Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland sent this letter out to the JohnKerry.com community.  You can help Democrat Jim Martin win his Senate race against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. Election 2008 is not yet over and you help is needed.  

It used to be a dream, a nearly impossible goal: 60 seats on the Senate, a filibuster-proof majority to bring real change, and a resounding, mandate-sized majority in the House.

But now it's possible. And it's possible because of some amazing races in places no one thought possible. We can turn out some Republicans that are directly opposed to our values, and bring in some great Democrats.

Senators Saxby Chambliss, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and arch-conservative Marilyn Musgrave in the House, all can be beaten.

But we won't be able to do it without all of us doing everything we can right now. This is the vital moment, the time for maximum effort to change our country forever.

Right in my home state of Georgia, Jim Martin has put together a campaign that is shocking the political world. No one gave Jim a chance against Saxby Chambliss, but Jim put together a great grassroots campaign and the polls have closed to a virtual tie. But, believe me, I know, Saxby Chambliss will run any smear, stoop to any low attack, in his attempt to win. So we have to give Jim the resources he'll need to fight back.

And in Kentucky, Bruce Lunsford stepped up to take on the challenge that few thought could be met: taking down the chief roadblock in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. No one in Congress has done more to block the change we need than Mitch McConnell, and Bruce has brought him to the brink of defeat.

And turning to the House, Betsy Markey is running a fantastic campaign against one of the most conservative Republican in the House, Marilyn Musgrave. Musgrave is the original sponsor of the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment, was one of the most vocal Republicans in the Terri Schiavo case, and was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 10 Worst Members of Congress. But Betsy Markey, a strong Democrat, has pulled even in the polls and can rid our Congress of Marilyn Musgrave.

But they need your help! Please donate today!

Chances like this come along very rarely, a time when we can completely remake the political map. But we need to seize this moment. We are competing all over the map, and late charges by candidates like these need more help than anyone because they haven't had the national focus for very long. So please do what you can to help us change our country forever.

Thank you,
Max Cleland

The signs and buttons and bumper stickers have been taken down and packed away. The rallies and campaign speeches are now, mostly, over for this election season. Massachusetts voters joined millions of other people from across the nation in pushing for a new direction for this country. Yet, there are a few more things to say before we completely close the books on Election '08 in Massachusetts.

Thank you to everyone who made got involved and made such a huge a difference this year. Thank you to those who made phone calls, knocked on doors, held signs, showed up at rallies and talked to family, friends, co-workers and neighbors about this election. Volunteers are the heart and soul of a campaign. Nothing would happen without these folks who give so generously of their time.

This was Senator Kerry's message on election night in Boston for all the voters in Massachusetts:

"I am humbled to receive the support of voters from Williamstown to Provincetown and every city and town in between, and I promise to continue to prove worthy of your confidence in me over the next six years.

"Yes, we have challenges to tackle in this country and in Massachusetts. But the American people's remarkable reservoir of talent, innovation, resolve and selflessness has triumphed time and time again. Our history is one of not just overcoming challenges but of emerging from difficult times stronger and better prepared to prosper as a nation.

"I have always been honored to represent the people of Massachusetts and I can't wait to return to Washington with my friend Ted Kennedy by my side and continue to deliver for you and your families. I promise to continue the fight to win back our future and honor your faith in me."

Senaotr Kerry wrote this yesterday on www.dailykos.com.  Today is election day and it's definitely time for all hands on deck!

Leave it all on the road. I see that that's the slogan here, and as a competitive cyclist, I know the feeling. You can't hold anything back, and you can't take anything for granted.

The polls look good, but let me tell you, the early exit polls four years ago looked fantastic. But the cliché is true: polls don't matter. Only votes do. And the large majority of those votes will be cast tomorrow. We have to do everything we possibly can to blow the Republican GOTV effort out of the water.

If we're up by 4 in the polls in a state, we can win by 7. If we're tied, we can win by 3. If we all do our best right now, we'll not only win this election, but win the kind of mandate we need to actually change our country.

All of you remember what we went through last year. I'd come here to this community, and we'd talk about what we could do to pressure a few more Republicans to try to see the light and chart a new course on Iraq, or give more kids health care, or anything else that they blocked. That's what a small, unworkable majority can bring.

