me we may be seeing part of a rolling realignment."

Blah, blah, blah.

The part that didn't get in (OK, so I was eavesdropping in the limo when he was talking to Balz:

We're on our way to a Gideon Bible in every house. A portrait of Pat Robertson in every living room. Amen.

Well, know this. Rove was nervous when those first exits came in. He sent out some resumes before Fox and NBC called Ohio. Among his opportunities:

Vatican chief of staff (where he was going to install Southern Baptist as the new religion)

Head marketer, 700 Club

Editor in chief, Focus on the Family

Miss Beazley comes to town

OK, you've all heard the news:

President Bush and the first lady are
welcoming a new addition to the family: a Scottish terrier puppy named Miss Beazley.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the puppy is Bush's birthday gift to his wife, Laura, who turned 58 on Thursday.

Born Oct. 28, Miss Beazley will arrive at the White House just before the Christmas holiday, McClellan said.

But let's get this straight. I'm still top dog.

Ashcroft and Powell may be leaving. But I'm not going anywhere.

Exit polls: Rigged and leaked to help Kerry?

There are theories floating everywhere about the early exit polls that showed Kerry crushing Georgie everywhere - Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Guam, Mars, India, Pluto. At Political Animal, Kevin Drum keeps hearing that, "We wuz robbed!!" The one at Redstate:

The exit polling scam theories from this past Tuesday might be wrapped up in paranoia, but I doubt it. Both Dick Morris and Michael Barone think the Exit Polls were rigged to make Bush look bad, get the Republicans depressed, and supress the Republican turnout -- much like what happened in the panhandle of Florida when the media called Florida for Gore while the panhandle was still voting.

I think there's another explantion: Rove showed me some of the exit poll questions:

Ohio: If you're unemployed and Kerry gave everyone Big Macs for dinner and Bush gave away used enemas, who would you vote for?

Florida: If you're on Medicare and Kerry gave everyone free health insurance and Bush took your prescription drug money to play the lottery, who would you vote for?

Pennsylvania: If you have teenage children and Kerry gave them military deferments and Bush gave them M-16s and free apartments in Baghdad, who would you vote for?

[Related]

In defense of exit polls [via Political Wire]

Rove, Card, Rice Scrambled To Nix Exit Poll Scare [U.S. News]

Exit polls were right [Kevin Drum]

NEP report [Mystery Pollster]

Mitofsky on NewsHour [Mystery Pollster]

Exit poll fever [Washington Monthly]

CNN: Writing about Dubya in HTML

CNN should come decript ciphers - or write them - for Rummy. Over at Wizbangblog, they've found some double-secret Fourth Estate code:

CNN Calls W Asshole
It used to be if you went to this Netscape/CNN page and right clicked on the image of George and Laura Bush you would see this filename (path snipped): asshole.jpg

Now they have changed the graphic file name to: georgelaura135.jpg

But they did not delete the old picture from the server [asshole.jpg]

Originally spotted by conelrad and left in the comments.

I mentioned this to Condi. She gave it to some codecrackers who found other tidbits:

Picture of John Kerry: monstermash.jpg

Picture of Alexandra Kerry: seethrumama.jpg

Picture of Collin Powell: chocolatethunder.jpg

Picture of John Ashcroft: porkrindvein.jpg

Picture of Dick Cheney: lordvader.jpg

Picture of John Edwards: v05formen.jpg

Youth vote? What youth vote?

Georgie will probably kick me for bringing him up, but I couldn't help but notice Michael Moore's glee on Election Day:

P.S. To the millions of 18 to 29-year-olds I've met or seen on this tour, I truly believe YOU are the ones who are going to make the difference today.

Yep, they were:

One thing that does seem very clear tonight -- at least if what I'm hearing from the exits is true -- is that the much-ballyhooed youth vote simply did not show up. Simple as that.

I asked Jenna about it. She said they were all at a Rave at the Reagan Building.

Nervous night

I guess my cameo didn't go over very well.

Fox News was on the TV, and Bush asked the family dog, Barney, to speak his mind. When Barney didn't, the President stepped in to pronounce himself certain that he would win a second term.

"I believe I will win, thank you very much," he said.

Call it nerves. Or that Rove had dropped one of his Paxils into my water dish.

Exit polls: First wave

Slate says it'll have exit poll numbers. Drudge, his hat and his siren claim that the first wave is causing excitement for Kerry.

