Election 2008: Purple State Videos

Purple States citizen journalists Elizabeth Gotsdiner and Bert Sobanik were online Thursday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the documentary video project, and what they've learned on their travels through swing states ahead of Tuesday's election.

The transcript follows.

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Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Hey everyone! It's Lizz!

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Dallas: What is the deal with Obama's plan? I first heard that everyone under $250,000 will get a tax break. Yesterday, Obama said now everyone will get it who makes under $200,000. Now we are hearing from Biden it is going to be $150,000. Is anyone going to get anything? Why the change in the last couple of days before election? Should he not change it then right after he wins?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I've been hearing all this same rhetoric. This is one issue that makes me uncomfortable with Obama. For starters, I think distribution of wealth is not the best idea. I believe in earning what's yours. Initially I found $250,000 to be too little a number, but as the number has continued to drop I've been very turned off. Plus these developments have happened after early voting, and maybe this would have swung some voters the other way. I have chosen to wait until voting day for a reason.

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St. Petersburg, Fla.: Many voters or potential voters feel that the two major parties are both failures in their own rights. It's apparent that the American populace clearly wields no true influence over its government (just look at the opposition to the bailout). As someone who shares concerns about civil liberties and war, but also about the failures of the welfare state and our undeniably socialist moves (especially the nationalization taking place right now), do you see any viable alternative to my motivation to vote third-party, if nothing else as a "protest vote"? Do you expect to see a spike in third-party votes this election season?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Third-party candidates are candidates, and deserve the attention and recognition that comes along with running for the presidency. The mainstream media hasn't given them the time of day, but ya wonder what came first, the chicken or the egg? Is it because of the lack of coverage that they are not heard, or the do not receive coverage because not enough voters identify with them?

I know a number of voters who are voting third-party as "protest votes." The reasoning is logical enough, but I unfortunately am not familiar enough with these candidates to vote for them. What if I voted on principle alone and later found out that I disagreed with the fundamentals of the candidates? Bert has said this in the past, and I will reiterate: Vote your conscience.

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Brooklyn, N.Y.: How do swing-state voters react to the name-calling and negative campaigning? Do you see any credit going to the candidate who avoids doing this, or has negative campaigning in this cycle -- like many others -- worked to move swing voters?

Bert Sobanik: We in Maine are among the few states that actually divide out our minuscule number of electoral votes. There is talk that one will go to John McCain from the eastern district. That said, I blanch when I see men -- one of whom will lead our country -- take cheap shots during a commercial or a debate.

When I saw Huckabee getting all worked up at the debate in Myrtle Beach about how Iran would "enter the gates of hell" if they fired on one of our destroyers in the strait, I felt a little ashamed for him because it was so out of character from the way I knew him at the start of his campaign. He changed his demeanor entirely once the GOP handlers "remade" him.

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San Francisco: What steps are being undertaken to ensure that we have a "democratic" election, so that people are not disenfranchised again in swing states like Ohio, Florida and New Mexico? In what ways can journalists be diligent in getting real information out as opposed to parroting what they are being told, so that we can guarantee that the election has allowed for the sanctity of the vote?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Honestly, I was a little put off by Bush taking Florida in the last election. I voted for Kerry. But after I spoke with Kerry a few weeks ago in New Hampshire I now regret that vote. I wonder, though, how disenchanted I truly would have been during the most recent election had I known more about those guys ... because I honestly really didn't know much. It was my first election.

Superdelegates and electoral votes confuse me, and jeopardize the importance of my vote in my mind. But it still counts, and it's still important! I was rooting for Ron Paul for some time, and I took criticism for supporting him. My point was that if we vote honestly, then we can see our faults. We can see what people care about, and who they truly support. But if people keep voting for the two main parties, how can we dog that? I mean, they still are getting the majority of the votes, right?

Bert Sobanik: The states themselves are responsible for maintaining the integrity of their voting system.

I would welcome oversight from internationals (from friendly nations of course) who have no axe to grind here, to provide oversight, much as we have done in countries where election procedures are suspect.

