Some cool polling sites

This one has a compilation of all the polls.

An analysis of the polls/election from a democratic consulting firm.

Random Thoughts

Some cool sports action:

1) The Rockets get Artest. Huge move for Houston if Ron-Ron can stay focused.  They now have three all-star caliber players in Yao, McGrady and Artest.  Add in Scola, Battier, James and Alston.  If they had one decent PG, I think they’d be up there.  Put them in the playoffs instead of Denver.

2) Great move by the Angels to get Teixeira….with Manny-gate in Boston, gotta think they’re the favorite.

3) Locally, the 49ers are starting camp.  There is some definite optimism with the hiring of Mike Martz, which should at the least make the team fun to watch this year (like a car accident).  No, but there is some legitimate hope.  The team has a crop of young players (Gore, Smith, Davis, Staley, Snyder, Willis, Lawson) who have shown some promise.  They also have some solid veterans (B. Johnson, Bruce, J. Smith, Clements, Harris, M. Lewis, Ulbrich, Banta Cain, Heitmann, Jennings) who can contribute.  For them to be in contention for the playoffs, they need some of their key young unproven and rookie players to step up.  (See J. Hill, Ray McDonald, Kentwan Balmer, Rachal, D. Goldston, Terrell Brown, D. Baas

Some Political Thoughts

Biggest campaign issues–

1) The Economy: Check any news magazine, including the cover story of the Economist, this is an economic election.  Housing and financial markets are going downhill, people don’t have health care, technology is expensive and most people are in debt.  Keep in mind that the government is tapped out of options–the Fed can’t reduce interest rates and the government is running such a bad deficit that they have little money to spend.  There are also a ton of longer term, sub-issues here such as our decaying infrastructure and deteriorating education system  (see the following David Brooks article).

2) Foreign Policy–Determining a solid plan for Iraq is important, but it is one amongst many issues.  The next president still needs to deal with a non-proliferation movement losing steam, a hostile Iran, a shaky Pakistan and a rising Al Qaeda (there was an interesting Economist survey on their presence last week).  Obama, in his Berlin speech last week made a strong and important point that I hope he repeats as President–we need Europe to build a viable military force that can help deal with terrorism and human rights abuses.  It is a bit absurd to expect America to cool down every hot spot in the world today.

3)  Health Care.  The people who have it find it expensive, but too many people don’t have it.  This is both an efficiency and equity issue (popularized by Alan Blinder).

4) Tax Reform.  Does not get pressed as a major issue, but tax reform is important.  Simplifying the tax code could save some major administrative money and could become more progressive.

Today’s Thoughts

Bad news for W’s fans–Elton Brand will probably be a Clipper when teams can sign free agents on Wednesday. Even more disturbing is the fact that the Warriors are interested in Corey Maggette and Josh Smith, according to the article. I don’t like either. I am conservative with cap room so I would wait until you could get a star to build around or several good complementary pieces to the Wright, Biedrins, Ellis core.

The Sharks also took a risk and traded for Dan Boyle. To do so, they ultimately had to part with Craig Rivet (for cap reasons), Matt Carle, Ty Wisehart and a first round pick. That’s A LOT to give up. That said, Boyle is probably more talented that the outgoing Brian Campbell, has won a Stanley Cup and is signed to a long-term deal. Wisehart is good, but the Sharks young blueline has Marc Edward Vlasic and upcoming Nick Petricki. Carle has a chance to be excellent and giving up a kid with such high upside scares me. That said, he looked lost out there last year so maybe expectations were overrated. Regardless, you need veterans to win the cup. Detroit underwent a similar trend about 10 years ago as they started heading for the cup. They traded Keith Primeau for Brendan Shanahan and Ray Sheppard for Igor Larionov. They also made key trades for the aging Larry Murphy and Chris Chelios. All in all, San Jose looks to have a nice 5 year window as a cup contender with a core of Thornton, Marleau, Boyle, Michalek, Cheechoo and Nabokov. Right now, they have some nice veterans in Rob Blake, Jeremy Roenick and Mike Grier and some rising young players in Vlasic, Devin Setoguchi (watch out for him), Joe Pavelski, Thomas Plihal, Lukas Kaspar and Torrey Mitchell.

One great political feature: an indepth look at the Hillary Clinton campaign, profiling its rise and ultimate fall.

Some cool videos (quantum of solace trailer and an acapella version of barack obama’s “yes we can”)