I have to stop making predictions.

The debates have thus far surprised me. I didn't expect a large viewing audience for the first presidential debate, but with over 60 million viewers, it attracted more attention than the series finale of "Friends." (Granted, that episode of 'Friends' stunk, but I digress...) I also expected President Bush to win and was wrong.

For the vice-presidential debate, I was certain John Edwards and his hair would trounce Dick Cheney. Instead, that encounter was a draw. In fact, John Edwards reminded me a bit of a young, aw-shucks Andy Griffith when he laughed and bumbled a question. Speaking of lookalikes, is it just me, or are Dick Cheney and Richard Dreyfuss twins separated at birth:

Richard Dreyfuss                    Dick Cheney

But again, I digress...

Ever wonder exactly how many Hispanic, female voters between the ages 21 and 29 are registered with the Green Party in Pinellas County? Two. I knew you were dying to know.

The Pinellas County Supervisor of Election's website has a feature labeled "Voter Statistics" that allows you to filter piles of statistical and demographic information in a few quick clicks. That sounds boring, but it's actually pretty cool. (Or I'm a bigger geek than I thought...could be.) Choose by precinct, party, race, sex, and/or age range. It's a great resource for students and other researchers.

Pinellas also has the same handy-dandy sample ballot generator that Hillsborough County has.

Some of the best resources online for election information are the county supervisor of elections offices. Hillsborough County has a great feature for sample ballots. Voters can enter their address and political affiliation and they are presented with their choices for the upcoming primary (Aug. 31).

Of course, you can also get information on regular polling locations, but I recommend the site for finding out where to go for early voting. I'm a big proponent of encouraging voter turnout by either putting election day on a weekend or keeping it a weekday and declaring it a national holiday. Early voting is the next best thing. If Aug. 31 or Nov. 2 is a bad day for you to hit the polls, pick a more convenient time in the two weeks prior and vote early.

The Democratic National Convention has been over for a week and I'm recovered from my blogger burn-out.

Since I highlighted a pile of lefty blogs last week, it's fitting that I mention one from the other side of the aisle. (Fear not, Republican readers. With the upcoming GOP convention, you'll get your equal time, I'm sure.) Enter random person who e-mailed me, Charles Fenwick. (Note to all other random people: Feel free to e-mail me tips and suggestions, too.) Fenwick tipped me off to RedState.org, "a Republican community Weblog." (Fenwick writes for it. Nothing wrong with shameless self-promotion. I do it myself. He's a Floridian writing a lot about the Senatorial race.)

"Community Weblog" means there's not a single blogger, but a variety of participants. And there seems to be a lot of commenting on the entries, so the site works out to be a blog/message board hybrid.

I like the format of this blog, as it encourages a lot of user participation, and I respect the stated mission of allowing dissenting views to be expressed as long as it is done in a civil, intelligent manner. There is a deplorable lack of civility and intelligence in too much political discussion today.

I was initially a little troubled by the statement that they reserve the right to ban posters for "anti-American ideologies." (In truth, it's their site, so they have the right to ban posters for spelling errors if they see fit.) I think the terms "anti-American" and "un-American" have been thrown around too readily in recent years, and because of that, the words tend to throw up red flags when I read them.

Specifically, I was caught by the term "Islamist," whose followers are not welcome on RedState. For those unfamiliar with the term (as I was, until today), "Islamist" essentially means an Islamic fundamentalist, not all Muslims or Arabs. RedState is not an anti-Muslim site.

Generally speaking, there's some good discussion going on there. While a dedicated Republican community, the writers on RedState are not in lock-step in terms of their opinions, which fuels the intelligent debate.

I mentioned Librarian.net ("putting the 'rarin' back in librarian since 1993") briefly, yesterday, but it deserves a second mention. Jessamyn blogged the Grassroots News Conference at the convention, which included some organizations I hadn't heard of. (But several I had.)

She also has a directory of a lot of the speeches, in case you want to read or reference any of them. I can't imagine that anyone will sit and read them all (there's a reason they're called "speeches," not "readings"), but I like the fact that this is another use of blogs and the Internet. If you want a quick direct quote or you missed something, it's all there for you.

There are some things one just does not outgrow. The preference for looking at pictures over reading lengthy descriptions is one. A cool aspect of blogging is the ease of posting random pictures from events such as the Democratic National Convention. These photos are far from professional quality, but they provide an unsanitized view of the events, including those not covered on TV. They give you a delegate's eye-view instead of media's camera-view.

