Kat and I are feeling much less paranoid about November 3 and its potentially world-changing outcome — one way or another. In the past two weeks or so we have learned Trump paid no income tax for a whole bunch of years out of the past 20, that in his two most recent returns he paid less tax than a small town cop or teacher, watched him and so many of his unmasked cronies contract covid-19, saw him lose bigly in all the polls, and shout himself in the foot in his debate with Joe.

To celebrate, today we took an early leaf-peeping ride across the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway in northern Georgia. We have had above average rainfall, and while the nights are getting cold, so far we have had no freezes or frost. The Scenic Highway goes up to 2,000 feet higher than our campground, so unless Hurricane Delta blows leaves off our trees, we will have a colorful fall. Green still predominates, but we saw some brilliant cranberry reds today and some of the usual yellows. It was a nice three hour ride and a much needed respite from the storm of negative political ads on the Atlanta TV stations. (The GOP is worried – they are wearing out the airwaves here defending Perdue, Trump, and Kelly Loeffler.) Loeffler is running a strange series of ads whose theme is “Kelly is more conservative than Attila the Hun.” No, this is not a state you want to emigrate to. But it is turning soft purple.

I had worried about Tuesday night’s V-P debate. Pence is always calm, and self-assured as he tells you “The earth is flat.” But it turned out fairly well. Today’s early polls show that Trumpers still love him and Biden voters still plan to vote Democratic. Plus, the undecideds (how did they find any?) are moving toward the Blue skies.

Here are the words of some of the New York Times opinion writers.

Elizabeth Bruenig “Pence may be evangelical, but he’s not charismatic.”

Michelle Goldberg “His superpower is spouting ludicrous lies with smarmy sincerity, but it was still surreal to watch him pretend that things are going well in America right now.”

Linda Chavez “Likability is always a factor in politics. Harris came across as your smart friend who is concerned for your welfare, and Pence a dyspeptic salesman trying to sell you a clunker.”

But the real hero of the evening is that fly who found Pence’s helmet hair so attractive it sat there for its allotted two minutes. Two minutes of fly time represents the equivalent of one human day in a fly’s 30 day life; it must have really admired something in the scent of Mike’s coif.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/style/vice-presidential-debate-kamala-harris-style-fly.html

Pence may carry that fly with him for the rest of his political life. I do hope so.

Things are looking good for our democracy, if we can survive the burning of our villages and the salting of the fields that the Lyin’ King will decree if he is not somehow stopped after losing the election.

https://twitter.com/TeamJoe/status/1314041430382272514

But there is mischief yet to be done, and fact-free conspiracies to be hatched and revealed. We must all vote. Long ago I made phone calls for Obama and have rarely enjoyed telephone conversations more. Volunteer to make calls. The campaign will not trust undecideds to a rookie, so you will only speak with The Choir. You will be stunned at how pleased The Choir will be to hear from you.

Way back then I made a bunch of calls. All went well. And then there was this one.

I had Marie LaRose on my call list (not her real name). I rang her up and got a message on her voice mail in French. I speak only a little Espanol, no French, and could only say “I hope I do not have a wrong number. I am Jackson Elder calling for the Obama for Change campaign just to ask if you have voted today, and if not, do you need a ride to the polls?” I was startled to hear this very lightly accented Francois voice command me “Do not hang up! I thought you were one of those damned Republicans!”

We talked about Obama, and Elizabeth Dole (we both viewed her as a great little actress) and reassured each other that things were going to go well for the Republic that day. And they did. 44 won, Dole lost and retired from politics, but eight years later Trump came along.

Let’s vote him out! Here’s some marching music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89fgNaZRKGc