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Pentagon City, Va.: I thought it was a tax increase if you make over 250K like Joe the Plumber, and a tax cut under $200,000. So $200,000-$250,000 would be status quo, I suppose.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Sorry, I don't have the published answers in front of me. Yes, I meant tax increase. Now, not to say that I think higher tax brackets should get tax cuts, and if the amount of money were closer to $1 million and up I would be more comfortable with "taxing the rich." I just don't see $150,000-$250,000 as being enough to tax alongside the very rich.

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Real America: "Distribution of wealth is not the best idea. I believe in earning what's yours."

News flash: The U.S. has had income taxes since 1861.

Bert Sobanik: The Bush tax cuts during a time of war are definitely a redistribution of wealth. The rich get richer right now; later on, when the debt gets distributed, I guarantee that the lion's share ends up on the backs of the middle class ... if there even is one at that time.

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New York: Can you tell us about the things you found most surprising when you got to interact with the candidates directly?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Well, at first I was terrified and nervous to speak to them. I thought that I was going to make a fool of myself, or they were going to be mean to me or laugh at my level of political knowledge. As time passed, I realized I had control, and the last thing they want to happen is for a camera to catch them being crude to a curious citizen. So I learned to take advantage of that. I think they are more scared of us than we are of them.

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Rolla, Mo.: Look, this isn't that hard. Obama always has said if you make less than $250,000, you won't see your taxes go up. Above $250,000, you'll see an increase. If you make less than $200,000, you'll get a tax cut (between the two, no impact). Those under $150,000 will get a tax credit in addition to a cut. Can you understand?

Bert Sobanik: The promises made during campaign season have a way of giving way to reality once the candidate takes office. The deficits of recent time will become unacceptable to our creditors soon; at that time I think there will be another "New Deal" where we have to start paying for more of our programs as we go instead of "later on."

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Shartlesville, Pa.: I don't understand what your point is in this video, Lizz. If Barack Obama is aiming too high with his plan, and John McCain is aiming too low, isn't the best idea to vote with the one who at least is trying?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I wouldn't necessarily say aiming high or low -- I think it's more a matter of practicality and possibility. If McCain were a little more generous in health care I would be much more comfortable with him, but I disagree with forcing people to pay into a pool for everyone. My main concern with universal health care is the quality and availability of care. I don't see us holding our position of having the best medical practice in the world if we don't have restrictions on it.

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Brooklyn, N.Y.: Undecided still? Well there must be good reason. What are the issues that are keeping you from deciding? Perhaps the two major candidates seem like a choice between two evils. What are some of the best third-party options, and what does voting for them actually accomplish? Also, I try to pick the issues that tie most closely into my concerns and the concerns of my family, and then whichever candidate's views are best, I support them.

washingtonpost.com: Video: Still Undecided Just Days Before the Election (washingtonpost.com, Oct. 29)

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Of course all voting is relative to the voter. I'm pretty much decided at this point, but so nervous and skeptical about it. I wish our options were better. That's the truth. But who knows, I might get in that voting both and vote for Bill McKay.

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Durham, N.C.: I saw the video today. How can you be undecided? You have one guy happy to be in the quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan, and one guy who wants to leave. You have one guy who wants universal health coverage, and one guy who wants to throw you a tax credit. You have one guy who wants to "drill baby drill," and one guy who will drag his feet on drilling. You have one guy who wants more regulation of the banking industry, and one guy who really doesn't. One guy who raises money from corporate bundlers, and one guy who raises money $86 bucks at a time. This is about as black and white as it gets.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: To be entirely honest, everything they say are "promises." I found myself growing exceedingly skeptical as the year has passed, and now I'm in a rut and a hard place. For starters, They both want out of war, McCain just has a longer timetable for that to actually happen. And as for Obama, he has changed his stance on his timetable. Starting in the primaries he said "the day I become president I will begin bringing home one to two brigades a month." Now he says he will sit down and discuss it, with no definite timetable. That for one has frustrated me.

