Events

But he did it! The worst President in U.S. history (polls open in 33 days and 8 hours) has gotten our national debt up to $10,024,724,896,912.49. That works out to $161,583.27 per person who voted for him in 2004, in case you were wondering.

It just occurred to me: three of the four candidates for President and Vice President live in the 1st, 48th, and 49th states, and the fourth was born in the 50th. One way or another (and you know which way I prefer), a state that didn't exist when half of the candidates were born will send its first citizen (or native) to the White House. Did anyone else notice this?

Why? Because both the Cubs and the White Sox are still playing baseball. Chicago's minor-league team on the South Side won a 1-run game against Minnesota to clinch the American League Central Division last night to the total underwhelm of those of us who live north of Roosevelt Road. They now get to play the Tampa Bay Rays, starting tomorrow afternoon. I have to concede there is some history here. The last time both teams played in the post-season, the Cubs beat the White Sox in the World Series—the...

At this writing, The Economist's readers prefer Obama 8,146 to 3. No, that's not a typo, it really is a ratio of 2700:1. I should point out, The Economist is a conservative newspaper. Of course, as McCain's supporters would be quick to point out, their readership is almost exclusively highly-educated, well-read, and wealthy, not the sorts of people you'd want to hunt moose with. Good thing they're not running the world or anything.

Let's review. President Clinton, the "tax-and-spend" Democrat, left office with a $122 billion surplus. President Bush, the "conservative" Republican, is on track to leave office with a $10,000 billion debt. I say $10,000 billion because "$10 trillion" seems smaller than "$10,000,000,000,000" but is in fact the same number. Or put another way: Clinton, +$122,000,000,000; Bush, (-$10,000,000,000,000). More personally: Clinton left every American with $428.07 in Government surplus; Bush will leave each of...

Polls open in five weeks (and a few hours). If you have a few extra bucks, you may want to donate to your party's congressional or senatorial committees, particularly if you're annoyed with today's vote. You can also harrangue your neighbors: check out FundRace to see who's giving what to whom.

I remember, back in the halcyon days of last week, when a certain (very) senior Senator from Arizona swooped in to save the bailout plan. Well, today, with 60% of Democrats voting for it and 67% of Republicans voting against it, I'd say he did everything he could. But 778 points? Ouch. Good work, Johnny Boy. In a moment of historic import in the Capitol and on Wall Street, the House of Representatives voted on Monday to reject a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry. The vote came in stunning...

The Cubs lost to Milwaukee today, giving Milwaukee the wild-card and the Cubs home-field advantage on Wednesday against the Dodgers. I'll miss a good hunk of the second game, as it's against the Vice-Presidential debate Thursday (unless they schedule a day game). I sincerely hope that the Dodgers play no better than they did all season (4 games above .500 at this writing; their final game is in progress), but of course the Cubs winning the division series at home on Tuesday wouldn't be too awful.

I won't be live-blogging the debate; but Josh Marshall is.

Economist Paul Krugman today chastises just about everyone involved in the bailout meltdown this week: [T]he grown-up thing is to do something to rescue the financial system. The big question is, are there any grown-ups around — and will they be able to take charge? ... [T]here do seem to be some adults in Congress, ready to do something to help us get through this crisis. But the adults are not yet in charge. On a related note, I commend to everyone Frederick Allen's Only Yesterday, published in 1932....