This next day can change all that. We can have a true Democratic majority, filled with new progressives ready to move this country - finally! - into the 21st century. But we have to get absolutely every vote we can get. So please do what you can to get-out-the-vote. Head over the Barack's website to see what you can do:

Volunteer!

And then email everyone in your address book that address and ask them to do what they can.

I was in New Hampshire this past weekend, and it was incredible. The organization that the Obama campaign has built is enormous, and it's able to put huge numbers of people to work. But that organization depends on those people actually showing up to do that work. And "those people" are YOU. You are the bedrock of the Democratic Party, the activists who make it all work.

And this is a time to make it work. As Barack has said many times, you don't run to the finish line, you run through the finish line.

Because you know whom we know is working hard? John McCain and Sarah Palin are working hard, along with the Republican Party, criss-crossing the country and continuing their misleading attacks on Barack Obama. But we can overwhelm them because we have truth on our side, and we have you. If they drive a voter to the polls, we should drive three, four, five voters to the polls. If they make one call, we should make five.

So check out what you can do by clicking here to volunteer. And you can find your polling place by clicking here:

http://VoteForChange.com

Pass that URL around to everyone you know so they can find their polling place as well.

If we can turn all of our supporters out, if we can all go to the polls and bring people with us, our country will never be the same. We need a victory large enough that the personal attacks of the McCain campaign are discredited, the policies of the Bush-McCain GOP are repudiated, and the ideology of the extreme right is rejected, once and for all.

And then we can work together on how to get this country moving again, instead of just trying to limit the damage of a Republican President and his Roadblock Republican allies.

Tomorrow is election day. This is our time.

Sen. Kerry was on Meet the Press this past Sunday. He appeared after former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson had spoken on behalf of the McCain campaign.  Sen. Thompson was still pushing the Republican line that Barack Obama is too new and too inexperienced  to lead this country.  He said of Sen. Obama , "you have a fellow who is the most inexperienced and least qualified from a national security standpoint of any Democratic candidate I've seen in my lifetime."  The Republican closing argument is still one based on fear and a false argument that equates years in Washington with judgment. 

This election is not about fear; it is about the American people and their desire to move beyond partisanship. Senator Kerry explainedwhat had been left out of the argument by Fred Thompson:

You never heard Fred Thompson mention the word middle class.  You never heard him offer one proposal for John McCain as to how he will deal with this economic crisis.  You know, there've been two real presidential tests during this campaign.  The first was the choice of the vice president, and it is very clear John McCain went back on his own promises in the primaries, on Fred Thompson's own promises in the primaries, and chose somebody who has zero national security experience, who by definition is not ready to be ready to be president immediately, which is the very qualification John McCain set up.

Secondly, the second critical presidential moment was the economic crisis.  On 15 September, John McCain said the fundamentals of our economy are sound. That was his judgment.  Three days later, he suspends his campaign and says it's the greatest economic crisis since World War II.  He lurches erratically from one place to another.  He doesn't offer any constructive suggestion as to what you do about it.  Senator Obama did offer those.  In fact, all four of his fundamental principles were passed by the United States Congress and put into effect.  So I think on the two critical presidential decisions in this campaign, Barack Obama has been calm and steady and John McCain has been sort of erratic and, frankly, impulsive.  Now, come to the security issue.  Barack Obama has more security experience than Bill Clinton had when he became president.  He has more security experience than Ronald Reagan had when he became president.  And the fact is, it's not just time and a place, and I love John McCain.  I--I've worked with him, I know him.

 It is time to turn the page on the the failed policies of the Bush Administration that John McCain advocates. Barack Obama offers renewal and a chance to change direction for the country.  Sen. Kerry spoke to this yesterday:

This is a moment for change, Tom.  And I might add, you know, if, if John McCain were elected--you look around the world--this is a man who was the biggest cheerleader for the war in Iraq.  He was wrong about who's fighting whom, Sunni-Shia violence.  He was wrong about us being liberators.  He was the first to stand on an aircraft carrier and say, "Next up, Baghdad." He cannot break the break we need from the, from the Bush-Cheney years.  We've got to have a fresh start for America.  We need to move in a new direction, and Barack Obama brings us that.