NAFTA was another point for me. Initially I was against globalization and free trade, and I believed Obama would be the guy to bring jobs back. Well, as I have been researching NAFTA for a paper I'm writing in Foreign Policy, I found Obama has no plan or policy in place about NAFTA. I don't like how vague he has become.

Universal healthcare ... not my bag, baby. I'll end this novel on that note :)

Bert Sobanik: There is more to a candidate than their campaign promises -- remember the first Bush's, "read my lips," but there were so many more. The promises only are binding until the election is won, then come the excuses, and the need to pay back the "big" contributors. Obama, in Flint, Mich., said he would increase the size of the military! He also said he only would remove "combat" troops from Iraq. Please do not think that the Democratic candidate is not getting corporate "bundles." The point is that if you watch real close, the two front-runners are proposing near identical leadership, with only tiny shades of difference to thrill the electorate.

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Vincennes, Ind.: If people are tempted to vote -- again -- for the lesser of two evils, maybe they should stop worrying about how their vote might affect that horse race and use it to escape the "lesser evil" trap? It's simple: Find someone who hates your lesser evil and agree to remove your votes from that horse race -- one from each candidate -- and cast them honestly for the third-party or independent candidate you really would like to see in office. Or show up and either cast a "blank" for the race, or write in anyone from Ron Paul to Homer Simpson (knowing your vote won't be counted) in order to increase the number of "none of the above" votes this year.

We don't have to keep puking about the results we get if enough of us just get off the merry-go-round! This idea is explained in more detail at VoteBuddy.org and VotePact.org. Comments?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I understand your point of view -- I've been listening to it for months now, and I agree with it. But I don't know the third-party candidates, and after the year I've endured and had to learn about the "Repulocrats," as they are so often called, I do not have to time to brush up on the third-party candidates. With the next election I will keep a closer eye on them though. :)

I have considered this year my learning curve.

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Orlando, Fla.: Hi Bert, hi Lizz. In 2000, Ralph Nader split the Democratic vote and perhaps cost the Democrats the White House. His rationale was that this would cause an upswing in left-wing activism -- even if it hurt the Democratic Party. What results do you hope to achieve from your support of third-party candidates?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I've chosen not to support a third-party candidate, so I will just let Bert have this one ;)

Bert Sobanik: The problem here is not that Nader took too many votes, it is that he did not get enough to win. Heck, if your candidate cannot win the election without the votes of another voter's candidate, maybe they need to strengthen their platform instead of blaming someone else.

Ross Perot did not screw up George H.W. Bush's election in favor of Clinton, he simply did not get enough to win himself (he got mine and won several counties here in Maine)!

If any candidate is so weak that they cannot stand out in a larger field than just "us vs. them," then they do not deserve the office. This election will see more third-party voters than ever, increasing the chance that issue-sensitive elections may occur sometime soon.

Just because there are voters who cannot see beyond two candidates (that largely are shoved down their throats) does not make me feel that I have to vote for "red" or "blue."

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Q and A: Q: How do you know when you've become an "inside the Beltway" type? A: When you type phrases like "I just don't see $150,000-$250,000 as being ... rich."

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I have a few questions lined up similar to this one. Let me try to clarify: People that are making this amount of money are well-off. I'm not saying they're not. They are also people who get up every day, go to work, work hard, work harder, don't get government aid, pay for everything they own (even though they probably use credit some) and created that life for themselves. They also pay for their children's college.

I'm completely novice at this, so don't pick on me too much -- I'm still learning. I'm not sure about exact numbers, but I do know that lower-income people will receive government aid all the want. So why should we tax people in the upper-middle class to pay for everyone else? How does breaking even and working harder make it fair?

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New York: Is the race over? It seems like Obama is running away with it, but is that what the two of you have seen as well?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: No! The race is not over until Nov. 4. It's going to be an exciting week! More so, it's going to be an exciting four years! Whoever gets into office, sit back and relax, it's going to be one hell of a show!

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Re: Graduated tax structure: "For starters, I think distribution of wealth is not the best idea."

So you favor a flat tax? And you can read about the tax plan on Obama's Web site. $250,000 for families, $200,000 for individuals.

