Since yesterday, 40,000 people have donated more than $550,000 to help register half a million young voters in the swing states that will decide the election. And they've each snagged a hip Obama T-shirt in the process.

Can you help us put our organizers on the ground and reach our goal of 50,000 T-shirts? Click here to chip in $12 so we can send you a free Obama T-shirt:

http://pol.moveon.org/obamatshirts/?rc=kicker&id=13684-9447180-emcNvux&t=2

Thanks for all you do.

–Peter

 

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee John McCain has a new attack dog. Her name is Sarah Palin, and she bites hard.
 

The Alaska governor's mocking critique of Democrat Barack Obama and the Washington elite charged up Republicans looking for signs of hope that she and McCain can win the White House on November 4.

Now it is McCain's turn. The Arizona senator, who was nominated for president after Palin spoke, will deliver a televised address on Thursday night accepting that nomination.

Palin, 44, McCain's vice presidential running mate, drew shouts of "Sarah, Sarah" on Wednesday in her national political debut, unleashing red-meat rhetoric against Obama that had been largely lacking from this four-day event.

She cheerfully shot down criticism from Democrats that her experience as governor and ex-mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, did not match Obama's as leader of a large presidential campaign.

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities," she said in a swipe at Obama's own early career in Chicago.

Democrats argue that McCain, by picking the relatively untested and unknown Palin, had ceded his argument that Obama was too inexperienced to be president.

But McCain said he was satisfied she had the right experience and "over time people will compare her accomplishments with that of Senator Obama and his are very meager."

"She is experienced, she's talented and she knows how to lead," McCain told ABC's "Good Morning America." "This is what Americans want. They don't want somebody who is, frankly, necessarily gone to Harvard or an Ivy League school."

Palin also found Obama's lofty style of rhetoric wanting and devoid of details of where he would take the country if elected although she offered few policy specifics of her own.

"Listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the (Illinois) state senate ... What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?" she asked.

She resurrected Obama's comment from his primary battle with Democrat Hillary Clinton that people in small towns are bitter and cling to guns and religion.

'PALIN POWER'

"I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening," she said.

The crowd loved it, roaring with approval and waving signs that said "Palin Power." They were most enthusiastic when Palin dismissed the "Washington elite" -- pundits and commentators she said had questioned whether she should be on the ticket.

Experts said Palin, only the second woman to be a vice presidential nominee of a major political party, was a plus for the Republican ticket, especially in attracting the conservative base that has sometimes been at odds with McCain.

They say she could be a huge advantage in helping Republicans hold Western states like Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico that are flirting with voting for Obama this year.

"She is immediately going to be a huge attraction," said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta. "She will draw huge crowds wherever she goes. She really has excited the base of the Republican Party in a way that probably nobody has done since Ronald Reagan."

Her Democratic vice presidential counterpart, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, took what was likely to be his party's line -- praise her speaking but not her message.

"I was impressed by that," Biden said of the speech on ABC's "Good Morning America." "I also was impressed with what I didn't hear. I didn't hear a word mentioned about the middle class or health care or how people are going to fill up their tanks. I didn't hear a single word about how you're going to get a kid through college. So I was impressed by the speech but also about what I didn't hear spoken."

The spotlight will be trained on McCain on Thursday night. The 72-year-old former prisoner of war in Vietnam and longtime Arizona senator faces the biggest speech of the campaign when millions of Americans will be tuned in to watch.

McCain is slightly behind Obama in public opinion polls following the Democrats' rousing convention last week and is facing Americans in the mood for change after nearly eight years under unpopular Republican President George W. Bush.

"He (McCain) needs to provide a compelling example of why he's ready to be president and Barack Obama is not, and why the direction he wants to take America is good and why the direction Barack Obama wants to take America is bad," said Republican pollster Whit Ayres.

Palin came into her big week having to make an uncomfortable disclosure, that her unmarried daughter Bristol, 17, was pregnant and planned to marry the high-school classmate who is the father, Levi Johnston, 18.

The Palins took the issue head on with no big fuss. Both Bristol and Johnston appeared on stage with the rest of the family after her speech. Johnston had the word "Bristol" tattooed on his ring finger.

"From the inside, no family ever seems typical. That's how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys," Palin said.

Republican strategist Vin Weber said following her big introduction, Palin would have to submit to interviews and news conferences to demonstrate substantive knowledge of the issues.

"All the attention paid to her these last few days means the vice presidential selection means more than it normally does," Weber said.

(Additional reporting by Charles Abbott in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller, Jackie Frank and Eric Walsh)

so work was pretty straight last night. especially for a sunday. me and joe worked and there was a party of 25, for 3 womens' 40th birthdays. joe pretty much handled that all himself because it was set up to be super easy for us to handle. i just took all the tables out on the floor. we ended up making like $115 a piece, which is pretty good for a sunday. at the end of the night joe told me that he'd bring me a little something for tomorrow night (we were both working tomorrow night as well). yay!

today christian and i got up and went over to the townhome to sand the holes he had patched and paint over them. i determined that we are going to need to just totally repaint some rooms. there are just so fucking many scuffs all over the walls that i think it would look bad if we just tried to detail it. so i'm going over there tomorrow to start wiping everything down and clean up before we start painting any more. also, the carpet cleaners are coming in the afternoon. yay! i need to dust all the fucking long ass black cat hairs that are all over the house before they clean the carpets.
then, on wednesday, i have to let the people in to repair the back door and i may try to start painting more.
thursday i will keep cleaning or painting and be there for the delivery of the new refrigerator. like dumbasses, we didn't measure the space where the fridge is going to go. i'm not quite sure if it will fit...i think it will fit, but the doors open out both ways and i don't know if there will be enough room for that. i sure hope so.
we will try to start moving stuff on saturday.

work was fine tonight. the hotel was at like 12% occupancy, so we knew we'd be slow. it was just me and joe working again. we did some deep cleaning because Q.A. is coming to do a walk-through and then we got our manager on duty to comp a pizza for us, since we were working on a holiday and working hard on cleaning.  joe brought goodies, as promised. we each ate a 5mg valium at the beginning of the shift and another later in the shift. our m.o.d. said one of us could leave early and we both wanted to. so joe said he'd make me a deal...he was going to leave...and he gave me another 5mg. SOLD! hahaha. so i sat around, everything was done way early and i was in a chill mood from the valium. i also ganked a bottle of chardonnay from the cooler in the manager's office on my way out. i'm one slyyy motherfucker. so i ate my last 5mg on the way home. got home, cracked open the bottle of wine and packed a bowl. i am feeling gooood.
i wanted to grab some more bud from my boy but his phone was dead when i called him after work. hopefully i can get up with him tomorrow, before i go to the townhome. i have enough to last me for tonight.

i am going to watch more adult swim, smoke another bowl, maybe eat something and then go to bed.
goodnight.