There's some guidance as to why some places are publishing them and what they mean:

These early exit poll numbers do not divine the name of the winner. Instead, regard these numbers as a sportswriter does the line scores from the fourth inning of a baseball game. The leading team might win the game, but then again it might not. But having the early data in front of him helps the sportswriter plot the story he thinks he'll need to write at game's end.

Update: Kos has these exit numbers.

Tue Nov 2nd, 2004 at 18:03:32 GMT

Jerome over at MyDD gets the big scoop
on the 2 p.m. VNS numbers:


AZ CO LA PA OH FL MI NM MN WI IA NH
Kerry 45 48 42 60 52 51 51 50 58 52 49 57
Bush 55 51 57 40 48 48 47 48 40 43 49 41

In 2000, the early numbers favored Bush. In 2002, exit polling was terribly innacurate. Exit polling also doesn't account for absentee and early ballots. And it's still early in the day. PA and MN will be much closer than these number indicate.

So please, please take with a giant grain of sand.

GOTV!

Bush: Internal polling

Rove just showed me some internal national polling. We're up by 3, he tells me. Other findings. ...

Stronger leader:

Bush: 53 Kerry: 44

Better vision for the country:

Bush: 48 Kerry: 48

Better daughters to mudwrestle:

Kerry: 51 Bush: 47

Looks great
in Spandex:

Kerry: 59 Bush: 36

Would love to eat a Big Mac with:

Clinton: 72 Bush: 20 Kerry: 3 (brie, instead)

[Related]

Dem pollster: Bush up 3 points (via CaptainsQuartersBlog)

What you should know about exit polls (via Mystery Poller)

Drudge: Philly poll watchers found 2000 votes on machines before balloting opened

Oh, that Drudge. He's SCREAMING that there's possible vote fraud ALREADY in Philadelphia:

Before voting even began in Philadelphia -- poll watchers found nearly 2000 votes already planted on machines scattered throughout the city... One incident occurred at the SALVATION ARMY, 2601 N. 11th St., Philadelphia, Pa: Ward 37, division 8... pollwatchers uncovered 4 machines with planted votes; one with over 200 and one with nearly 500... A second location, 1901 W. Girard Ave., Berean Institute, Philadelphia, Pa, had 300+ votes already on 2 machines at start of day... INCIDENT: 292 votes on machine at start of day; WARD/DIVISION: 7/7: ADDRESS: 122 W. Erie Ave., Roberto Clemente School, Philadelphia, Pa.; INCIDENT: 456 votes on machine at start of day; WARD/DIVISION: 12/3; ADDRESS: 5657 Chew Ave., storefront, Philadelphia, Pa... A gun was purposely made visible to scare poll watchers at Ward 30, division 11, at 905 S. 20th St., Grand Court. Police were called and surrounded the location... Developing...

What did you think Bruce Springstein was dropping off there? Concert tickets?

[Related]

Voter fraud (via Powerlineblog)

Poll workers on the lookout for problems

Liars, liars. ... (Talking Points Memo)

Update (10:33 a.m.) - Fox News reports Pa. GOP wants machines impounded, files complaint (no link yet).

Update (11:28 a.m.) - Fox News and CNN report that the local DA say the votes are actually counts of lifetime ballots on the machine, like a speedometer, I suppose. Gotta run. I'm going to miss my ride to downtown Columbus, Ohio. ...

Electoral college count

Bush: 0
Kerry: 0
Not yet assigned: 538

Bush states:
Kerry states:

Those are the numbers Rove has scrawled on his hand so far. (Actually, his whole hand is red, but I'm not sure why. ...)

You need different info?
Try here at the uselectionatlas.org

Turnout, weather and Rove's plea for rain

It's all about turnout. True, true.

There's comment about that at Command Post:

It's all about turnout and weather affects turnout. So here are the forecasts for the key battleground states we identified yesterday.

There's also a mention of that at the Political Wire:

Weather can affect voter turnout, so it might be handy to know what the current forecast is for your area and what the road conditions are.

** Florida: Showers in the panhandle region, cloudy elsewhere.
** Ohio: Thunderstorms and rain across the state.
** Pennsylvania: Showers across most of the state.

There's an explanation for it.

Since Pat Robertson is off the team now, Rove talked directly with God. Rain on the Dems, sunny skies for the GOP. And just in case: We've got a NASA cloud seeder circling over Detroit.

Bush just voted in Crawford

Georgie just voted in Crawford.

"I think it'll be me," he told reporters.