Now it's up to the army of volunteers to bring the politics of hope and reason home to the voters. No one here is coasting on complacency. Everyone on the Democratic side knows that we have to work very hard to bring this victory home for the American people.  As Sen. Kerry said yesterday:

The Obama campaign is practicing a cautionary lesson by working, working, working.  I mean, the bottom line is you take nothing for granted.  And I know that the candidate, every member of the campaign, and all of his supporters are taking nothing for granted.  Presidential races tighten up anyway.  That year we had a particular event that pushed it, but I think everybody has to be very cautious here and simply work as hard as possible right up until 8:00 on Tuesday night.

See you all at the phonebanks, the visibilities, the canvassing stations and the ballot box. Together we will bring about the change America needs.

 

###

 

 

Senator Kerry mentioned that in his speech at the rally this past Saturday in Nashua, NH that he has never seen such worldwide interest in a U.S. Presidential campaign. Kerry said that he has often been questioned by world leaders about the election and if the American voters are really going to make not only history, but historic change this November.

You know what they say to me sometimes? They look at me and they say, "Can you really do this? Can you elect Barack Obama, can you elect this guy?" Yes we can.  And that's exactly what I tell them. And when we do my friends, we will have changed history in a bigger way than I  think at any time in America and in any Presidential race. We will have given life to our values. We will have given a reality to the American story that reaches all acrosss the planet. And once again an American President's picture will hang in huts in Central and South America, and in Africa and in Asia and in places where they look up to the values that we stand for. That's what's at stake here.

Nicholas Kristof, in his column in the New York Times this morning, agrees with that sentiment. Kristof notes that electing Obama president would signal to the world the elasticity and promise of American democracy. The world would wake up on November 5th with a different view of the United States.

We’re beginning to get a sense of how Barack Obama’s political success could change global perceptions of the United States, redefining the American “brand” to be less about Guantánamo and more about equality. This change in perceptions would help rebuild American political capital in the way that the Marshall Plan did in the 1950s or that John Kennedy’s presidency did in the early 1960s.

Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the BBC poll, said that at a recent international conference he attended in Malaysia, many Muslims voiced astonishment at Mr. Obama’s rise because it was so much at odds with their assumptions about the United States. Remember that the one thing countless millions of people around the world “know” about the United States is that it is controlled by a cabal of white bankers and Jews who use police with fire hoses to repress blacks. To them, Mr. Obama’s rise triggers severe cognitive dissonance.

“It’s an anomaly, so contrary to their expectation that it makes them receptive to a new paradigm for the U.S.,” Mr. Kull said.

 

General Colin Powell said in his endorsement Sunday on Meet the Press that the election of Barack Obama would signal transformational change in America.  Senator Kerry said the same thing in January when he endorsed Barack Obama for President.  America has a chance not just to turn a new page at home, but a chance to show the rest of the world that we can renew our our values at the ballot box.  This will have a profound impact all around the world. It is yet another thing to consider in this historic election year.

General Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for President on Meet the Press this past Sunday.  Gen. Powell gave a well-reasoned statement to Tom Brokaw yesterday that spelled out the qualities he was looking for in the next President. The retired Secretary of State said that he had reflected on his choice for quite a long period of time and did not make this endorsement lightly.

But which is the president that we need now?  Which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time?  And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.  I think he is a transformational figure.  He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.

Senator Kerry, in his endorsement of Barack Obama back in January also cited the possibility of transformational change. This is a chance to renew America and change our image around the world. The world needs to see an America that embraces it's own best ideals and and America that wants to live up to those ideals at home and abroad.  Gen. Powell also took note of that in his comments yesterday.

As impressive as this endorsement was, I was more struck by the eloquence of the words General Powell used in his call for and end to slurs and negativity in this campaign. 

I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian.  He's always been a Christian.  But the really right answer is, what if he is?  Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America.  Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?  Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine.  It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave.  And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone.  And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death.  He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith.  And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey.  He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.  Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way.

Exactly so. Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann recently called for hearings to examine whether or not members of Congress are "anti-American" or not. Gov. Sarah Palin had accused the Democratic nominee of  "pallin' around with terrorists." One woman at a McCain rally even called Senator Obama "an Arab" as if that alone was a disqualification for holding public office.

Gen. Powell's remarks speak to the higher ideals of America. It should make no difference what your background, religion or ethnicity is in this country.  We don't have loyalty tests or DNA screens to test and see if a candidate for public office is "American"  enough to run.  This was a stirring and eloquent reminder that an America at her best is an America that embraces the diversity of her people as a strength.  I couldn't agree more.

We need an end to the politics of division and hate. 

 

Yesterday Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, who represents Minnesota's 6th District, went on the MSNBC show Hardball with host Chris Matthews. She was asked about these offensive robocalls, sponsored by the McCain campaign, that are going out to voters in several swing states.  The robocall spews nonsense about Senator Obama and all but calls the Democratic nominee, a sitting U.S. Senator, a terrorist sympathizer. Matthews repeatedly gave Ms. Bachmann was given a chance to distance herself from these disgusting calls.  The Congresswoman instead chose to wallow in charges.

Bachmann not only pushed the point that the news media needs to investigate Senator Obama for what she called his "anti-American" views, but she further suggested that other sitting Members of Congress should also be investigated to see if they also hold "anti-American" views. This is a sitting U.S. House Member who is calling for a return of Eugene(sorry, Gene!) Joseph McCarthy-type investigations into the patriotism of fellow Members of Congress.  Apparently the refrain, "Have you no shame at all?" has no meaning to her.

The interview on Hardball invoked instant outrage on the web. The call went out to show the Congresswoman that her remarks are unacceptable in a way that she could not ignore or laugh off. The campaign of her Democratic opponent, El Tinklenberg, was inundated with donations from people all across this country. Maybe Republicans still think they can play these types of outrageous games and get away them them. I think the massive outpouring of money and offers of help to Mr. Tinklenberg prove that wrong. 

This is America. We don't have loyalty tests. It is wrong and outrageous to pretend that one side in a political debate holds the sanctioned "American" view and the other side somehow has suspect loyalties.  This is the type of ugly, anything goes politics that offends voters and cheapens public discourse.

The Tinklenberg campaign posted a diary on DailyKos this morning to thank all the people who gave voice to their outrage by sending money or volunteering for their campaign to unseat Ms. Bachmann.  

I am both hopeful and humbled at the reminder you gave me tonight - that in our country's darkest times, it is the strength and belief and action of ordinary Americans that ultimately brings about the change we need. From the hardworking folks in Minnesota's Sixth District to all of you: we are proud to have you on our side.

Senator Kerry spoke at the Democratic National Convention back in August and warned against the Republican scare tactics:

This election is a chance for America to tell the merchants of fear and division: you don’t decide who loves this country; you don’t decide who is a patriot; you don’t decide whose service counts and whose doesn’t.

This incredible response by the Netroots really does show that YOU have the power to rise up and tell the Smear Machine that this type of campaign is disgusting and unacceptable.

You let them know:  we're not gonna take it anymore. Every voice that was raised, every dime sent in and every volunteer signed up, shows the fear merchants that things have changed in American and they are not going to get away with loyalty tests and smears. We're not gonna take it, anymore.

Bloomberg has a story up on the Ohio voting registration case:

The U.S. Supreme Court, siding with Democrats, freed Ohio officials from a lower court order that might have limited participation by new voters in next month's presidential election.

Today's ruling means Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner doesn't have to provide county election boards with lists of new registrants whose information doesn't match up with government databases. A federal trial judge had ordered Brunner, a Democrat, to supply the lists by today.

The Supreme Court said Republicans who sued Brunner ``are not sufficiently likely to prevail'' because the federal law they invoked doesn't authorize private suits. The two-page unsigned order was issued on behalf of the full court, without any published dissent.

Brunner said the judge's order could have affected as many as 200,000 Ohioans, potentially forcing them to cast provisional ballots instead of regular ballots. Democrats likely would have been disproportionately affected by the judge's order because of the party's efforts to register new voters this year.

The Secretary of State's office in Ohio has a notice on it's website about the identification required in order to legally cast a ballot in Ohio.

Every voter must provide proof of identity at the time of voting. A person who casts a provisional ballot and does not provide acceptable proof of identity at the time of voting is allowed to provide such proof within 10 days after the election, in accordance with law.

The New York Times article on the Ohio case reports on the reasons why there are discrepencies in voter registration rolls.

Voting experts and state election officials added that many voters were likely to be flagged erroneously because the databases used to check voter registrations were prone to errors. Most non-matches are the result of typographical errors by government officials, computer errors, use of nicknames or middle initials, not voter ineligibility, they said.

In one audit of match failures in 2004 by New York City election officials, more than 80 percent of the failures were found to have resulted from errors by government officials; most of the remaining failures were because of immaterial discrepancies between the two records.

