Bloodlines? I’m thinking this election may be all over but the shouting. Ben Smith posted this video today from a liberal Ohio blogger. As I watch it I’m thinking that the folks I see are not representative of Americans as a whole, as some believe, and that the current McCain/Palin strategy is pretty desperate.

Obama needs a mandate: In contrast to the views expresssed in the video, I’m remembering especially a young couple with whom my beloved and I stood in line last winter before an Obama rally here at the Edward Jones Dome. They had driven all whe way from Oklahoma with their two small children to attend. They are farmers, though one has a day job (guess which). As we talked it became clear that they are also quite knowledgable about issues and quite definite about why Obama is their candidate. Their chief concerns are schools and health care, though they seemed excited about Obama’s uniqueness and about the Obama movement, too.

These days, the McCain/Palin strategy, in real danger of being overwhelmed by Obama voters nationally, seems to me to be aimed at garnering enough votes at the margin to tip the balance in critical swing states. But I don’t think it’s going to work this time. For one thing, the election isn’t close enough. And the Republicans are betting that there’s more of a racist pushback against the idea of an Obama victory than I think there actually is. The real question now may be whether Obama can achieve the mandate he will need to accomplish very much in his first term.

For a contrary view and some good discussion of the Bradley effect, read here.

McCain deconstructed: Rolling Stone is carrying a serious examination of the McCain myth by columnist, Tim Dickinson. It’s called “Make-Believe Maverick.” Dickenson marshalls a wealth of fact and anecdote to deconstruct the familiar McCain story — what was on display at the RNC. “Few politicians have so actively, or successfully, crafted their own myth of greatness,” Dickinson writes.

In McCain’s version of his life, he is a prodigal son who, steeled by his brutal internment in Vietnam, learned to put “country first.” Remade by the Keating Five scandal that nearly wrecked his career, the story goes, McCain re-emerged as a “reformer” and a “maverick,” righteously eschewing anything that “might even tangentially be construed as a less than proper use of my office.”

It’s a myth McCain has cultivated throughout his decades in Washington. But during the course of this year’s campaign, the mask has slipped. “Let’s face it,” says Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who served as chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. “John McCain made his reputation on the fact that he doesn’t bend his principles for politics. That’s just not true.”

Read the whole piece here. And speaking of strange videos, how about this one from the Wasilla Assembly of God?