Bert Sobanik: Mike Huckabee's platform of switching to a flat -ate consumption tax got my attention right away. A consumption tax would ensure that those who are contributing the most to resource-depletion and global warming pay the most taxes for doing so. It also would be much easier to administrate, freeing up hours and hours for people all over the country in early April. Also this would reward people who save to buy a home or send their children to college, because saving money would not cause you to pay taxes on interest or the earnings. Our current economic crisis did not come about because Americans are saving too much.

The IRS is a huge bureaucratic beast, specially managed so that big earners in our society do not pay taxes proportionate to the benefits that our society affords them.

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Texas: You both should not vote. You have no grasp of any of the platforms, nor a grasp of reality. Study up a bit, find out what is important to you -- because the choices and positions are stark. If you are undecided, wait until 2012 ... do not vote now, you are of clueless.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: That's just rude, dude.

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New York: You guys have been around the country. How divided are we? Is the rift repairable?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I wouldn't even say we are divided. Yes, there are strong Republicans and strong Democrats, but I think it's best to describe them as strong McCain supporters and strong Obama supporters. At the end of the day we are all American, and everywhere I've been I've gotten nothing but a deep sense of pride and honor for my country -- if not from the candidates, from the American people. Not one time in this past year -- or in my life for that matter -- when I have been to a rally and heard our national anthem did I not get goosebumps. Love it. :)

Bert Sobanik: The country is nowhere near as divided as the candidates and the media portray it to be. The people who are polarized in party dogma are out there, but on the Purple States trail the more we learned (my observation) the more tolerant and understanding we became.

Everywhere I went I was able to talk to people who were different in race, gender, creed, political stripe and profession without the feeling that they would hate me for holding my own beliefs.

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Dallas.: I think trying to pin down the candidates on the exact details of their plan is unrealistic. Neither candidate knows the full scope of any one of these issues, and the process is sufficiently complicated and fluid that you need to adjust frequently. It's sort of like a job interview -- no one really knows every single detail of the job they are interviewing for. That's why I would look at a more generalized view, to get a sense of the candidates' philosophies, because the details are important but they can't be set in stone.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Agreed.

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Sedona, Ariz.: Ha! Liz, you are hilarious. It's a circus and you've been following it from town to town. Does it make you lose and gain respect for the state of American politics?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Heh heh. A complete circus. I particularly like the schedule of the rallies. Watching them come in like red-carpet celebrities with "Eye of the Tiger" playing ... that's the part where I slap my knee the whole time!

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Arlington, Va.: No matter who wins, taxes eventually will rise. Someone has to pay for the bailout and the bill will come due sooner rather than later

Bert Sobanik: Truer words have not been said -- the "bailout" is actually more of a "keep it going just a little longer." There have been no fundamental changes in our financial system to modify the basic causes of the problem. Never once did I hear a call to repeal any of the bad legislation that led to this mess -- just more monkeying around with the once-good system that we gave up in the name of "deregulation" and "fair mortgage practices," all of which were written by the finance industries themselves.

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How does breaking even and working harder make it fair?: Earth to Elizabeth: Life's not fair. Get over it.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I believe in personal responsibility. At the end of the day my actions were my choices. I have no one to blame but myself. Then you would say that having things unfair are okay. That's perfectly fine. Enjoy your matrix.

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Vincennes, Ind.: Any voter in a "safe" red or blue state who hates the Demolican status quo has no reason to vote for either Obama or McCain. After all, if Obama, say, is going to win your state, he doesn't need your vote -- and your vote won't help McCain. So why not take the opportunity to use your vote to indicate exactly what direction you want the country to move in, by picking the minor candidate closest to your views?

Bert Sobanik: Wow, that is a new spin on "don't waste your vote," and as much as I like it I still feel like I want to vote for the candidate who I would like to see in the presidency regardless if they are a long shot. The way I look at it is, if I can ignore the polls, the media bombardment and the hoards of well- or not-so-well-wishers, so could every one else!

I will vote Libertarian, and maybe enough disgusted U.S. citizens will do the same that we get some action going!

