Not Governor Palin, silly; Mrs. Palin.

Apparently, Sarah's parents were also around, but I think they were in our "annex" or somewhere, keeping up morale among the reinforcements that have recently arrived from Utah, Idaho, and California.

I sort of winked at Todd's mom and dad as I went to the phone bank, having cleverly placed my snack in front of a phone. Someone tried to take my phone away while I was off scoring a script and some call sheets, but I scuttled back and announced in the petulant tone of a seven-year-old that this particular space was mine.

"I spit on it," I told the would-be purloiner-of-call-center space.

Later on, Todd's mom gave me a hug. "I saw you fighting for a spot at the phones," she told me.

"You guys are sweet," I responded. "And someday Todd is going to be First Dude in a different place, under a different set of circumstances."

Several days ago, when I showed up wearing no makeup, threw my hair back in an elastic band, and forgot that when I smile too broadly I show off the crowns in the back of my mouth. I could have gotten a better picture tonight, but one gets exhausted after a while.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 230 words, total size 1 kb.

1) Move to Nevada—preferably just outside Clark County, which has the virtue of a "shall issue" approach to carry permits, but the vice of handgun registration. (Why does the state want to know how many sidearms I have? What if I need several, because it takes me a while to get around to cleaning one after I've shot it? Or because it's important to me that my "defensive device" match my outfit? Do they make me register every scarf I own? No—they do not.)

2) Do not wear your MBT sandals for shooting. Just because you can adapt and drive in the "rocking shoes" does not mean that they will provide the optimal shooting platform.

And remember those times you went to the indoor range wearing high heels, so you could make sure you were able to defend yourself in business attire? The same philosophy does not extend to a long-stocked 12-gauge over/under, a .454 Casull, an Uzi, or a .50-caliber anti-vehicle rifle.

3) When the stock is too long on the 12-gauge, resist the temptation to forego placing it snugly against your shoulder, putting the stock slightly behind your underarm, unless you want that increased accuracy on a single shell at the cost of cutting your thumb. (And not in that spot in the web of your hand where you still sport very faint "gun nut" callouses.)

4) Before inviting yourself and your spouse to live in your new friends' future desert compound in Utah or wherever (in exchange for helping them to build a road to the property in question), remember to call your husband and check in with him first. Husbands prefer to know about this before you've sealed the deal and started drawing up plans for how far apart the different households' structures will be, how the solar panels will be set up, where the well will be dug, how the defensive perimeter be maintained, and what the patrol rotation will consist of within the various households in the village.

5) Next time, tell your brothers/sisters and arms that, yes—they should go ahead and bring the explosives. It is, after all, the only way to be sure.

6) Shorts are never ideal when you plan on lying prone in the dust to shoot a .50 with a tripod, and never mind that you forgot your jeans on this trip.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:38 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 405 words, total size 2 kb.

Stole this from Ace; it's the vid from Schwarzenegger's speech yesterday, to which I already alluded:

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 22 words, total size 1 kb.

After the usual terms of endearment, his confession that I'm his very favorite "nobody" manning the phones "out in the wilds of the desert," he shared the following information with me, under the condition that I keep it in strictest confidence, and not blab it:

The State of the Campaign

If your television is tuned to cable news as frequently as ours are here at campaign headquarters, you have seen the pundits say John McCain and his campaign are done. And, if you've followed this race since the beginning, this is clearly a song you've heard before. I wanted to take some time today to give you some insight on the state of the race as we see it.

An AP poll released this morning revealed a very telling fact: ONE out of every SEVEN voters is undecided. That means, if 130 million voters turn out on Tuesday, 18.5 million of them have yet to make up their mind. With that many votes on the table and the tremendous movement we've seen in this race, I believe we are in a very competitive campaign.

Here's why:

All the major polls have shown a tightening in the race and a significant narrowing of the numbers. In John McCain's typical pattern, he is closing strong and surprising the pundits. We believe this race is winnable, and if the trajectory continues, we will surpass the 270 Electoral votes needed on Election Night.
National Polls: Major polls last week showed John McCain trailing by double-digit margins - but by the middle of this week, we were within the margin of error on four national tracking surveys. In fact, the Gallup national tracking survey showed the race in a virtual tie 2 days this week.

