Sen. McCain is asking to delay Friday’s debate and says he plans on suspending his campaign for the time being in order to do his Senatorial duties in dealing with the country’s economic crisis. He is asking Sen. Barack Obama to do the same. Obama said no and this is the time the American people need to hear from leaders. He went on to say a president will need to be able to handle more than one thing at once.

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr is suing Texas, demanding John McCain and Barack Obama be removed from the November ballot because they missed the filing deadline.

“The seriousness of this issue is self-evident,” the lawsuit states. “The hubris of the major parties has risen to such a level that they do not believe that the election laws of the State of Texas apply to them.”

The petition also alleges that the Democratic Party’s late presidential filing falsely claimed under oath that Senator Obama had been nominated hours before the nomination actually occurred.

Boy, what a ballot that would be!

Aside from the slightly distracting accent (the spelling is no accident in the headline to this blog entry), Sarah Palin did exactly what the Republican party needed her to do last night. She reinvigorated the base, gave them the youthful vigor they needed and showed herself as a tough yet still incredibly feminine woman—no easy feat. There were a few too many snarky, sarcastic comments for my taste, but she delivered what she needed to deliver. A friend of mine who is at the convention right now says the attitude there before and after Palin’s speech is like night and day. She described the first two days of the convention as funeralesque and now she says there is almost a visible excitement in the air. Let’s see if it holds for McCain’s speech tonight!

For those of you who are anxious to hear from Palin after the recent news about her and her family, then stay glued to the RNC. She is the main speaker tonight and certainly has her work cut out for her. On CNN today, Sen. Hutchison told the media and the public to give Palin a chance and called her Sen. McCain’s ’soulmate’ when it comes to being a reformer and a maverick.  I thought this was pretty gracious, considering she was passed up for the job. Perhaps Hutchison is already grooming herself for an executive position at the Capitol in good ole’ Austin?

By the way, Sen. John Cornyn is having a small fundraiser/watch party at the Tavern tonight if you want to catch the speech in a social setting. The tavern is on Lamar and 12th street and the party is expected to kick off around 7pm tonight.

Talk about an impressive resume… mayor, governor, hockey mom, vice presidential candidate and sports caster! That’s right, Sarah Palin has done it all. Check it out!

At almost the exact time Hurricane Gustav slammed into Louisiana, Bush’s Air Force One touched ground here in Austin. I was among the throng of reporters at ABIA (who had to arrive 3 hours early for security sweeps) to greet him as he walked off the plane. I have to admit, AF1 (we’re on a nickname basis at this point) is pretty impressive. It makes every other plane look like a single engine cessna. Bush then headed over to the Texas Emergency Operations Center where he “checked” everything out and decided he was satisfied with the way Texas was preparing for Gustav.

“The coordination on this storm has been a lot better than during Katrina,” said Bush.

Gov. Rick Perry reiterated that point with a simple, yet poignant observation. “Your home state did good,” he said.

Shameless, I know.

It seems teen pregnancy isn’t just the rage in the glitzy world of L.A. anymore, but even among daughters of ultra-conservative politicians. Sarah Palin confirmed today that her 17 year old daughter, Bristol,  is 5 months pregnant. She plans to have the baby and marry the baby’s daddy… all by her own accord  (I’m sure mumsy went through all the options with her). All of a sudden a campaign that seemed historical yet a bit of a yawn has now taken a turn for the “Hills” (A reference directed toward our tween readers).

Bristol with her parents