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Washington: This is my third presidential election cycle I will vote in and I am appalled at how the media has tripped over itself in building up Obama. For the first time in my life I am not proud of this country, because it is allowing big media to exert so much control in national policy

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: This I can identify with -- the agenda-setting can be aggravating sometimes. I have found the Obama supporters to be much louder and have larger masses. When I am having conversations with people in my neck of the woods about Obama and McCain, however, the Obama supporters have lacked the knowledge of his policies as opposed to those of McCain. This isn't speaking for everyone everywhere, though.

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"So don't pick on me": You're in The Washington Post, reporting on politics! You signed up to get picked on. That said, I think you're doing well and I hope to read more of you in the future.

Boston.

Bert Sobanik: Yo Boston, we are "off-the-streeters" just getting our 15 minutes of fame. Pick if you must, but also try to identify the lack of polish as being the genuine reactions of people new to this game, and the media is definitely part of the "game" in politics.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Ya, take that!

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Princeton, N.J.: I am 70 years old and I can tell you that you can live very well on $100,000 a year in a very expensive place. If $200,000 is not rich, it is certainly very well-to-do. Look, the overall U.S. tax rate is 26.1 percent and Sweden's is 50.1 percent. Not only did Sweden have higher per capita GDP growth, but their people get high-quality health care, free education including college and they live longer and are happier. Low taxes are always good; high taxes are not always bad.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: The U.S. situation is nothing like Sweden's. We are multicultural and they are not. They are starting to be and their system is starting to break down. We should be proud of what we have here and continue to support the Constitution and what it says.

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"Universal health care": Have you actually read what Obama is proposing for health care? We are not talking about universal health care. What he wants is that anyone who wants health insurance can get it for a reasonable price, even if they have pre-existing conditions. He's not forcing anyone to have any particular type of insurance, except if you have kids -- then they have to be insured. But this is very different from what Canada and many European countries have, which actually is universal health care.

Bert Sobanik: The way I see it, the health care insurance industry in this nation is so huge and profitable that it cannot be changed or even regulated by an act of Congress. The figures I keep getting show that somewhere between 35 percent and 50 percent of the money spent on health care goes for the administration of health care -- claims-processing, profits, actuaries, appeals, malpractice insurance. Up to half the cash is going to profits and paperwork! It would take a true giant among men to be able to push that big money-grabbin' operation back into what was once a nonprofit "mutual' industry. Another poster child for "deregulation."

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Go ahead: Liz, by now we all know who you will vote for, so just go ahead and vote for him. Whether he wins or not, you won't feel as bad as you would for voting for the other guy. You don't have to prove anything to anyone. Being undecided at this point is a joke. You are leaning toward one side, and making $1 million (not under) is rich to you, vote your conscious/wallet. Maybe you just might get that guy in office who will continue giving you the tax credit or cut you are looking for -- after all you have worked so hard to earn yours, and you should keep it, forget everyone else.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: No, not forget everyone else at all. Personal responsibility. I would not consider someone at this point foolish for being undecided. I've spent this entire year learning and absorbing. There's a lot out there. Taking everything in has been quite overwhelming. This entire experience has been quite overwhelming -- in the greatest sense.

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Dallas: Obama has been consistent on his tax plan -- he says it two ways though. No tax increases under $250,000 and tax cuts under $200,000. Really there will be tax cuts under $200,000, while $200,000 to $250,000 will be the same.

Both candidates have two different economic plans, bottom-up or top-down. Neither is particularly new or earth-shattering. We had a structure similar to Obama's plan in the Clinton years and a structure similar to McCain's plan in the Bush years. History can tell us a lot in this respect.

Bert Sobanik: The Clinton years' economy was in large part because Alan Greenspan "overheated" the economy with excessively low interest rates (see the results?) and also that was before we had the Clinton double-whammy of NAFTA and "permanent most-favored-nation trade status for China." These two pieces of bad trade legislation make it highly unlikely that either candidate can bring back the "good old days" of American manufacturing glory.

