1. We should thank Jim Gilmore for running. With Warner’s crushing money advantage, there was no one who had a strong chance against him. But Gilmore gamely went ahead and ran. He got out there and put forth conservative ideas, running with a small campaign budget all over the state talking to people, without a whole lot of help from Republican elected officials. In fact, even people who aren’t much involved in politics noted that “not a whole lot of help” coming from elected officials. If said elected officials notice not a whole lot of warmth lately from their constituents, they, the electeds, should wonder if perhaps their disappointing “not a whole lot of help” was noted by said constituents. Yes, of course, politicians have to be self-protective. But one would hope for a little more skill in balancing “helping your friends” and “watching out for yourself.”

And if you think I am writing about you and you ask, “Why would I help him? He didn’t have a chance?” I ask you, if you are an elected person and/or party leader of some kind, how did you let things get to the point where we got a Mega Money guy against Gilmore? Couldn’t you have seen this matchup coming? Could you have taken steps to get another candidate or arrange for more/better money? Exactly what leadership did you show early in 2007, or late in 2006, as you saw the possibility of this matchup coming along?

What did Casey Stengel say, “Doesn’t anybody here know how to play this game?

2. Terry McAuliffe’s run for governor makes McDonnell’s campaign more difficult. The upside: three Democrats spending money to fight each other. But there is a whole lot of Democratic money out there. Think of it this way… Obama spend over half a BILLION dollars to get elected. Yes, there’s a lot of money out there.

3. Got my invitation to the Advance, including details on some “how to” seminars. Pure. Comedy. Gold. No, I’m not going. I have better uses for my money.

Did you know there is now a huge reward for a videotape of Obama? From The Hill,

A hedge fund manager is offering a reward of $150,000 in exchange for a tape that shows Barack Obama at a 2003 dinner for a Palestinian scholar.

Aston Grimaldi II said he would pay out the money to whomever can provide a tape of the 2003 event for Rashid Khalidi, which the Los Angeles Times has written about but has refused to release. Grimaldi’s offer letter is available at Dirty Harry’s Place, a conservative blog.

That’s right, the L.A. Times is sitting on a video of Obama. Talk about the media being biased… if it were a correpondingly bad video of McCain there would be a new cable channel devoted to nothing but that video, being played over and over…

Now consider this: the NAACP is suing because presumably Virginia registrars don’t know how to do their jobs:

The NAACP and others filed a complaint Monday in U.S. District Court in Richmond, arguing that “the allocation of polling-place resources” by the state and its jurisdictions “is plainly irrational, nonuniform, and likely discriminatory.” A court date has not been set for the suit.

So let’s review. We have a press that is actively censoring NEWS that is unflattering to their favored candidate. We have groups doing their darndest to cast doubt on the mechanics of the voting itself… does anyone else feel like these are twin axes chopping near the roots of the tree of liberty? Seriously, where are you if there are too many of these kinds of doubts about an honest press and an honest election?

To clarify, I still think enough Americans have the common sense to be aware of these things going on. But these are still bad trends.

I have a story to tell. Please read and think about it. So I was in college, working, and one day I walked into the workplace, and my co-workers were all wide-eyed. “We’ve been trying to reach you! There are [government agency] security men in your office and they want to talk to you NOW!” I had no idea what for, so I walked in my office and sure enough, there were two G-men in there. Turns out they wanted to know about a former roommate. She had graduated in [science field] and gone on to get a cool job with [government agency]. Now she was about to get a job physically working on [extremely valuable project] but they had to clear her.

You would not believe the questions they asked me about her. She was one of several roommates I had, and we were in the same apartment for about two years. They wanted to know everything - friends, family, boyfriends, any drinking or drugs; associations, where she spent her weekends - it was personal and thorough. Fortunately she was a very quiet-living, family-oriented, down-to-earth person, so I was able to assure them that there was nothing remotely shady about her or anyone she hung out with. After many,  many questions, they thanked me politely and left.

That’s the kind of going-over a person gets, to be cleared to work on [one valuable thing, sorry to be so vague] - former roommates are hunted down and closely questioned to find any hint of anything dodgy.
Which makes me wonder - could Sen. Obama withstand that process and get any kind of security clearance? Please read this American Spectator article.

Holding the presidency is not like being a state senator, or a U.S. Senator. The president can order a nuclear attack. It is right for us all to demand to know who he lets into the circle of people who influence him. It is right for us to reject him if we see that those influences are actively hostile to this country.

[Cross-posted at Conservativa].

Zombietime - Saying how you intend to vote is not simply an expression of how you intend to vote, but rather a component of the public barometer of how the majority intends to vote, which is then used by the media and the blogs to influence everyone else.

Here’s a roundup of photos, etc. from Monday’s McCain/Palin visit to Virginia. First, something new - a photo of Obama protesters from the Richmond event. There were three of them.

From the McCain/Palin event in Va. Beach:

• Thelma Drake speech (Congresswoman), photos and audio
• Randy Forbes (Congressman), audio
• Bob McDonnell (Attorney General), audio
• Hank Williams, Jr. (Bocephus), multimedia

From the Richmond event, Conservativa photos here and here. Photos and report from the Write Side of My Brain, here and from Virginia Virtucon here, and from Rick Sincere here.

And let me take up for Hank Williams, Jr…. yes, in Richmond, he was a little pitchy. But I was surprised to hear that he does in fact have a good voice - you never can tell from recordings. And, I would much rather listen to someone with a good voice sing the anthem with enthusiasm, as opposed to listening to someone who croons it breathily (and usually way too slowly), and/or adds too many ornaments and extra notes. I believe the tune was originally a drinking song, and I think it’s better to sing it in a straightforward way. (Best, of course, on pitch throughout).

