Below The Beltway

The former Republican nominee says that 2008 was a watershed year in more ways than one:
Sen. John McCain, an architect of sweeping campaign-finance reform who got walloped by a presidential candidate armed with more than $750 million, predicts that no one will ever again accept federal matching funds to run for the nation’s highest office.
“No [...]

As I’ve said in the past, I am generally in favor of reforming the Electoral College system so that states allocate their voters based on what’s come to be called the District Method.
Under this method, candidates get one Electoral Vote for each Congressional District that they win in a particular state and the candidate who [...]

Dan Larison reminds all of us that things wouldn’t be all that much different today if the other guy had won last November:
It seems to me that implicit in a lot of conservative criticism of the stimulus bill, the mortgage plan, and Obama’s cap-and-trade scheme, among other things, must be the odd notion that things [...]

It won’t really be official until the votes are certified by Congress in January, but Barack Obama has received enough votes in the Electoral College to be elected President:
RICHMOND, Va. — Presidential electors have formally elected Barack Obama the nation’s 44th president.
Electors gathering in state capitols across the country have pushed Obama above the [...]

No surprise, but another step along the way, with a twist of history:
Virginia’s presidential electors have cast their 13 votes for Barack Obama as the nation’s first black president in what was the seat of Confederate power.
Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat and close ally of Obama, noted the poignant and historic moment of Monday’s vote [...]

It’s merely a formality, but it’s one that actually matters as much as Election Day when it comes to selecting the next President:
The outcome of the 2008 presidential contest was determined late on Election Day Nov. 4, when Democrat Barack Obama claimed victory and Republican John McCain conceded. The vigorous efforts since by Obama and [...]

Apparently, that story about a McCain camapaign Blackberry being sold before the memory was wiped, wasn’t an anomaly:
FOX 5 has bought a second phone from the McCain campaign which contains even more information: photos from the Republican Convention, a personal calendar for campaign events leading up to the campaign, and more than 260 ‘contacts’ full [...]

Another tale from the McCain/Palin campaign that makes the case that we were witness to the worst-run campaign in a long, long time:
It started with a snippet we read on page A23 in Thursday’s Washington Post. The McCain-Palin campaign was going to sell its used office inventory at low prices.
But when we got there, [...]

McCain/Palin `08 — Everything Must Go !
Run, don’t walk, to John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., for an amazing Blowout Sale! Computers, blackberries, televisions, desks, you name it - everything must go. Hurry while the offer lasts!
That’s right, the failed McCain-Palin campaign is having a fire sale this week on leftover equipment. [...]

America’s favorite unlicensed plumber disses the man who made him famous:
Joe Wurzelbacher lashed out Tuesday at former GOP presidential nominee John McCain, the man who made Wurzelbacher famous as “Joe the Plumber.”
Wurzelbacher told conservative radio host Glenn Beck that he felt “dirty” after “being on the campaign trail and seeing some of the things that [...]