Liberal Oasis has some interesting shots, if you scroll a lot. Interestingly, all the shots of the major speeches are of the Jumbotron, which is an accurate portrayal of what most of the delegates (and bloggers) can see.

The American Street has a few photos posted in the blog, but blogger Jenny Greenleaf posted a link to her photo albums online.

Jessamyn West's Librarian.net has better photo galleries, though. They're linked throughout her entries, so you might have to hunt to get them all. But the hunting is worth it because she writes a good blog, in spite of the boredom suggested by her blog's title.

Tom Burka's Opinions You Should Have is "The Daily Show" of blogs. He's blogging the convention, but I think he's really just writing a stand-up comedy routine. His "Hope was delayed at the security kiosk" bit is a really funny snark on John Edwards' "Hope Is On The Way" slogan.

After writing the last entries and reading a pile - huge pile - of listserv emails and journalism articles about the bloggers at the convention (they fall into my inbox, I can't avoid them), I was getting pretty sick of blogs. Particularly sick of seeing and writing the word "blog."

But now that the convention is in swing, I'm excited about the blogging, because it reminds me why the blog is such a great medium: it's immediate, it's fun, and it's brutally honest. It's exactly what journalism needs right now.

The independent bloggers (in some opinions, the only real bloggers - to blog purists, what I write here isn't a blog, its a column with a time stamp) are all dangling up on the 7th floor of the FleetCenter reporting and commenting on the convention as it happens. And they're already writing good stuff.

Dave Weinberger is pounding out some interesting thoughts on the goings-on and the bloggers role in it. "We [the bloggers] are now officially an anomaly," he said.

ElectaBlog's Dave Pell is commenting on the down-time boredom. Sounds like there's a lot.

Pandagon.net is updating freakishly often.

Call me a geek (and you won't be the first), but these blogs are really entertaining. I could spend a couple hours reading them. But I have other work to do. I'm not a full-time pseudo-blogger.

Politics.Feedster.com is another site crawling the convention bloggers and offering a good blog roll and some highlights. I like this one better than ConventionBloggers. It's a better layout and doesn't get hung up the way ConventionBloggers does.

Jonathan Dube of CyberJournalist.net has the best list I've seen so far, though. Go there for the most direct links. Go to Politics.Feedster.com for a crawling service.

Let the blogging begin!

There's been much discussion within the blogosphere about... well... blogs. (That's not unusual. Bloggers are, as a group, very self-absorbed. Otherwise, the word "blogosphere" couldn't have been coined.) Specifically, the discussion has centered on the credentialing of bloggers for the national political conventions.

Some traditional journalists have issues with sharing the honor of the laminate with these opinionated, independent bloggers, but they're going to have to get over it. Whether blogging is a fad or not is yet to be determined, but bloggers are definitely a formidable force in current online media.

These conventions should be an interesting experiment. I started compiling a working list of bloggers at the Democratic convention this week, but then happened upon a much easier way: ConventionBloggers.com. A mostly complete list of bloggers at the DNC, but they left off Instapundit, one of the founding fathers of blogs.

I thought I left Scantron tests behind in college, but no...

Here's another political quiz, this one based on the red state / blue state idea. My outcome was completely predictable (at least to me): Right in the middle. The test is interesting because it quizzes your knowledge, not your opinions. You can be a liberal and still know who Dr. Laura Shlessinger is, therefore, pushing your score toward blue. Like all quizzes, it should be food for thought, not a means for pidgeonholing the test-taker.

I got only one response to my criticism of the "Right-Wing Stuff" slogan, "backhanding the left into submission." Jim Orvis, a retired Navy captain from Edmonds, WA (and also my uncle, which reinforces my belief that no one reads my blog but my family) wrote:

"Of course it is offensive, it is intended to be... While the back of the hand may be the method of choice for many spouse and child beaters, it has also long been associated with denigrating an opponent. The idea being that the recipient is unworthy [of] the effort needed to counter a worthy opponent. "The back of my hand to you" was, before your time, a common expression of disdain."

I think the slogan has more meaning than that. Though I don't think it was intended to refer to violence against women, that's the effect.

Given the type of things this site sells and the fact that they market on Cafe Press, which is a popular dot com for outside the mainstream folks, I took the business, as a whole, to be geared toward popular culture. They spoof the Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) that people put on the backs of their cars, the "Intel Inside" logo and various other things that seem to geared toward conservatives of my generation.

My uncle is right that the general use of "backhand" as a term of disdain was before my time. Unfortunately, to people my age, the backhand maneuver is associated with misogynistic rap songs and domestic situations on portrayed on episodes of Cops.