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and “First Dude” Todd Palin greet the crowd at Richmond International Raceway. The crowd was 20,000+ strong.

Sarah Palin enjoys the parody song Hank Williams, Jr. is singing, to the tune of his hit “Family Tradition.”

Sarah Palin addresses the crowd in Richmond.

After the speech, Gov. Palin stayed for a long time to autograph signs and hats.

More photos over at Conservativa.

jerry kilgore, smokin. “liberal media…” boo fr crowd. Obama will raise taxes.

Rob Wittman on now.

Gilmore on now. Good reception. M Warner booed now.

Palins here, HWJ singing anthem.

Palin talking. Crowd loves her. Race far from over - we will be victorious when checkered flag waves.

First dude.

Martin Booser, Ididirod winner.

There is anger about voting fraud - pretty big cheer for that.

surprisingly wonky. and conservative. energy indep. - big cheer.

done speaking, now signing signs.

Smallish “inner ring”, larger outer ring, then 1000s outside. Natl press hogging platform. Rob Richardson of Ch 12 making like a PJ for some reason.

Someone down - heat or something. Henrico Fire medics right there.

Eye of TIger playing - maybe show on soon. Crrowd likes the music.

Water here.

DANGER ZONE playing.

If you are a prayin’ kind of person, then may I recommend you say a prayer for your registrar? They are by and large terrific people who love America, love democracy, and want more than anything to have a clean and smoothly-run election. So you have to ask why the ACLU is apparently trying to make the registrars’ jobs harder. Check out this link-rich post for shenanigans in Virginia. See also this from Virtucon. As always, the Anchoress is good. She has updates near the end of the site for voter fraud / ACORN nonsense, including Instapundit’s note that

“If the Baptists did what ACORN is doing…the press would be all over it, 24/7.”

Does anyone think the registrars are being given similar amounts of grief by groups favoring Republicans? Didn’t think so.

Obama must answer this:

“Why in the world was Barack Obama still communicating on the phone or via email with Bill Ayers up until 2005 — when in 2001 Ayers gave widely publicized interviews claiming he had no regrets about the bombing, indeed regretted that he had not done enough, and did not necessarily have any remorse either about his Weathermen career?”

(From Victor Davis Hanson). This is not a “distraction.” This is not about something from Sen. Obama’s childhood. This was going on only three years ago. Please read the whole thing.

What might this mean? When a man keeps company with men like that, it means so many things on so many fronts. Here’s one front, one Obama likes to talk about: Afghanistan.

“The real position of these latter-day traitors is to stop the War on Terror completely, humiliate the United States, and lull the country back into a September 10th state of mind. Neither Obama or anyone else in his sniveling cohort give a tinker’s damn about Afghanistan. What they do know is that if they can get the War in Iraq shut down to “send more desperately needed resources” to Afghanistan, then shutting down and surrendering in Afghanistan will be child’s play.”

Think that’s too strong? Again, read the whole thing (from American Digest).

And why if this is so serious, aren’t you hearing more about it? Many reasons. Here are some, from Roger L. Simon.

You will probably watch the evening news today, for 1/2 hour at least. Why not spend 10 minutes reading the articles I have linked? There’s much more out there. Just start with these and ask if you really want Sen. Obama to be President of the United States. He would be making decisions that will influence our entire world, and he will be making them from a mind formed, informed, and conditioned by long-time associations with Ayers, Dohrn, Wright, et al.

You may have your questions about John McCain, but they are nothing like the kinds of questions that are out there, UNANSWERED, about Barack Obama.

(Cross-posted from blog.conservativa.com).

Long after the Republican Roundup was over, a group of diehard Eric Cantor fans stayed around, as he drove down from D.C. after working on the bailout. This photo was taken an hour after the event was supposed to be over. (Cantor is at  right with his back to the camera). [More photos at Conservativa].

The 2008 Republican Roundup, held Saturday in Glen Allen, was a great success. 3,400 RSVPs came in and 3,900 barbeque dinners were planned for and as near as I can learn, all or nearly all consumed. The tables with McCain signs and stickers were picked clean early. The crowd was charged up by the McCain-Palin ticket and ready to work hard from now until election day.

Elections matter. Mark Warner, who wants to be in the Senate, has now been endorsed by Jason Alexander. That’s right, an actor best known for playing a feckless Yankee in an old TV show, a show proud to be described as “about nothing,” is trying to tell us that Warner is the guy to vote for. Really? In times like this? When Harry Reid, with whom Warner will be voting in lockstep, is surely trying to stuff who knows what into this bailout, a vote for Warner is a vote for more of that.

Meanwhile, House Republicans including Eric Cantor, are proposing something more like this.

Read more, including what you can do, over at Conservativa.

Anyone want to weigh in on some reasonably neutral sites that offer comparisons of Obama and McCain?

I’ll start:

• votesmart.org (Obama, McCain)
• ontheissues.org (Obama, McCain)

Okay, your turn. Please link to NEUTRAL sites (or nearly so). It helps if the sites cite sources - names, dates, bill numbers, newspaper articles, etc., instead of just making assertions.

Just a quick report from the sign wars… heard from friends in Richmond - they have had SIX yard signs (for McCain) stolen from their yard. That’s right, six times someone has stolen a McCain sign from their yard, which is on a busy street in the city. They will be putting up a new sign.

‘Member this? The condescending NBC Nightly News report on Wassila? I didn’t put the whole transcript there - I left out several pieces, including this one: