This is Conrad Burns in a nutshell:

Democratic Senate challenger Jon Tester appears to hold a slight lead over Republican Sen. Conrad Burns in a new poll of likely voters released Monday. The poll drew an unusually sharp reaction from the Burns campaign.

A Burns spokesman dismissed the USA Today/Gallup poll as inaccurate and initially said the campaign was revoking one newspaper's credentials to attend Burns' election night event in Billings because it wrote about the poll.

. . . "Running a bogus poll on the day before an election to try and suppress Republican voter turnout is irresponsible and in poor taste," Klindt said Monday.

I tell you what suppresses voters - classless bullying from desperate campaigns.

MSNBC reports projected turnout of 70% in strongly Democratic St. Louis County.

If that is true, McCaskill seems to have a leg up in that race.

We'll see. As I said, I am just a rumormonger today.

On MSNBC, The Hill's Amy Stoddard says is in pretty strong terms - there is high turnout today and that is bad for the GOP.

She is predicting big wins for Dems and increasing likelihood the Dems take the Senate.

What does she know? Heck if I know. I'm just a rumormonger right now.

From The Corner, which feeds the GOP election spin on Election Day (and I thank them for that, heck if I had any Dem spin to feed you, I would):

Long Election Week in Maryland?
A source close to Steele tells me they woudn't be surprised — "a very good chance" — if we don't know the results of the Senate race there tonight. Evidently 200,000 absentee ballots, and they won't be counted until Thursday, source says.

Take it for what it's worth.

Three more reasons to vote:

The Pentagon says 40-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Eric J.-Kruger of Garland was one of three officers killed in the Thursday [roadside] bombing. The military has said they were in the same vehicle in eastern Baghdad.

Everything I'm seeing is about voting problems -- at the polls, at campaign offices -- lawsuits are being prepared. TChris and Big Tent Democrat have been following them.

I'm getting ready to head to the CNN blog party.

On Election Night, Tuesday, November 7th, CNN is hosting prominent bloggers from across the country - and across the ideological spectrum - to watch returns, blog alongside one another, and share political insights during its live election coverage. Parts of the event will be streamed live on CNN Pipeline and broadcasted live on CNN's Election Night coverage starting at 7 PM E.T. Blogging begins at 4 PM and may continue into the early morning hours.

Here's a list of the bloggers who will be there.

This report discusses voting problems in Kentucky, including a poll worker's assault on a voter (talk about voter intimidation!):

A poll worker in south Louisville was arrested Tuesday morning and charged with assault and interfering with an election, an official said. Paula McCraney, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Clerk, said the poll worker was accused of choking and pushing the voter out of the door. Election officials called the police and when an officer arrived, the voter wanted to file charges, McCraney said.

The FCC is having a f'ing difficult time deciding whether and when the F-word is indecent. When Bono used the descriptive phrase "f'ing brilliant" on the Golden Globes in 2003, the FCC decided that "f'ing" wasn't used in a sexual context and therefore wasn't indecent, despite the flurry of complaints it received, many of them encouraged by the Parents Television Council. The FCC also took the sensible position that "fleeting and isolated remarks of this nature do not warrant Commission action." No sh--.

Pandering to the religious right, the FCC changed its position in 2004, concluding that the F-word "inherently has a sexual connotation." How f-ing stupid is that? Why can a TV personality describe a sex act in explicit clinical terms without offending the FCC, while risking a fine for using the F-word as an angry modifier in a context that is divorced from sex?

Here's an update on today's election problems, as reported in the NY Times:

In Cleveland, voters rolled their eyes as election workers fumbled with new touchscreen machines that they couldn't get to start properly until about 10 minutes after polls opened. ...

In Indiana's Marion County, about 175 of 914 precincts turned to paper because poll workers didn't know how to run the machines, said Marion County Clerk Doris Ann Sadler. She said it could take most of the day to fix all of the machine-related issues.

Election officials in Delaware County, Ind., planned to seek a court order to extend voting after an apparent computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts there. County Clerk Karen Wenger said the cards that activate the machines were programmed incorrectly.

And in Florida, where voters will have the pleasure of voting against Katherine Harris if they're able to cast their ballots:

Glenn Reynolds rejects the idea of race playing a role in today's election:

But if Ford loses [it won't be because of race] I think it will be because he overplayed his hand. . . . Meanwhile, if Michael Steele loses, will it be proof that Marylanders are racist? Of course not -- he's a Republican!

It won't be the only reason why Ford and Steele lose, but it will be a key reason in my opinion. Reynolds wants to reject the obvious -- some white voters are reluctant to vote for non-white candidates. This is not a new phenomenon. It is not accusing the country of being evil. It is dealing with reality.

Ford winning as a Democrat in Tennessee was a hard thing. But he ran a terrific campaign and was the Media darling. He should be close. Will he be? We'll see.

The same for Steele as a Republican in Maryland. He should be close. Will be be? We'll see.

This is one of many articles and editorials today encouraging people to exercise their right to vote. Here's how it ends:

My son isn’t sure what he’ll do after his tour is up, but he is passionate about wildlife and wilderness. Meanwhile, he has a year in the Middle East, for which he leaves on Saturday. He’s pretty miffed that only three members of Congress have sons in the Iraq war.

But what miffs all four of us is hearing that someone didn’t vote.

Problem, meet solution. Go vote.

Steven Rosenfeld asks whether this will be the election that convinces voters to insist on laws that preserve the integrity of elections -- and, by extension, of democracy.

Or will the people and organizations who raise the problems ... be dismissed as “conspiracy theorists” by the mainstream media?

Accompanying his essay is a list of problems with the 2006 election (including intimidation and other voter suppression tactics, all targeted at likely Democratic voters, as well as voting machine issues) compiled by People for the American Way.

John Nichols writes about candidates who "will form the frontline in a national push for clean and fair elections." Go vote for one of them, if you can.