As found by my manager-boss-what's-he-called

Now that the entire country's falling apart and people in highly paid jobs are making the equivalent of about two pound fifty a week, the focus of the election campaigns has shifted a bit, to the point where (I'll get you) John McCain's decided to forget about trying to win the election for the moment and go back to have a stern word with the rich people in Washington who suddenly lost all of everybody else's money. Naturally Fox News' cornucopia of bimbos reported that this was a brilliant move, but they're obviously the only ones who think that because it's already having a visible effect on his poll ratings, making them fall even faster than how much a dollar's worth.

I've been absolutely glued to Electoral Vote's map for about a month now, looking at it daily like that campaign map out of Command and Conquer, watching the relentless advancements of ze reds while cheering on the spread of blue that's been gradually clawing its way back since the republican convention ended. At the moment things are looking rather good, with the democrats having been ahead for the entire campaign except one week directly after the republicans introduced their vice president as a Home Economics teacher with more teeth than a sack of pianos, and if it really does turn out that Obama's the only one in Mississippi tonight and has to just debate with himself, then all the better.

This is much more exciting than in Britain, where traditionally the person with the most votes wins. All the interesting bits you need to know about are the whitish states on the right that could go either way - and Florida, but there's already a nationwide plan to ensure a victory there by getting all the young Jews in the country to go and visit their grandmothers there during the same weekend. Who knows, it might work.

We went to see a screening of the stage performance of "Rent" yesterday, and during the interval I was treated to my first American assault. I was wandering to the bathroom, and on the way a group of teenagers in those stupid floaty hoodies were breaking into a sweet dispenser. As I approached, they must have thought I was some sort of security because I was still in a blue shirt from work, and used their only available weapons, bombarding me with a positive tidal wave of bubblegum until I was forced to retreat. It really hurt. Do you greet every immigrant to this country by throwing hard confectionery at them? Anyway, bloody rap fans.