Your funny headline for the day

Heh heh heh... you said "old dike."

LaCrosse Tribune: State officials say old dike may add to flood risk

Ah, the folly of youth.

For real?

According to UW-Madison Police, more than 26,500 people showed up for the rally, making it Obama's largest since the campaign. Most packed into the mall on what turned into a crisp fall night, standing shoulder-to-shoulder from Memorial Library to Park Street, while others spilled up Bascom Hill.

They held signs that read "Moving America Forward," while every so often someone would yell out, "Obama, we love you."

Emily Lawless, a UW-Madison junior from Lakeville, Minn., waited in line five and a half hours for the chance to see the president live.

"You're not going to remember your accounting class when you're 40, but you'll definitely remember this," she said.

Enthusiastic, but will they vote?

But the thrill of seeing the president doesn't necessarily translate into supporting Democratic candidates during a midterm election. Even Lawless admitted she would likely not vote. "It's too much work with the absentee ballot," she said.

So five-and-a-half hours in line is a piece of cake, but two minutes to request an absentee ballot is "too much work." This isn't an enthusiasm gap. It's an intelligence gap. But on the plus side, this girl is a reciprocity student, so regardless of political persuasion we can all use this to goof on Minnesota.

Broke much?

I'm guessing Walker's burn rate the last two weeks of the primary was through the roof. There have been a lot of these pleading for money emails in the last week.

Also, if times are so tough for the Kleefisch clan, maybe Joel could sell a watch or twelve. Just saying. The guy's like a walking pawn shop.

The Lion, Christine O'Donnell, and the Wardrobe

Looks like America's favorite witchcraft dabbler is engaging in another time-honored teabag tradition: refusing to take questions from journalists.

WASHINGTON -- Tea party favorite Christine O'Donnell, whose Republican primary upset in Delaware's Senate race shocked the GOP, canceled appearances Sunday on two national news shows.

O'Donnell had been set to appear on "Face the Nation" on CBS and "Fox News Sunday."

Campaign spokeswoman Diana Banister cited scheduling conflicts and said O'Donnell needed to return to Delaware for commitments to church events and afternoon picnic with Republicans in a key county where she has solid backing.

She won't even take questions from FOX. That's saying something.

Also, here's your witchcraft footage. Hilarious stuff.

Scott Walker's 68-page economic plan

For real. Here it is. 68 pages, one page more than Tom Barrett's plan.

However, it's written in what the WPPA has calculated to be a font size of 58.5. In other words, you could read this from a plane at 36,000 feet.

Not only is the Walker campaign short on ideas, but it's apparently run by a bunch of asshats who think it's funny that they don't have any ideas. Stay classy, guys.

Some badly needed perspective

Via Mark Shea.

Messed up.

Here's hoping the people that donated money to help this woman get their checks back a little faster than Jim Klauser got his from Mark Neumann.

(CNN) -- A 28-year-old woman who said an unknown assailant threw a cup of caustic liquid in her face has admitted her injuries were self-inflicted, Vancouver, Washington, police said Thursday.

Bethany Storro was being interviewed by detectives, and whether she will be charged will be up to prosecutors, police said.

"She is extremely upset," said police Commander Marla Schuman. "She is very remorseful. In many ways it got bigger than she expected."

Police would not speculate on Storro's motives, only saying the August 30 incident did not occur as she described and that there were discrepancies in her account, including wearing sunglasses in the evening.

Scott Walker and details are still like oil and water

Is a jobs plan considered new if all you do is change the font and the pictures?

Someone should ask Scott Walker, who today released a "new" jobs plan that is no different that his previously vacuous and short-on-details jobs plan of last year.

Now, Scott Walker's never been known as a details guy - not as a legislator, not as County Executive. His campaign team has illustrated its lack of policy innovation through the primary. But seriously, you'd hope a guy running for governor could do better that a plan that consists solely of vague platitudes like "eliminate red tape," "end frivolous lawsuits," and "lower taxes."

Five pages, a huge font, and lots of big pictures. The Walker plan for economic success. Compare that to Tom Barrett's 67-page plan that's filled with concrete policy specifics regarding what he'd do as Governor.

I'm not saying you have to like what's in Barrett's plan, but there's certainly a seriousness with which Barrett (and Mark Neumann) have taken economic development that makes Walker seem positively flippant about what'd he actually do in office.

A show of hands...

Does anyone think Calumet County DA Kenneth Kratz shouldn't resign after sending a bunch of sexually aggressive text messages to a domestic violence victim?

