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Newsweek.com is still writing its special project, Secrets of the 2008 Campaign, but these highlights, Hackers and Spending Sprees, are up. It opens with the news that both campaigns' computers were hacked. "Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy positions--information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration."

Far juicier is the backstory on Sarah Palin's shopping spree:

One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family--clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

Newsweek also reports that "Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request."

My husband's reaction, "Whoever she thinks she is, she's not."

Nimblest tech: One detail gives me programmer envy:

The Obama campaign's New Media experts created a computer program that would allow a "flusher"--the term for a volunteer who rounds up nonvoters on Election Day--to know exactly who had, and had not, voted in real time. They dubbed it Project Houdini, because of the way names disappear off the list instantly once people are identified as they wait in line at their local polling station.

Obama's Blueprint For Change: Technology

The Onion: Bless 'em, but can't they use a headline I can publish? Nation Finally ****** Enough To Make Social Progress. In a (just barely) satire representing a hypothetical news report of Obama's election, here's a quotable part:

...According to a CNN exit poll, 42 percent of voters said that the nation's financial woes had finally become frightening enough to eclipse such concerns as gay marriage, while 30 percent said that the relentless body count in Iraq was at last harrowing enough to outweigh long ideological debates over abortion. In addition, 28 percent of voters were reportedly too busy paying off medial bills, desperately trying not to lose their homes, or watching their futures disappear to dismiss Obama any longer.

"The election of our first African-American president truly shows how far we've come as a nation," said NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. "Just eight years ago, this moment would have been unthinkable. But finally we, as a country, have joined together, realized we've reached rock bottom, and for the first time voted for a candidate based on his policies rather than the color of his skin."

"Today Americans have grudgingly taken a giant leap forward," Williams continued. "And all it took was severe economic downturn, a bloody and unjust war in Iraq, terrorist attacks on lower Manhattan, nearly 2,000 deaths in New Orleans, and more than three centuries of frequently violent racial turmoil."

Said Williams, "The American people should be commended for their long-overdue courage."...

Squeakers: AP Uncalls Minnesota Senate Race

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman finished ahead of Democrat Al Franken early Wednesday in the final vote count, but his 571-vote margin falls within the state's mandatory recount law. That law requires a recount any time the margin between the top two candidates is less than one-half of one percent.

And in Georgia, where anything less than 50 percent triggers a runoff, Sen. Saxby Chambliss led in a 3-way race at around 52 percent most of the night. The Atlanta Constitution reports,

During the pre-dawn hours, Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss slipped below the 50 percent mark, and the U.S. Senate race now appears headed toward a runoff with Democrat Jim Martin.

The Chambliss campaign said this morning that it's not conceding anything, and will wait for a smattering of precincts, absentees and paper ballots to be counted.

The Democratic campaign says that it's now in runoff mode. Martin has an 11:45 a.m. press conference scheduled.

Secretary of State Karen Handel has the race as follows on her web site:

Chambliss: 49.9%

Martin: 46.7%

Libertarian Allen Buckley: 3.4%

As of this moment, Chambliss needs to pick up 10,334 votes to clear the 50-percent-plus-one mark.

Yes we did: From Jeneane Sessum, my early-blogger bud in Atlanta I've never met, this morning:

To those who said to me in the early years of my marriage that they didn't believe in mixed marriages because, after all, "What will become of the children?" I say to them today, "They can become your President."

Happy Day, America.

The fear mongers are out of power.

Breathe.

Let's get ready to get to work.

It's for them.

 Tags  election Franken Obama Palin

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1 Comments

jeneane sessum said:

It's been a long eight years my friend. Thank you for reading me this morning, and thank you for being the strong, courageous, and often Really Fricking Funny voice of new media that you are.

Link | November 5, 2008 1:51 PM
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