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Los Angeles: Are you decided on who to vote for? Who? How long have you known? When did you know? How did you come to that decision? How confident are you that you are making the right decision? Thanks.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I am finally a decided voter. Ah! You asked the golden question I am so hesitant to respond to! I've known, and danced on egg shells, for a few days, really. I was doing an international interview with CNN, and I kind of showed my true colors. Ha! Confident? No way. Uncomfortable to the max. But I don't see it being any other way.

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Alexandria, Va.: I think people look at tax breaks in too black-and-white terms. Many people graduate from college, make far less than even $150,000 and are saddled with student loans and find that they are paying more in taxes then those who make more money but can afford to pay accountants to do their taxes, thus finding them all the loopholes the rest of us know nothing about. That is maddening.

It is not just "lazy" people who are benefiting, it's new grads -- those who would prefer to work at nonprofits but can't afford to because of health care costs and tax rates -- families that can't afford the day care to have more than one parent work, and all those who live away from the cities, where it is very rare to see anyone make $150,000-$250,000.

Bert Sobanik: The lack of health care coverage in this country stifles innovation and smal- business growth. I worked with people who were dying to open their own businesses, but "I would lose the family health plan." Also I worked with people who had great ideas for new innovation but had to stay with "the old grind" just because they could not afford heath care insurance if they pursued new opportunities. Meanwhile we provide health care to people in prison. This one makes my head hurt. All the other industrialized trading partners subsidize their manufacturing base by providing health care. Seen our manufacturing base lately?

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I don't see us holding our position of having the best medical practice in the world if we don't have restrictions on it.: The World Health Organization ranks the U.S. 37th in health care -- above Slovenia, but below Costa Rica. If you rank the U.S. and the 12 other wealthiest developed countries according to the 16 basic public health statistics (infant mortality, life expectancy, etc.), we rank last or next to last in each category. Other wealthy countries get much better health care and they pay less than half of what we pay. The evidence is overwhelming.

Bert Sobanik: What? Do you want to take the profit out of this huge cash cow just for the sake of dying babies and old folks who can not afford medication? Sounds down right un-American to me! :)

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Black Mountain, N.C.: This is a question for Bert. If conservatives are red and liberals are blue, what color are Libertarians? (It's not a riddle -- I really want to know the answer.)

Bert Sobanik: White from many years in the closet, I guess.

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Loving the spins: Bert, if the Clinton years gave us these bad times, what will the "W" years give us?

Bert Sobanik: The apocalypse, most likely. These guys have subjugated every possible freedom and source of honest wealth that the generations before us ever held dear. We were too busy watching ESPN to feel how badly we were getting burned.

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Fairfax, Va.: The Ronald Reagan earned-income tax credit was a pure redistribution plan. This country, with the progressive tax always has redistributed wealth -- that is what taxes do ... sorry. The roads built, trains and infrastructure, public transit, etc., all support the common good, not the selfish slug who wants to sit in a tower and horde what is his.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: So should everyone receive equal pay? I don't consider earning "hording."

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We had a structure similar to Obama's plan in the Clinton years and a structure similar to Bush's plan in the Bush years.: We also had a tax picture similar to Obama's in the period from 1946 to 1973. Was the prosperity then because of Greenspan?

Bert Sobanik: Greenspan's low interest rates urged on the risk takers and "venture capitalists" to do take overs, introduce marketing schemes and generally persuade a large potion of the public that being in debt was a "natural" state of being for Americans.

The wealth that was drawn against peoples homes, along with credit-card debt, went almost entirely overseas for imported autos, electronics, clothing, footwear and expensive doodads of all nature.

Debt is not the answer, debt is the problem. Low interest rates, made artificially low by the Federal Reserve, punish savers and reward borrowers. Who is going to blame the savers for the current problem?

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Ellicott City, Md.: A strong argument (to me at least) for a two party system is that when it comes down to it, voters have to choose one or the other. Neither candidate will be perfect, but one will be chosen over the other. How hard is it to govern if you win an election with 30 percent of the vote? Additionally, a candidate who gets 50-plus percent of the vote would be more open to compromise with the other side than someone who could win by stirring up 30 percent support from "true believers."