What's offensive is not the denotation of the phrase, which is what he described, but the current cultural connotation, which is usually beating women. This is more clear because the slogan mentions backhanding into submission. It's the subtle associations of the words and phrases in our culture that need to be examined and called out into the open, which is what I was trying to do. Most people use phrases like this that are offensive without knowing they are offensive. I wasn't offended politically, I was offended as a woman.

JibJab's "This Land" falls into the "Holy Funnyness, Batman!" category. JibJab does hilarious Flash movies, parodies and spoofs. Unfortunately, lots of people have apparently noticed this, so the site is being overun and you may not be able to access the movie right away. Try it during off-peak times, like later at night. It's worth it to hear Bush and Kerry sing about themselves as a "right-wing nut-job" and a "liberal weiner," respectively.

One more thing on "Fahrenheit 9/11:" For more articles refuting Michael Moore's ideas, check Centigrade 9/11. It's a clearing house of anti-"Fahrenheit" articles and Web sites.

If anyone knows of other good, intellegent discussions (from all sides) of the film, tell me.

In my cruising other blogs and sites for bits and pieces of election news, info and silliness to report, I was very disturbed by an ad on Outside The Beltway.

Right-Wing Stuff sells t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers and such, and some of their stuff is funny, but their slogan is a problem: "Back-handing the Left into Submission." Their ad goes on to claim they are, "The premier conservative superstore. Cutting-edge t-shirts, golf shirts, bumper stickers with YOUR conservative values."

Perhaps the company is unaware of the fact that "back-handing" is the violence of choice for spouse beaters and child abusers. That's hardly a "value," conservative or otherwise, to be proud of. Surely there's a better slogan to be found to convey the company's message.

What do you think? Is the slogan in poor taste? Email me and let me know.

Just before being rendered mostly unconscious for two days by a nasty little illness, I went to see Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11." So what did I think? Well, a lot of things. So many, in fact, that I believe bullet points are called for:

• Even with all the hype and knowing how well it did opening weekend, I was not prepared to see so many people in the theater for a Tuesday matinee. If critics of Moore and the movie are hoping this film will just go away, they will be terribly disappointed. A lot of people are seeing it and a lot of people are talking about it.
• Bring tissues. Though there are laughs scattered about the almost two hours of the movie, the parts I remember most are the mother of a soldier reading the last letter she received from him before he died in Iraq and the sounds of the planes hitting the World Trade Center. I was emotionally drained by the end.
• It is possible to appreciate this film without agreeing with everything in it. Some of Moore's conspiracy theories are a bit hard to wrap logic around, but they do provide interesting points to ponder. For example, being a Floridian, I have a hard time buying the idea that the 2000 election was decided with so much influence by the Bush family and that Fox News calling Florida for Bush was a catalyst for the debacle. Certainly there were a lot of conflicts of interest involved in the ultimate decision, but that entire situation was a complex tragedy of errors, not a strategically orchestrated coup. Moore oversimplifies the situation.
• Regardless of what you think of his views, one point is indisputable: Moore is good at what he does. This is a masterful film.
• Don't criticize it unless you see it. Then it's fair game. That should be obvious, but a lot of criticism is coming from those who are working off what they assume, not what they know. I can understand those who don't like Michael Moore not wanting to line his pockets with their ticket fee, but unless you've seen the film, your arguments have no weight.
• "Fahrenheit 9/11" forwards many ideas that aren't heard in the mainstream media. The film fuels intelligent debate, if the people who see it opt to look further into the points raised and choose to discuss the issues in an informed manner. If people will do that, this movie is good for the country.

Myriad other discussions of the movie are available. See it. Talk about it.

Truth in politics! I've sifted through hundreds of organizations that either claim to be non-partisan and aren't, or don't claim any particular allegiance but make it apparent through their blogs, positions and activities that the organization firmly leans one way or another. I've finally found one that just says, point-blank, they are "a partisan, political non-profit": Music For America.

Like their views or not (and if you're at all conservative, you won't), Music For America doesn't pretend to be above the fray. It's members are down in it, fighting for all they are worth. Using concerts and the Internet, MFA aims to get the quarterlife crowd involved in the political process.

President George W. Bush makes it look like he's playing to the I-4 corridor with his line of "Interstate W'04" election merchandise, though he's really just using the election year, of course. One problem, though: The slogan is "Interstate W '04: Across America." I-4 only goes across central Florida, but I guess that's a bit narrow for a national campaign.

