And yes, cautious optimism is unavoidable given that intelligence actually seems to be leading in this country, even over closed-mindedness, bigotry, tastelessness and fear-mongering! Though if this “Bradley effect” bullshit actually does pan out even to a moderate level, I’ll have to be back to fighting the pessimism.

I just keep reaching new levels of wonder and awe as I watch this election unfold, because after two Bush victories I never thought I would see the voting public side with reason and intelligence again. I certainly did not think the Right would ever bail on one of their own candidates because she was unprepared and unqualified! It’s all so… correct!

And I thought Obama did a nice job with Jon Stewart last night too, showing a sense of humor about the nonsensical stuff he’s been accused of.

Personally, I’m glad that the Obama campaign has stayed (mostly) positive…and I would hope that a Democratic win would pave the way for more civilized campaigns in the future.

Sometimes you want a good counterpunch.

The Obama team has maintained a steadiness in approach throughout this campaign, both in staying on-issue, and in keeping the unsavory mudslinging to a relative minimum, which again I attribute mostly to the man’s leadership, choices of advisors, and his seemingly calm and even-tempered demeanor.

Contrast that with the bizarre gamut run by the Republican team. We witnessed a wild swing from no-brainer to almost-acceptable-option directly back to no-brainer (in more ways than one) — Before this whole campaign started, it seemed like this would be a Democratic landslide year, if only due to Bush-backlash. Yet we watched as the Republicans rather brilliantly chose a man who at least used to be known mainly as a moderate reach-across-the-aisle type. They seemed to reach out fervently to independents, and then even co-opted the “change” mantle that Obama started. It almost seemed briefly that a McCain presidency wouldn’t be so bad, at least being “not Bush”. But then in a sudden nutball turnaround freefall came the Palin thing. As if they suddenly realized they needed to swing far right. And with the far right suddenly on board came the increase in fearmongering and the prevalance of the haters. At least to me, it seemed a complete abandonment of the middle-ground that McCain seemingly used to represent. And, bottom line, a complete absence of control, or absence of judgment, or both, from the man at the top of their ticket.

I really enjoyed your post.

So many things here resonate with me – and your thoughts on how we need a leader who can inspire respect is right on target. A couple of weeks ago, I said to a friend that I kinda wished that Obama would come out swinging a little bit harder at McCain, but that it would require a little more mud slung than we’d seen so far. And said friend reminded me that Obama wasn’t that kind of man, and he wasn’t going to stoop to that level.

And he hasn’t. And despite my momentary desire for something less savory in the campaign, I respect him even more for remaining focused and decent and demonstrating you can come out on top and still keep your soul.