Ms. Brunner had also argued that requiring so many voters to cast provisional ballots would raise tensions at the polls and worsen lines and confusion on Election Day in a year when she is expecting unprecedented turnout.

 

 

 

Fixing the Facts around the Policy

In the vice presidential debate last Thursday night at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, there was a heated exchange between Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin over Iraq. Gov Palin had incorrectly stated that troops levels were now down to pre-surge levels. She echoed Sen McCain's views about success in Iraq but but did not define what success meant or what it would take to achieve that goal. Sen. Biden replied that the Senator Obama had a plan to gradually withdraw troops from Iraq according to a timeline; an idea supported by Iraqi government officials as well. Gov Palin, in the following exchange, responded to the idea of a timeline with a smear:

PALIN: Your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq and that is not what our troops need to hear today, that's for sure. And it's not what our nation needs to be able to count on. You guys opposed the surge. The surge worked. Barack Obama still can't admit the surge works.

We'll know when we're finished in Iraq when the Iraqi government can govern its people and when the Iraqi security forces can secure its people. And our commanders on the ground will tell us when those conditions have been met. And Maliki and Talabani also in working with us are knowing again that we are getting closer and closer to that point, that victory that's within sight.

The purpose of the surge was not to have troops in Iraq indefinitely. The purpose of the surge was to stabilize the violence in Iraq so that political progress could be made. Frederick Kagen, one of the authors of the surge policy, explained this in an appearance on the Jim Lehrer Hour on PBS back in March of 2008:

FREDERICK KAGAN: Well, the main purpose of the surge was to get the sectarian violence in and around Baghdad under control so that it would be possible for the Iraqis to start making political progress.

Gov Palin and Senator McCain continuously misstate both the purpose of the surge and what it has accomplished. Sen. McCain, in particular, restates the history and timeline of events in Iraq in order to support his contention that the surge is responsible for the Sunni Awakening in Al Anbar province. This is not so. Senator Kerry, in a speech this past July at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, laid out the real history and conditions in Iraq that have led to a lessening of the violence in that country:

The Anbar Awakening started well before the surge. This is more than just a political gotcha game or yet another instance of Senator McCain getting his facts wrong. To apply counterinsurgency principles on a global scale, we need to draw the right lessons from the surge.

Let's look at exactly what happened. And this is important: the tensions between al Qaeda in Iraq and Sunni leaders in Anbar were already apparent nearly two years before the surge, culminating in the first reported battle between AQI and Sunni militias in the western town of Husaybah in May of 2005. The reason? Al Qaeda's brutality, disrespect for local customs, insistence on marrying local women over the objections of tribal leaders, and disruption of local businesses.

When Colonel Sean MacFarland and his Ready First brigade arrived in Ramadi in June of 2006, al Qaeda was still fully in control. The Ready First immediately saw the need for a change in tactics and-on their own-they launched an extensive outreach campaign to win over the local population-starting with local tribal leaders, to whom they assigned an Arabic-speaking former special forces officer who grew a moustache to gain the locals' trust. They emphasized getting local Iraqi forces out into neighborhoods by deputizing tribal militias.

These efforts culminated on September 9, 2006 - some four months before the surge was even announced -- when a young local sheik, Sittar albu-Risha, created a new Awakening Council and officially declared the Anbar Awakening underway. That created a snowball effect. And, as MacFarland noted, with the 2006 US election approaching "a growing concern that U.S. forces would leave Iraq" made tribal leaders open to our overtures - a not unimportant transformation as we think about leveraged changes in behavior that might come from redeployment of American forces. By late October, nearly every tribe around Ramadi had either joined the Awakening or was openly considering it.

The coming months saw the Awakening Movement, with American help, repel an AQI attack on a friendly sheik in the Battle of Sufia. As security improved, a major campaign was launched to rebuild Ramadi, culminating in the Ramadi Reconstruction Conference in January 2007.

For those of you keeping score, this is the point in the story where the surge begins. President Bush announced the surge on January 10th 2007. In fact, President Bush and Senator McCain both pointed to our success in flipping tribes in Ramadi against AQI as a reason to support the surge.

Let me be clear: there is no question that our troops performed heroically, and did everything that was asked of them and more. And yes, they undoubtedly played a significant role in securing Baghdad and helping to expand the Awakening beyond Anbar Province.