The candidates are trying to get trendy with their campaign gear. John Kerry's stuff is mostly typical, but he does have a "vintage ringer tee" which resembles the stuff I used to sell when I worked for way too little money at Old Navy while I was in college.

My favorite logo, though, is Bush's black and white, "W The President" merch. Just in time for his summer concert tour...

Cable has blessed viewers (or cursed us depending on perspective and mood) with three 24-hour news networks. I'm not a big fan of any of them, but many Americans, particularly those who follow political news, watch the cable networks religiously. For some, it becomes an addiction.

I expect that, in coming years, psychology and sociology graduate students will start churning out dissertations that attempt to explain why people become news junkies and infomaniacs. When they do, they'll study CableNewser.

Brian Stelter, an 18 year-old college student, blogs the goings-on in cable news. It's news about the news - just what we need. Stelter notes the wacky punditry from each of the major outlets, including the ridiculous Bill O'Reilly (Fox)/Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) feud. He also dishes all the other dirt and silliness that goes on at these networks that the casual viewer might not pick up on.

My reaction to CableNewser is one of amusement and awe. For one, it's a really great blog. Stelter gets a lot of information from a variety of sources. At first I thought he must just watch cable news all day. (Only a college student could do this - I know, I recently was one). Instead, he collects tips from a squad of loyal readers and fellow media addicts to supplement his own viewing.

In general, though, the existence of a blog about cable news baffles me. It illustrates that cable news networks have mutated into a genre with a frightening life of its own. Regardless, I'll be checking in with CableNewser throughout the election. Stelter will have some good stuff.

A great online resource for just about anything, including politics and election information, is About.com. While their U.S. Politics section puts "Current Events" as its primary focus, their current events are a little old. The real gold mines in About.com are its collection of links and forums.

The forums are current and varied, with users constantly online and discussing. The factor that determines the success and failure of a forum is activity, and because About.com is a popular place for online discussion about myriad topics, attracting users with varied interests, the political pages get a lot of posts.

Doug Stanley's tech column in the Tribune pointed out a great political site this week: FundRace.org. Using the "Neighbor Search" tool, users can find out who's donating to what candidate and how much they're sending. I entered my home town's zip code and the results were very interesting.

Stanley points out, "The site no doubt makes some people squeamish about personal privacy, but it shouldn't. FundRace doesn't divulge any information that isn't available from the election commission and other sources."

Still, Fund Race brings cyber-stalking to a level I didn't know was possible.

People like to push buttons. And they like to take quizzes. (This is what makes Cosmo significantly more successful than it should be.) So it's no wonder that there are plenty of political quizzes to be had online.

Are you liberal or conservative? Political Quiz Show tries to tell you where you fall on the narrow, right-left political spectrum we've all come to know and love.

Politopia is much more interesting, asserting that there is not really a right or left, but a plane or a map on which people fall to the North, South, East, West, center or anywhere among the various directions.

For a more international perspective, take a United Kingdom version of one of these quizzes: Political Compass. This one is eye-opening. Its illustrations show that, on the global spectrum, all the Democratic presidential candidates, with the exception of Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich, fall very close to George W. Bush.

All these quizzes and others are available at Project Vote Smart. But beware: such quizzes might lead you to rest on a label and think only inside a narrow classification. On the other hand, they may show you that you're not what you once thought. Either way, take the results lightly. These quizzes are about as scientific as Cosmo.

There are also quizzes at Project Vote Smart that test your knowledge of the presidents and the primary system... just in case you get tired of labeling yourself and your friends.

A friend of mine sometimes complains to me about a family friend who forwards to her e-mails espousing ridiculous political theories and claims. She knows they aren't true, but she doesn't know how to respond without starting a "Nuh-uh" vs. "Yeah-huh" argument.

This article on FactCheck.org begins to explain how to debunk all the lying emails floating around the Internet and uses a popular one about Congressional pensions to illustrate.

	Jim Walsh of Waterbury, Connecticut wears an elephant hat at the Republican National Convention in San Diego in 1996. / AP Photo

With John Edwards' surprising showing in the Wisconsin primary and Howard Dean's not so surprising departure from the race, the Democratic primary got a little more interesting recently. After next week's Super Tuesday elections, however, we'll enter a bit of a lull between the primary season and the gloves-off action of the general election. And there are still 9 months left. How does even the most devoted polit-o-junkie maintain interest?

By morphing the candidates' faces, of course. About.com allows users to contort George W. Bush, John Kerry and all the other major candidates like molding clay. I recommend taking your mouse to Dennis Kucinich. It's frightening how quickly he turns into a Star Trek character.