you've always got great posts. there are a lot of reasons for hope. 1) look at the numbers for John McCain in Indiana and in NC - 74% in one, 77% in the other. and he is the nominee. 2) no one has been following John McCain - a man I like, but don't agree with. every time he opens his mouth, he works against himself, and he can't remain silent for 6 months. his response to Hagee? "I'm anti-anything." His poverty-tour of the south? the ninth ward in New Orleans shouldn't be rebuilt - then 5 days later he couldn't remember he said it. the memory deal is troublesome too. 3) no one has actually looked at his positions - his foreign policy positions are all over the map - and are wide open for the scariest five-letter word in the English language - DRAFT. Baby boomers may not protest this war in droves - but start talking about sending YOUR kids to Iraq or Iran and there's going to be a problem. 4) his domestic policies are sheer madness. he has stated that he will nominate far-right judges to the supreme court - that is not going to make women voters real happy - democrat or republican - and it will draw some catholics - but not as many as he thinks - i come from a huge catholic family - moderates who are pro-choice. i would lose health care insurance under his plan and become uninsurable. he has no education plan. he has no economic plan. 5) exit polls have shown that age matters more to voters than either race or gender - it doesn't matter to me, but it does to most voters. 6) obama has some history - and it's going to follow him - but so do the mccains. bring up rezko and you're going to hear more about keating than you knew before. 7) obama would not cross another democrat - i do not believe he is going to be that reserved in the general election. 8) the comparisons that are made - dukakis and mcgovern leave out the fact that at least one of those men was not an appealing candidate - the same just can't be said for obama. 9) obama played the primary as if he were going to be the nominee - and did not weaken the party - and he is going to have strong party support for that. 10) mccain doesn't have a lot of money - and if he starts drawing on cindy's money that is going to hurt him in a big way. obama has an amazing base. he's been battered by the clintons, and he's going to continue to be battered by fox news - but there is still hope. the pundits say he can't take california. i don't buy it.