Well, Tuesday should go swimmingly. There'll be no huge lines at the polls prompting voting hours to be extended…and, incidentally, foul up any networks' plans to call the presidential race early. No voting machines will malfunction and clearly register votes for the wrong candidate. No large group of people will show up at the polls and find that for no visible reason, they've been stricken from the eligibility roster. No one will speak of lawsuits to void the vote in any area or speak of "stolen elections." Everything will be just ginger peachy.
Seriously, a lot of us just want it over. How long has it been since you heard anything from either candidate that might have changed your mind? That video the other day showing how many times they repeated themselves in the three debates made the point well. We long ago got to know these guys as well as we were ever going to. I actually could have done with more one-on-one interviews if — and this would be a big if — we had a different kind of journalist than we usually have asking the questions…someone well-versed enough to challenge questionable facts and assertions and inventive enough to veer into areas for which the candidate didn't have stock answers. I'm not sure there is such a journalist…or if there is that any candidate would sit down with him or her. It says something when some of the toughest questions put to John McCain came from David Letterman.
Anyway, between now and Tuesday, the two campaigns have opposing chores: The McCain forces have to convince their supporters that there's a decent chance of winning and the Obama team has to convince their supporters than there's a decent chance of losing. It isn't enough to convince them you're the guy. You have to get them to go out and actually vote.