I'm nervous. I'm going to get Rove to take me behind the firehouse. ... I think it's going to be close. Hughes tells me to be calm.

Rehnquist: Recuperating. ... watching

I've been on Air Force One all day, so I'm just getting to some things.

Like this from Supreme Court justice William Rehnquist:

"I underwent a tracheotomy nine days ago and, at the suggestion of my doctors, am continuing to recuperate at home. According to my doctors, my plan to return to the office today was too optimistic. I am continuing to take radiation and chemotherapy treatments on an outpatient basis.

"While at home, I am working on court matters, including opinions for cases already argued. I am, and will continue to be, in close contact with my colleagues, my law clerks, and members of the Supreme Court staff."

He went on to say: "I'll be watching returns on Fox the rest of the day. If it gets close, I'll be in the court bright and early Wednesday."

Election winner: When will we know?

Over at Election Law, they ask: Will We Know Who the Next President is by Wednesday?

Rove tells me this: We'll know when he's ready for everybody to know.

[Related]

Political Wire says It's Dead Even

Tick, tock, tick, tock

It's hard to get a signal on Georgie's PDA and the batteries are about to die. Between campaign stops, I haven't had time to write. Rove suggested I write this 1,000 times and post it: Kerry is a Massachusetts liberal. I prefer: Send 1,000 dog biscuits. Rove has no sense of priority.

bin Laden video: Another 12 minutes not shown on TV

The bin Laden tape apparently had another 12 minutes on it, according to Wizbangblog , the New York Post and others - stuff no one has shown on TV:

Officials said that in the 18-minute long tape - of which only six minutes were aired on the al-Jazeera Arab television network in the Middle East on Friday - bin Laden bemoans the recent democratic elections in Afghanistan and the lack of violence involved with it.

On the tape, bin Laden also says his terror organization has been hurt by the U.S. military's unrelenting manhunt for him and his cohorts on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

A portion of the left-out footage includes a tirade aimed at President Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, claiming the war in Iraq is purely over oil.

I would have loved to see it. But Jenna taped the Real World over the White House copy.

New York Times poll: It's close, blah, blah, blah. ...

A poll by the New York Times told us what everybody knows. It's close:

The poll also signaled the problems either Mr. Bush or Mr. Kerry will have in trying to govern such a divided nation after this election.: 52 percent said they were "scared" or "concerned" about what President Bush would do if re-elected; 54 percent said they were scared or concerned about what Mr. Kerry would do if he were elected.

Notably, no one indicated fear about what Rove would do. That's what I'd be ... Owww! Hey, Karl, just kidding. Would you stop kicking??!!!

The Dead: The ultimate swing voters

Command Post reports, via AP, that the dead may have an impact on the election.

In what would be her last conscious act, 90-year-old Trixie Porter gripped a pen in her weak, trembling hand, checked the candidates of her choice and scrawled a squiggled signature on her absentee ballot.

Within an hour, the petite woman who had been suffering from heart problems lay back in her hospital bed, closed her eyes and never woke up. Her ballot arrived at her local elections board two days later, Oct. 5 — the day she died.

“We commented that day that it probably won’t count,” said daughter Cheryl McConnell. “But she went to her grave not knowing any different. It counted with her.

I didn't think anything of this. ... until I saw Buddy Clinton was registered in Ohio - 16,521 times!

Michael Moore plans to film voters in Ohio, Florida

Poliblog via the AP notes that Michael Moore will have his cameras rolling at polling places:

AP: Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore plans to have hundreds of cameras outside polling places in Ohio and Florida on Election Day to watch for attempts to suppress voter turnout.

Poliblog: Certainly Mr. Moore is a premiere journalist and will no doubt capture only the more honest portrayal of the events in question.

Me? I want to bite down hard on his ankle - though I don't think I could get my mouth around the whole thing.

Update: Moore sighs in an email. [SISU blog]

Fox News poll: Close for Bush

Our friends at Fox say it's close:

With less than a week remaining in the race for the White House, incumbent George W. Bush leads Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry by 47 percent to 45 percent among likely voters, according to a FOX News poll released Saturday. The president’s lead is well within the poll’s margin of error.

Granted. But just wait till O'Reilly promises everybody falafels.

Update: New Fox poll: 46-46.

Update: Even at Fox, too close to call. [Pacific Views]

Addition: Mason Dixon looks good for Bush [Captains Quarters Blog]

Addition: Daily tracking polls tied [Command Post]

Update: Um, hey, Rove, where are the falafels?