I just received an email sent out by John McCain's Straight Talk America, laying out the senator's travel schedule for the next two days. McCain will be attending four big events in my neck of the woods -- three of which are fundraisers that will be "closed to the press." So it's five days before a watershed election, the last chance for the two parties to make their case to the American people, and the leading candidate to be the Republican nominee for president in 2008 thinks the best way to spend his time and energy is raising money behind closed doors. Remember when McCain's signature issue was cleaning up the fundraising cesspool in Washington? Now it seems to be making deposits in the Favor Bank for 2008.

Did Hillary pull a Goofus or a Gallant? READ MORE

John McCain: The Straight Talk Express Moves Behind Closed Doors Apparently, McCain's straight talk is now for GOP donors only. READ MORE

Kerry Botches a Punchline, the GOP Pounces What could be more absurd than George "I never met a sentence I didn't want to mangle" Bush jumping on John Kerry for his mangled attempt at humor? READ MORE

Rosie, David, and Wolf: Why Don't They Want Us to Win? The GOP's descent into demonization continues. READ MORE

Memo to Dems: Stop Muddying the Messaging Waters READ MORE

Let's face it: the Bush administration is sick. The fall of Ted Haggard is just the latest manifestation of the central disease of President Bush and his cohorts: the pathological refusal to accept reality, and the delusion that reality can be changed by rhetoric. Was Haggard's absurd claim this week that, yes, he saw Mike Jones, but only for massages and that, yes, he bought meth from Jones but never used it, really that different from Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld continuing to claim we're winning in Iraq? That both the Reverend's and the administration's claims were made with the expectation that the public would buy them shows how the chronic refusal to acknowledge reality perverts one's judgment. But while it's the administration that's sick, it's the whole country that's suffering.

Even before the polls close -- hell, even before they open-- the battle within the Democratic Party to control the '06 narrative, to define what the results of this election mean, has already begun. Leading the charge for the party's centrists, as he has for the last 14 years, is Bill Clinton. At a private fundraiser last week, the DLC Dems' Big Dog framed the Democrats' '06 return from the dead as a victory for triangulation and the party's ability to run to the right and cloak itself in the mantle of conservatism. It's the same mindset that has sunk the Democrats again and again. Shades of John Kerry in '04, putting on that just-off-the-rack hunting suit and saying of rural voters, "I actually represent the conservative values that they feel."

TiVo Alert: I'll be discussing the midterm elections tonight on CNN's Larry King Live, and click here to see me discuss the elections with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America this morning.

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However the night goes, one thing you're definitely not going to want to miss: Katherine Harris's concession speech. We predict it will become an instant YouTube classic. This is going to be the last we see of her for a while, and we wouldn't be surprised if she goes out with a loopy bang.

Funny, Not Funny
Funny: Hillary Clinton, casting her ballot along with hubby Bill in Chappaqua, told reporters: "I voted for change, except for me." Not funny: Harold Ford, getting in touch with his inner Elmer Fudd, doing an interview this morning on MSNBC wearing a camouflage baseball cap. Hoped for sublime message: Vote for me, I like guns!

TiVo Alert: I'll be discussing the midterm elections tonight on CNN's Larry King Live from 9-11 PST, and click here to see me discuss the elections with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America this morning.

5:00 pm On Fox, Bill Kristol just credited blogs with today's high turnout. True. Blogs and the public's deep disapproval of Bush. On CNN, the rotu...

Howard Dean just finished a jaw-dropping interview with Lou Dobbs on CNN, seemingly designed to inspire voters in states where the polls haven't closed to just stay home. READ MORE

Conservative Pundits Giddy Over Lamont Loss ... Sherrod Brown: "You Can Count on Me on Iraq" ... ElectionWatch: A Neo-Con Shout-Out; Laurel and Hardy on CNN ... ElectionWatch: Coming Attractions ... Funny, Not Funny

I just got off the phone with Senator-elect Sherrod Brown. After congratulating him, and telling him how great it is to have an economic populist who both understands what's the matter with Kansas and is unambiguously against the war in Iraq, he assured me: "You can count on me on Iraq." Let's hope that his conviction is contagious.

Conservative Pundits Giddy Over Lamont Loss ... ElectionWatch: A Neo-Con Shout-Out; Laurel and Hardy on CNN ... ElectionWatch: Coming Attractions ... Funny, Not Funny

Looking for midterm bright spots, beleaguered conservatives are taking heart in a race in which the GOP candidate lost: Connecticut. On Fox News, Mi...

The GOP lost for three reasons: Iraq, Iraq, and Iraq. Period. End of discussion.

The Huffington Post turned a year-and-a-half old on Thursday (we're still at the age where we count half-birthdays). And what an amazing 18 months it's been, thanks to all of you in the HuffPost community, including our editors, our bloggers, our readers, our commenters, and, of course, all the newsmakers who keep providing a never-ending wellspring of material to blog about. As we move forward, we're planning to roll out a number of new and exciting features in the next few months that will make the HuffPost experience even more interactive and user-friendly. Which brings me to the front page box where my posts appear. They say that in real estate it's all about three things: location, location, location. Well, I've decided to share this prime real estate with some of the other wonderful writers blogging for HuffPost.

TiVo Alert: Tonight on Keith Olbermann, I'll be discussing why Jack Murtha should be majority leader. Tomorrow morning, on the Today show, Nancy Pelosi as the first woman Speaker.

When TIME asked me to take part in a panel this Tuesday to discuss who should be its "Person of the Year", my mind immediately turned to Jack Murtha because, contrary to what Karl Rove would like you to believe, this election was all about Iraq. And Murtha was a key reason the midterms became a national referendum on the war. On Thursday, the House Democratic Caucus is scheduled to vote on who should be its new Majority Leader, Jack Murtha or Steny Hoyer, the current minority whip. I strongly urge House Dems to remember why they're even picking a Majority Leader in the first place and elect Murtha. If it weren't for Jack Murtha, they'd be voting for Minority Leader.

Kim Jong Il: For joining the nuclear club without an invitation. YouTube: For helping turn George Allen's presidential aspirations and Senate career into a huge pile of Macaca.

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Don't shed any tears for Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi. Even though her guy lost, this was still a big win for her. A victory for taking a stand -- and for her leadership.