State Polls:

Iowa— Our numbers in Iowa have seen a tremendous surge in the past 10 days. We took Obama's lead from the double digits to a very close race. That is why you see Barack Obama visiting the state in the final days, trying to stem his losses. It is too little, too late. Like many other Midwestern states, Iowa is moving swiftly into McCain's column.

The Southwest—It is no secret that Republican candidates in the Southwest have to focus on winning over enough Latino and Hispanic voters in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado to carry them to victory. John McCain has overcome challenges Republicans face, and has made up tremendous ground in these states with these voters. For these voters, the choice has become clear, and you have seen a big change in the numbers. John McCain is now winning enough voters to perform within the margin of error—putting these states within reach.

Colorado—Barack Obama tried to outspend our campaign in Colorado during the early weeks of October and finish off our candidate in Colorado. However, after our visit early this week, we saw a tremendous rebound in our poll position, and Colorado is back on the map.

Ohio and Pennsylvania—Everyone knows that vote-rich Ohio and Pennsylvania will be key battlegrounds for this election. Between the two: 41 electoral votes and no candidate has gotten to the White House without Ohio. Senator McCain and Governor Palin have been campaigning non-stop in these key battleground states and tonight Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has pumped up our campaign at a rally in Columbus. Our position in these states is strong and undecided voters continue to have a very favorable impression of our candidate.

Obama campaign faces tremendous structural challenges
In the final days of this campaign

Obama has a challenge hitting 50%: Barack Obama has not reached the 50% threshold in almost any battleground state. He consistently is performing in the 45-48% range. When we look closely at the primary votes, we see a history of a candidate whose Election Day performance is often at or behind his final polling numbers. If this is true, our surge will leave Obama with even or under 50% of the vote on Election Day.

Early Vote—The Obama campaign has promised that their early vote and absentee efforts will change the composition of the electorate. They have sold the press on a story that first-time voters will turn out in droves this election cycle. Again, the facts undermine their argument. In our analysis of early voting and absentee votes to date: The composition of the electorate has not changed significantly and most folks who have voted early are high-propensity voters who would have voted regardless of the high interest in this campaign.

Expanding the Field—Obama is running out of states if you follow a traditional model. Today, he expanded his buy into North Dakota, Georgia and Arizona in an attempt to widen the playing field and find his 270 Electoral Votes. This is a very tall order, and trying to expand into new states in the final hours shows he doesn't have the votes to win.

The Final Barnstorm

On Monday, we will have a 14-state rally, with our candidates crisscrossing the country trying to turn out our voters and sway the final undecided voters. Governor Palin will hit Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and Alaska in the final day of campaigning, while Senator McCain will travel from Tampa, Florida, to Virginia, then Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Mexico, and Nevada, finishing the night in Prescott, Arizona. The enthusiasm and excitement we generate on Monday will be the electricity that powers our "Get Out the Vote" efforts on Tuesday.

On the Ground

Our field organization has tremendous energy and is out-performing the Bush campaign at the same time in 2004. This week our field organization crossed a huge threshold and began reaching more than one million voters per day, and by week's end will have contacted more than five million voters. Our phone centers are full, and our rate of voter contact is significantly out-pacing the Bush campaign in 2004. We have the resources to do the voter contact necessary to support the surge we are seeing in our polling with old-fashioned grassroots outreach.

On the Airwaves

In the final days of the campaign, our television presence will be bigger and broader than the Obama campaign's presence. The full Republican effort—the RNC's Independent Expenditure and the McCain campaign—will out-buy Barack Obama and the Democrats by just about ten million dollars.

In short: the McCain campaign is surging in the final 72 hours. Our grassroots campaign is vibrant, and communicating to voters in a very powerful way. Our television presence is strong. And, we have a secret ingredient: A candidate who will never quit, and who will never stop fighting for you and for your families.

In these final hours, Senator McCain and Governor Palin are counting on you —they are counting on you to knock on doors, to make turnout calls, to contact your friends and neighbors. Get our voters to the polls, and help John McCain fight for you and for our country. This is our last mission on behalf of John McCain, and I have no doubt I can count on your effort and energy to carry us across the line to victory.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:25 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 1192 words, total size 7 kb.

By John Hawkins, who has finally come around.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:37 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 22 words, total size 1 kb.