Is it really Tuesday?

Just when you thought is was going to over, you discover there is still one more act left.  Whether the final act is going to prove you guessed wrong as to the outcome remains to be seen.

There has been enough movement in the polls to the point where what was looking like a sure bet has everyone scratching their heads in the political pundit world.  The real worry will set in after Thursday night, if in fact there will be anything to worry about.

Why that long?

With new polls released everyday, with polls covering different tracking periods, it is going to take a week or so to see if the change is accurately reflected across the same time periods, and the "switch" is truly a change in thought, rather than an mood swing resulting from a specific event.

There has been a definite bump/shift/ change in the wind, what have you, after the debate.  

The Democrats attribute it to Romney being dishonest during the debate.  Truth be told, both sides have played pretty loose with the truth on various issues.  This is one fact the independent fact checker groups seem to agree on.

The Princeton economist being cited by the Obama campaign to disprove Romney's version of his tax cuts has come out and stated that the Obama campaign is misrepresenting his work.  This could be a stumbling block in the argument against the "tax cut", especially as the economist has gone on record as saying there are in fact ways to do it i a revenue neutral manner.

The recent news on gas prices in California aren't going to help.  It won't change a thing on how the state will go.  It is a solid lock for Obama.  But the constant flashing of the pictures showing the prices in California do have an affect on people everywhere.  

I do get the fact that there are reasons for the bump in that state vs. the rest of the country, and the factors that influence gas prices everywhere are not easily reigned in or under government control.  It is nonetheless true that a pictures is worth a thousand words, and for many people the prospect of even the thought of $5.00 plus per gallon scares them a whole lot.

The news on the Libyan consulate attack is not helping the President any either.

It is still Obama's election to lose.  He took an unbelievable first step toward doing so last Thursday.  He hasn't thrown it away yet.  What he has done was make a race out of a contest that was all but over before the debate.

While the popular vote polls show an extremely tight race, the electoral college projection still indicate a very hard road for Romney to navigate.  Truth be told, looking at the map, I am not sure he can successfully find the right path.  But hey, it is only Tuesday.

While the main event has become a bit muddled, what is clearer is the debate is having some effect in the "trickle down" category, i.e. the House and Senate races.

It also places some emphasis on this week's V.P. debate on Thursday

Make no mistake over the fact that this could be a disaster for either side.  One major blunder by Biden or Ryan will send the pundits on a feeding frenzy  Not that it should.

Despite the "potential" for either individual to be a "heart beat" away from what is still the most powerful office in the world, these two people are where they are for the sole purpose of window dressing.  Should it be otherwise, perhaps. It is reality nonetheless.

They are on the ticket because of a certain appeal to certain voters. I seriously doubt that the primary, or even a top secondary reason for picking either one of them was that they would make a good president if the need arose.

The main thing with this debate is to make sure you don't sink the top guy on your ticket.

Another event on the debate circuit, Round III in the Brown/Warren Senate Race is scheduled for Wednesday night.  this one will be interesting.  While I feel from the debate perspective Brown has won the first two, winning a debate doesn't equate into winning the election.  What also has to be considered is while he may have won the first two debates, his opponent did a credible job in the debate also.  

Brown needs something more in this third debate.  He has to stop the harping on the ancestry issue, he has to stop hammering the "legal work".  He should at this point in fact be talking about his votes and explaining them.  He needs to get off the rehearsed lists of bullet points.

There was in mind mind a valid point to the original vote against the student loan interest rate bill.  There was in fact compromise that led to to the bill being passed.

He needs to point out the standard line from the Democrats majority leader in the Senate, "no amendments allowed".

He needs to point out that will there may be a desired end to a bill, there are most always adverse consequences tied to passage.  

The trickle down in today's piece brings us to local matters.  To clarify a point or two, let's start with the voc-tech expansion.  First, as someone pointed out to me, correctly, technically there does not have to be a special town meeting on the issue.  The regional school committee takes a formal vote, notifies the selectmen, and the selectmen can simply not call a town meeting to be held within 60 days of the vote and by doing nothing that will authorize the borrowing on Fairhaven's part.

Anyone out there seriously think that this should be what happens?

This option is one of the biggest gripes I have with these "regional" districts/regional entities.  These laws should not be written to require a member community to take action to disapprove anything.  If your elected officials could not make the decision on a matter solely affecting the town, they should not be able to make a similar decision on their own for a regional district.

It may well be that Town Meeting approves the project, rather than disapprove it.  But it should be Town Meeting that approves this project, as it would be Town Meeting that has to approve all such projects for the Town.

At some point, the reasons of the project will all be addressed before our selectmen, that is I assume they will.  I will get to the "tax burden" and "free money" arguments at some point.  Until that time, I end it here on that little example of how regional government works.