But, the true history of the Awakening is important in drawing the right lessons from the surge. The Iraqis made a political calculation that they didn't like al Qaeda and wanted to work with us. The actions that led to the Awakening reflected our understanding that U.S. military action alone would not defeat the terrorists: we needed to win over the population by co-opting the tribal sheiks, utilizing indigenous security forces, winning the information war, and helping our Iraqi allies deliver goods, services and improved governance.

Moreover, the reduction in violence resulted from many other factors beyond a simple surge of troops. You have to consider Moqtada al Sadr's ceasefire in August 2007, the sectarian segregation of neighborhoods, and the success of Iraqi security forces, with US military support, in taking the streets back from Shia militias, especially in Basra. We also benefitted from the death of al Qaeda in Iraq's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a US airstrike.

Certainly, as Senator Kerry has stated, the surge played a part in stabilizing the country. But so did other factors. Sen. McCain and Gov Palin should recognize that and recognize that the Iraqis want a timeline for a reasoned and safe withdrawal of US forces from Iraq. The goal of the surge was to create breathing room for Iraqi politicians to begin to solve their political differences. Stating otherwise is just fixing the facts of what happened in Iraq to fit policies that Iraqis no longer want.

Gwen Ifill, the moderator of last night's Vice Presidential debate, questioned both candidates on the current financial crisis and it's affects on working Americans. Ifill asked Gov Palin directly about the whether or not she would have agreed with Sen. McCain's vote back in 2005 on the Bankruptcy Bill.

IFILL: Next question, Governor Palin, still on the economy. Last year, Congress passed a bill that would make it more difficult for debt-strapped mortgage-holders to declare bankruptcy, to get out from under that debt. This is something that John McCain supported. Would you have?

PALIN: Yes, I would have.

Gov. Palin went to great lengths to portray herself in folksy terms, often winking at the camera and using homey phrases like, "Now doggone it," This was her attempt to appeal to "Joe Six-Pack" voters, as she styled it, in America. Her sympathies for middle-class voters is limited though, as that quick answer to the question about her support for the Bankruptcy Bill shows.

Sen. Biden, in his response to Gwen Ifill, talked about Sen. Obama's concern over the mortgage market and the rising number of foreclosures:

BIDEN: But here's the deal. Barack Obama pointed out two years ago that there was a subprime mortgage crisis and wrote to the secretary of Treasury. And he said, "You'd better get on the stick here. You'd better look at it."

John McCain said as early as last December, quote -- I'm paraphrasing -- "I'm surprised about this subprime mortgage crisis," number one.

Number two, with regard to bankruptcy now, Gwen, what we should be doing now -- and Barack Obama and I support it -- we should be allowing bankruptcy courts to be able to re-adjust not just the interest rate you're paying on your mortgage to be able to stay in your home, but be able to adjust the principal that you owe, the principal that you owe.

That would keep people in their homes, actually help banks by keeping it from going under. But John McCain, as I understand it -- I'm not sure of this, but I believe John McCain and the governor don't support that. There are ways to help people now. And there -- ways that we're offering are not being supported by -- by the Bush administration nor do I believe by John McCain and Governor Palin.

IFILL: Governor Palin, is that so?

PALIN: That is not so, but because that's just a quick answer,

Well, it was so. Not only did Sen. McCain support the Bankruptcy Bill in 2005, but he voted against nearly every amendment to that bill that sought to protect the rights of "Joe Six-Pack" in a bankruptcy case. Sen. McCain does not support the 2008 Senate measure entitled, "Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2008," which is what Sen. Biden was referring to in his debate remarks quoted above.(Senator Kerry, along with 13 other Senators including Senator Obama, is a co-sponsor of this amendment that seeks to help  people retain their homes and avoid foreclosure.)

Senator McCain has a consistent record of voting to help out the richest Americans when it comes to protecting assets from being seized in bankruptcy proceedings. He voted not once, but twice in 2005 to uphold "asset protection trusts" in bankruptcy cases and is against helping "Joe Six-Pack" Americans when their homes where threatened with foreclosure. Governor Palin seems to disagree with the Senator on this. Maybe she can push him to start showing middle-class Americans the same kind of concern that he shows the wealthy in bankruptcy cases. It does seem heartless to tell millionaires that their 2nd, 3rd or more houses are safe from seizure while telling other Americans that their one and only home is subject to all the penalties of bankruptcy.