I admittedly do enjoy watching Republicans get busted for stuff like this, mostly because so many of them love to lecture society on what does or does not constitute moral behavior. But I would hope that in this case that, provided the text messages are authentic, everyone can recognize that this guy is not only a creeper but also someone whose behavior could potentially be construed as predatory.

Looks like the Marquette Law School need turn no further than this 1985 graduate for a new topic in its legal ethics classes.

County-by-county map, Governor

For those who are interested. Neumann in blue, Walker in red.

Congratulations, Wisconsin!

Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch versus Tom Barrett and Tom Nelson?

Wow. Just go shoot yourselves in the head now.

Playground Politics calls Delaware U.S. Senate Race

Congratulations to Democrat Chris Coons, who by virtue of the Teabaggers' propensity for self-immolation, will be the next U.S. Senator from Delaware.

Christine O'Donnell? Seriously 'baggers, are you guys really that f@!#ing nuts? Who wants to reclaim the majority in the U.S. Senate when you nominate another feel-good loser like O'Donnell?

Reading the Tea leaves

Two months ago: Mark Neumann talks about Scott Walker, Scott Walker talks about Tom Barrett.
Now: Mark Neumann talks about Tom Barrett, Scott Walker talks about Mark Neumann.

Two months ago: Mark Neumann's roughing up Scott Walker, Scott Walker wants everyone to play nice.
Now: Scott Walker can't go negative enough, Mark Neumann wants to know who will sign his clean campaign pledge.

So one of two things has happened in the last two months. Maybe we've moved into a parallel universe where the guy who's behind acts like he's ahead, and the guy who's ahead acts like he's behind.

Or maybe Neumann is polling ahead, and both sides have numbers that show it.

My money is on the latter. Of course, turnout is everything, and I suspect that tomorrow's primary could tip in either direction. Yet it seems painfully clear that Team Walker has completely pissed away what was once believed to be a 30-40 point lead. Everything Walker does reeks of desperation right now, and even if he wins, he will be the blind squirrel who finds the nut.

Walker's campaign has been terribly run from the very beginning. He's got a shitty gimmick. He wears the same damn ugly blue shirt, too-long red tie, and ill-fitting khakis every day, and sells the same substance-free fluff.

All across America, we've seen instances of the loosely organized Tea Party movement propel certain candidates to victory in GOP primaries, whether it's Nikki Haley in South Carolina, or Rick Scott in Florida, or Rand Paul in Kentucky, or Joe Miller in Alaska. On and on and on. But, almost to a tee (pun intended), the preferred candidates are non-establishment types who are viewed as political outsiders. And yet Walker is everything these candidates are not. He's a political careerist whose campaign is dominated with the kinds of people and kinds of interests that the Tea Party crowd typically hates.

Neumann, on the other hand, shares many of the characteristics that have thus far made Ron Johnson so competitive. Successful business owner. Not from Milwaukee. Perceived as a non-establishment candidate. Can self-fund.

So it's fascinating that many establishment types and radio blowhards have convinced themselves that Wisconsin will be different; that Wisconsin will be the place where the Tea Party aligns itself with the interests of guys like Jim Klauser and Bill McCoshen. That Wisconsin will be the place where the Tea Party puts aside its anti-establishment tendencies to sidle up to a guy who runs the place that outstate Republicans can't stand.

My guess is that Neumann posts a solid victory outstate - I doubt you'll see Walker win more than a handful of counties out there - and then it'll all come down to how many votes Walker can find in southeast Wisconsin. The Plale/Larson primary on the south side of Milwaukee won't help Walker. Many of the conservative Democrats there who've supported him in his local races are going to stay put and try to save Jeff Plale. Walker may, in part, fall victim to Peggy Rosenzweig Syndrome, whereby a competitive race in the other party denies him the crossover votes he usually gets.

Do I have a prediction for tomorrow? No, other than that Mark Neumann is going to do way better than the Walker people ever expected. There's a very real chance that come Wednesday, Reince Preibus might realize that when he said it was "Scott Walker's time," he was looking at a broken clock.

My trip to hell.

It was nice to be back. Home just in time to watch today's proceedings.

Even Gawker hates Scott Walker

You know you've made it when your ad gets torched on Gawker. My favorite comment? Scott Walker's face is "like a cubist painting come to life."

I'm guessing if Walker ran against Nancy Kerrigan, he probably would've used a steel pipe instead of boxing gloves.