The latest battleground state and national polls are in

[alcibiades_mystery]

83. Maybe

I think the point is actually that most polls had Michigan out of play when EPIC had it in play. That's the consistency. So, without other polls or other indications that Michigan is in play, EPIC alone does little. Maybe it's significant, maybe it's not. EPIC alone can't tell us.

That's one reading, The other reading is that, yeah, sure, of course MIchigan's in play. Michigan's always been in play. There was the convention bump, and the 47% gaffe, but those simply artificially increased the margin. This was always going to be a close, down to the wire election, and people who think otherwise are not very good observers. So, the fact that we're back to where the race was always going to be anyway doesn't really change much. We go out, and phone bank and door knock, and donate and do all the things you're supposed to do in a close election.

I'm reminded of a story in Michael Herr's brilliant Vietnam memoir Dispatches. A bunch of the young 20-something war correspondents were getting drunk with a grizzled old reporter who had covered WWII and Korea. They were all "pissing and moaning" Herr says, about "how horrible it all was out there." I fucking love you guys, says the old timer, I really do. What the fuck did you think it was gonna be?

I'm tired of the charge of "whistling past the graveyard." It's not thoughtful.