Runoffs would alleviate this while complicating elections, but I think the final vote needs to come down to two candidates.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I can't say that I agree that the vote should come down to two candidates, but it does. For that reason, among others, I will be voting for one of them.

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Washington: Do you think the Republican Party is going to last after this election? I'm predicting a major split.

Bert Sobanik: Anytime a party loses the House and two years later the executive, I would expect that there will be a shakeup.

I went to the Maine GOP convention this year and the Ron Paul supporters (who made up the majority of the under-55 crowd) in spite of a large, noisy showing were completely ignored by the party "leaders" at the podium. I was deeply disillusioned when I saw that this was not a bottom-up process, but instead a top-down arrangement where Ron Paul -- in spite of his popularity -- could not even get his name mentioned from the podium.

The Republican Party needs a darn good shaking in my opinion -- they had six years of total dominance (2000-2006) and they returned nothing to the citizens, just the Patriot Act, tax cuts for the wealthy and massive debt for everyone else. I hope they implode.

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Curious but . . . : "The Obama supporters have lacked the knowledge of his policies, as opposed to those of McCain."

How would you be able to judge that without knowing what Obama's positions are yourself? You pretty clearly have indicated that in this chat. Perhaps McCain's supporters are spouting what they hear in the sound bites, which isn't necessarily the truth.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: I'm not trying to portray myself as omniscient in any sense. A year ago I couldn't even name the candidates running. I will continue to learn, grow and become politically savvy as I get older. I know the basics -- I live on a college campus, and I can't say that for everyone. That was my point.

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Ann Arbor, Mich.: The Republicans have been in charge of the legislative branch for 12 of the past 14 years. The Republicans have been in charge of the executive branch for the past eight years. Wow. Don't you think its obviously time for a change?

Bert Sobanik: It is time for a change -- that was what the Democrats promised us. That is also what "Dubya" promised at the end of the Clinton mess.

I want change that is not just more of the same old stuff by the other party. They both nurse on the same big-money Political Action Committees. Neither one is able to break free.

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Obama's tax breaks: $200,000 is the magic number for individuals, $250,000 for families, I believe.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: When is successful too successful?

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What?: You spoke to Kerry and he so upset you that you now wish you had supported Bush in 2004? Did he leave a crappy tip or something? Have you had a check-up?

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Oh no ... I never said I would vote for Bush! I would not vote for Bush. I just think we feel we have an insane election now, but I wasn't as aware then as I am now. I would have been really flustered in the last election if I didn't vote just to vote.

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Princeton, N.J.: Your theory that low interest rates in the '90s caused later problems would be good except for the fact interest rates were not low under Clinton. Thirty-year fixed rates ranged between 6 percent and 8 percent from 1992 to 2000, and were much lower later. Look it up.

Bert Sobanik: How about my theory that "permanent most-favored-nation trade status for China" blew our most basic wealth generator, manufacturing, off-shore?

By the way, I did not state that interest rates were low in absolute numbers but only in direction. Greenspan lowered the rates while the economy did not indicate necessity of it, thus the dependency of Wall Street on "cheap money".

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Washington: What's up with Arizona turning pink? Why is McCain having to run robocalls in his own state?

Bert Sobanik: If I recall, Gore did not take Tennessee in the primaries. It all probably has to do with the fact that most politicians with any time in have a certain amount of "baggage" that is most apparent to those who know them best -- the people of their state.

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For Dallas: Obama's $250,000 is for joint filers; $200,000 is for single filers.

Elizabeth Gotsdiner: That helps clear some things up for me. I will have to go check it out for myself now ... that's one big thing I learned -- check your sources.

Bert Sobanik: I never made half that much, even when I worked 80y hours a week, I would say that in order to make that much this nation is giving you some sweet deal and you should be paying a good amount of taxes to the good of the state. The next thing is, the government should spend no more than it takes in. Last year we paid $430 billion in interest on the debt, and this year will be a lot more -- more than we spend on the war even. I say, if you don't like the taxes, cut the spending -- don't up the borrowing.

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Elizabeth Gotsdiner: Thanks everyone! Have a great day!

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