As election day nears, the campaigns have all intensified. The ads are starting to roll out, the endorsements, the whistle stops, and the mailers are all picking up steam. The pundits are pontificating about who will win where, and the polls taken daily are divined like tea leaves in a cup. None of this matters of course - only the votes that get cast on Nov 2 matter (or maybe not - more on that later...).

There's always a certain circus side-show element to all of it, particularly when there are previously unknown candidates trying to be heard. Sometimes things slip out that you would think would be a problem (like accusations of murder). Sometimes things are put out there on purpose, and you just have to wonder - like Sharon Angle stating that Sharia law has taken over a couple US cities:

Perhaps it's comments like these that have led the top GOP lawmaker in NV to endorse Democrat Harry Reid.

There are other surprising endorsements out there as well. In particular, the NRA has endorsed 58 encumbent Democrats this year, much to the chagrin of Republicans who count on the gun-vote. This number includes several key races the Republicans are hoping to win. It sort of takes the air out of the "Democrats are going to take your guns away" argument.

The polls are also a big story this year. The often contradictory data has been giving the Republicans a slight edge but the Democrats are making gains. What's often left unsaid is that the Republicans' ratings are the tank as well:

Note: And that's with 2/3 of Americans having not heard of the Republican "Pledge to America". Are these people hiding under a rock? Still - you have to wonder how the Republicans are still managing to stay ahead if their disapproval ratings are higher. Answer? They're better at sales and marketing. Not good enough, though to sell Sarah Palin as a contender. Only 22% see her as being an effective president (64% think she is not up to the job). FWIW - 22% is far less than the number of people who believe in UFOs and ghosts.

The poor ratings of Republicans may be why they are $4M short in their fund-raising goals. Fortunately for them, they have the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (PAC) raising funds to spend on the campaigns. The big problem is the source of the funds, some of which are coming from foreign sources. It's just as President Obama warned after the recent SCOTUS ruling (and to which Justice Alito mouthed "not true" - um, yes - it is):

As previously mentioned, none of this matters if the voting systems are not secure. In previous elections, there have been numerous stories about the touch screen and opti-scan voting systems getting hacked. This year, it's a DC absentee voting system that got hacked. An Engineering professor at the University of Michigan reprogrammed the system to play the UM fight song every time a vote was cast. Funny, yes, but it proves a larger point about how insecure these systems are.

So now we're down to 3 1/2 weeks - expect the rollercoaster to hit a few loop-the-loops soon...