Allow me to be the first to welcome you to the grand left-wing conspiracy.

Presumably you've landed here thanks to the recent media boomlet (thank you, Washington Post) on your hero's efforts to spread the Mavericky Gospel far and wide by posting to prominent blogs.

And lucky us, Daily Kos is the leading liberal blog suggested by Walnuts.  So here you are.

I suspect most of the community will give you the same reception one would give a cockroach infestation, but I enthusiastically welcome you.

See, you're pissing in the wind here. We are the true believers. The Arizona Cardinals (Walnuts' favorite football team) have a better chance of winning the next 10 Super Bowls than you have of convincing a single Kossack to vote for Walnuts. The way I figure it, every minute you fritter away here is a minute you're not out spreading your crap on sites where you might actually reach undecided voters.

So by all means, welcome!  I hope you stay here until Election Day!

But if you're going to play with us, I'd ask that you keep a few things in mind:

You can criticize John McCain for a great many things.  Media relations hasn't been one of them -- up until now.

Over the last eight years, McCain has taken pains to cozy up to the media.  It proved to be a devastatingly effective strategy, as a tidal wave of glowing news reports allowed a broke McCain campaign to neutralize and overcome the immense cash warchests of Romney and Giuliani.

This relationship was McCain's most potent weapon against Barack Obama -- and his best chance of victory in November.

This week, John McCain did the unthinkable -- he threw his media allies under the bus for short-term political gain.  Remember this decision well, for it likely marked the end of any hope John McCain had of winning the 2008 election.

The latest polls are out, and Obama's now in the lead in Nevada, according to Rasmussen -- Obama 42, McCain 40.

Nevada's five electoral votes went to Bush twice -- and due to the close nature of those contests, Nevada missed opportunities to put Al Gore or John Kerry into the White House.

But the GOP never faced the sort of headwinds they're facing now in Nevada.  The Rasmussen poll's no fluke -- the Silver State's chances of going blue in November are higher than ever.

Rather than devoting space to pithy political observations, I'd like to use my daily diary quota to throw a question to the Kossacks.

My question:  By returning blank fundraising documents to the RNC, am I helping the Republicans piss away money and time?

It's been just 12 years, but it seems like an eternity ago -- the day I grabbed that sheepskin, packed every worldly possession into a pile of UPS boxes, and set off across the country to pursue my dream of becoming a journalist.

My first job was 2,500 miles from home, and paid the princely sum of $21,000 a year.  No matter, I thought; this was the first step in a noble career as a servant of the people and the truth.

Six years later, burned out and disillusioned after years on small newspapers across the country, I shut the door on journalism.  There were many reasons: financial, work-life balance, overwork, stress.  But disillusionment was the biggest.  Put simply, I had decided that engaging in hack journalism -- sensationalizing and exaggerating the story, rather than simply presenting the facts -- was the surest path for advancement to the big leagues of journalism.  And I couldn't do it.

The past 72 hours have provided me with a stark reminder of why I left.

Typically I only write diaries when I think I have something profound to say.  (As opposed to when I actually do have something profound to say ... but if I held out for that, I'd only write once every six months or so.)

But thinking is hard, dammit. And it is Friday afternoon, and I do not like thinking hard on Friday afternoon. So no deep thoughts today.  My turn for a cheap "Let's give Obama more money" diary. So here goes...

T-shirts!  Get yer Obama T-shirts here!

While getting ready each morning, I typically have the Today Show or CNN droning in the background.  They provide my subconscious with a quick briefing on the day's news while I go about my morning rituals.

One story managed to cut through the haze and grab my attention as few stories do.  

This morning, the Today Show promo'ed an upcoming CNBC series by reporter David Faber entitled "Untold Wealth: The Rise of the Super Rich."  This particular preview provided a sneak peek into the life of Indiana billionaire Tim Durham.

Want to know what Bush's tax cuts and the resultant massive deficits have helped purchase?  Mr. Durham's more than happy to show you.

Sometimes you can find interesting political tidbits in the most unexpected places.  Like the movie theater on a Sunday afternoon.

So we're at the movie theater checking out Hollywood's latest brain-numbing dreck, Get Smart (which I found highly enjoyable, BTW... forgive me, movie purists and intellectuals).  Buried in the midst of a steady diet of slapstick were two blatant political applause lines -- one for Democrats, the other for Republicans.

As my particular audience was in the closest of swing states (suburban Las Vegas, Nevada... hardly a fountainhead of progressivism), the responses were particularly enlightening.

(Mild spoilers below.)

The media working itself up into a self-righteous snit is nothing new.  But even by their standards, today's hue and cry from America's wise and holy Fourth Estate is truly breath-taking.

Barack Obama has singlehandedly destroyed the public financing system!

Barack Obama has ended our democracy as we know it!

Barack Obama is an icky poo-poo head who can't be trusted to keep his word!

The meme is quickly taking root -- John McCain, the Shrub and the Republicans, with their calls for offshore drilling, are taking bold and decisive action in helping reduce gasoline prices by attempting to increase supply.  

Those that stand in their way are willing to sacrifice American consumers on the altar of environmentalism by refusing to consider this reasonable option during a time of enormous need.

It sounds so simple and so tempting to believe.  Effective propaganda usually is.

But effectiveness is not truth.  And most Americans have no idea how incredibly miniscule the benefits of increased drilling would be.  Many probably expect a return to sub-$3 gas -- and what they'll receive is a handful of pennies per tank.

Despite the MSM's best efforts to portray Election 2008 as a competitive contest (remember, blowouts don't sell newspapers), the polls are looking pretty good... Pollster.com currently averages the race at 47.4% Obama, 42.6% McCain, a 4.8-point spread.

As Chuck Todd pointed out yesterday, this lead is nothing to be sneezed at... Bush never trailed Kerry in the national polls, and never led by more than four points.

But I think these poll results are deceptive, as they underestimate the enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans.  Nowhere is this gap clearer than in a poll released today by CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/...

So Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama finally had their long-awaited summit last night.  Both pledged to put the bitter primary battle behind them, and to work tirelessly to unify our party and defeat "Walnuts" McCain in November.

Pretty big story, right?  Oh, no, there's a much more sinister story line here... Barack Obama was a big meanie and (gasp!) secretly ditched his media contingent.  While he was sitting down with Hillary, the press corps were being jetted back to Chicago.

They got pissy.  And apparently when they get pissy, it suddenly becomes front-page news -- both CNN and Fox News have this "story" on their home pages.

During the long primary campaign, one of my favorite browser bookmarks was the Intrade futures market on presidential nominees.  For those who aren’t familiar with it, Intrade allows you to buy and sell contracts that pay $100 on the occurrence of future events (and nothing if the event does not occur).

Fans of Intrade argue that it is a much more accurate predictor of future events than simple punditry, as traders are actually putting money behind their predictions.  I’m not totally sold on this ... after all, the free market once priced Yahoo at $300+ a share, and thought $500,000 tract homes in the California desert were fairly priced.   Despite these drawbacks, Intrade does provide a fascinating synopsis of current expectations.

And the verdict?  Jim Webb has jumped into the front-runner spot in the race to become Barack Obama’s VP.   Here’s a look at where the market stands today (along with my own punditry on each, for what it’s worth)...

http://www.intrade.com/...