I've been blogging so much I completely forgot that my birthday is Sunday. It's not the big one, but close enough to make me less than cheerful.

We're all been working really hard here. Not just at keeping you up to date with the latest on the election, but in making sure the site stays civil and weeding out the drive-bys and blog-cloggers who come here not to have a reasonable debate but to slam and insult our readers or try to hijack or dominate the discussion.

If you appreciate our coverage, or want to buy me a birthday drink, here are the links. If you're short on funds, don't give it another thought, we'll get by:

Here's the paypal link, it's very easy. If you don't like paypal (which takes credit cards if you don't have a paypal account) feel free to pull a few dollars out of your pocket and send it snail mail. The address is below the fold.

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John McCain's claim that the bailout bill required his personal attention, a claim that prompted him to suspend his campaign (except for all the campaigning he did during the suspension) and to blow off the debate (except for his participation in it), is all the more difficult to swallow today. If the bill is so important that only McCain can lead his party's negotiations, where is McCain today?

Mr. McCain remained in his condominium in Arlington, Va., until 12:30 p.m. Saturday, when he emerged and made a one-minute trip in his motorcade to his campaign headquarters around the corner.

Mark Salter confirmed that McCain won't go to Capitol Hill today, but will make sure negotiations "move along" by talking on the telephone.

Asked why Mr. McCain did not go to Capitol Hill after coming back to Washington to help with negotiations, Mr. Salter replied that "he can effectively do what he needs to do by phone."

Apparently McCain didn't learn until this morning that telephones exist. At least McCain is likely to do less damage if he stays away.

Erick Daniels was 15 when a judge in Durham sent him to an adult prison for an armed robbery home invasion. Daniels should never have been convicted.

Identification procedures had been shaky. There had been no physical evidence tying Daniels to the crime, no testimony to corroborate the charges. The defendant's trial attorney later acknowledged that he had done an inferior job.

Juries, like the police, get it wrong on a regular basis. But here's the shocker:

Perhaps most troubling was prosecutors' failure to follow through when told that someone else -- a federal prison inmate who matched the victim's description of the suspect -- had confessed. The impression left by such lack of initiative is that for some authorities in Durham, once a conviction is obtained, there's no further obligation to make sure justice is done.

Seven years after Daniels went to prison, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson set him free. The confession was such strong evidence of innocence that Judge Hudson didn't give the prosecution a second chance to prove Daniels' guilt. He ruled that no reasonable jury, hearing all the evidence, could find Daniels guilty. [more ...]

Where was Gov. Sarah Palin last night? For an hour before the debate started, she was at an Irish pub in Philly, shaking hands and meeting people.

Palin appeared at the bar on 20th and Walnut streets last night to shake hands with her fans for about an hour before the first presidential debate. While the crowd inside was friendly, hundreds of people lined the street outside in protest with signs that read things like "Palin is Santorum With Lipstick."

She didn't take questions. [More...]

No surprise here:

Charges will be dropped against journalists who were arrested during the Republican National Convention protests and cited with unlawful assembly.

Despite the St. Paul mayor's assurance that the decision to drop charges serves "the public's interest to maintain the integrity of our democracy, system of justice and freedom of the press," the charges are being dropped because they would have gone nowhere. It isn't unlawful to assemble (the First Amendment protects that right) particularly when journalists "assemble" to do their jobs as reporters (also protected by the First Amendment). The arrests were merely to keep the journalists from reporting on the tactics used by law enforcement to quash dissent. They were never intended to result in prosecutions.

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A great line today from Barack Obama, as he hones his argument that John McCain is out of touch with ordinary voters:

"Through 90 minutes of debate, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he didn't have anything to say about you," Obama told a cheering crowd at the J. Douglas Galyon Depot in downtown Greensboro. "He didn't even say the words 'middle class.' He didn't even say the words 'working people.'"

Meanwhile, a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll tells us that McCain is losing ground with older voters. That's unsurprising, given McCain's inability to arrive at a consistent position on social security or on the economic turmoil that threatens retirees who depend upon investment income to maintain a decent standard of living.

Michael Tomasky thinks John McCain twice uttered an expletive during last night's debate. Steven Leser agrees. They might be right. Both link to the portion of the debate that has McCain muttering something that sounds like it starts with "horse." Listen and decide for yourself.

On a positive note, at least McCain didn't drop an F-bomb like his friend Dick Cheney. But then, Cheney wasn't participating in a nationally televised debate.

John McCain: "This [surge] strategy has succeeded. And we are winning in Iraq."

Today in Iraq:

Iraqi police fatally shot a Kurdish politician in one of Iraq's most volatile provinces as he entered police headquarters Saturday to settle a dispute over the arrest of a colleague, officials said. ...

Tension has been rising between Kurds and Arabs in the north because of Kurdish demands for incorporating the northern oil city of Kirkuk and other areas into their self-ruled region of northern Iraq. Kurdish demands for greater control beyond their autonomous region have risen since the 2003 war, and has caused some Arabs in the region to flee their homes.

What's your definition of "winning," Senator McCain? What's your plan for bringing political stability to Iraq?

Shocking and sad news. Paul Newman, one of the finest actors and persons we have ever seen , has passed away.

My favorite Paul Newman scene remains this, from The Verdict:

RIP Paul Newman, a great actor and fine human being.

Go Gators!! Gators Stink!! I hate them, at least until next Saturday. What a terrible loss.

This is an Open Thread.

After the first 15 minutes of the debate last night, I could not watch I was so upset with Obama's performance in the economic portion of the debate. I thought, and still think, Obama gave McCain the upper hand on an issue Obama should have had McCain crying on. But for the rest of the debate Barack Obama dominated John McCain, on foreign policy no less. And Obama won the debate. He was the President on stage. An ironic turn.

Of course I agree with Obama on the issues, so I will favor him anyway. But it was more than that. After a seemingly nervous start on the economy, Obama hit his stride on foreign policy and McCain hit his McNasty button. Mccain was incredibly unlikable and unPresidential. Obama was the President on that stage, not McCain. CGR focus group study gives you an idea what I am talking about:

I was trying to put my finger on what bothered me so much about John McCain's smugness last night and I figured out it had to do with him assuming, by virtue of his lifetime of being a politiican, he's entitled to be President. As if he's paid more dues and has seniority in things besides age.

Then, thinking about my birthday Sunday, I remembered that my good pal and occasional TalkLeft contributor Anita Thompson;'s birthday is today. After our great week at the DNC, Anita left for Manhattan to finish up her senior year at Columbia. So I checked in at her Owl Farm blog to see what's she's up to. She has a great section quoted from her husband's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, '72. It fits McCain to a T. I'm reprinting it below.