HE’S NOT EVEN PRESIDENT, and Obama’s tax plans are already affecting the market: “Huizenga wants to sell Ross another 45 percent of the team by Dec. 30, the source told The Palm Beach Post. Huizenga is believed to be motivated by his belief that Barack Obama will win the presidency and help implement tax policies that would take a bigger chunk of Huizenga’s revenues from a sale.” (Thanks to reader John Walker for the link).

A “TOTAL LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY” at the Chicago Annenberg project.

RICHARD ADAMS: Remove the tax exemption from most nonprofits?

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: The election is still — as it seems necessary to point out — two weeks away. But in one sense, at least, Obama’s current lead in the polls has already served to demonstrate that the American electorate is perfectly comfortable with the idea of a black President, and even one named Barack Hussein Obama. That’s something in and of itself.

SARAH PALIN BRINGS SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE its largest audience in 14 years.

WORKERS: ACORN INSTILLED FEAR: “Pushed to meet daily quotas and bullied by bosses if they didn’t, Ohio ACORN workers faked voter registrations, signed up people more than once, and even paid off registrants to keep from being fired, its canvassers told The Post. ‘Every day, there was pressure on us. Every single day,’ said Teshika Elder, a Cleveland single mom of three who worked for ACORN this summer.” Sounds like a real sweatshop. Somebody should organize a union or something . . . .

SPREADING THE WEALTH AROUND: “Fraudsters siphoned money out of Nicolas Sarkozy’s bank account after obtaining the French leader’s user name and password. “

FLIP-FLOPPING ON VOTER CONFIDENCE. My thoughts on the problem are here.

IN THE BOSTON PHOENIX, David Bernstein (no, not the David Bernstein) writes:

Conservative blogosphere superstar Glenn Reynolds is now leaning toward Bob Barr. Reynolds lives and votes in Tennessee, and could be a leading indicator of a decision that a fair number of folks, especially in the South (Barr is Georgian), may be considering as they start to see McCain’s defeat as inevitable.

Er, except that wasn’t my point at all. As I noted in the post (which, oddly isn’t linked as other items on the page are), the point was that my vote in Tennessee probably doesn’t matter whether McCain wins or loses, since Tennessee’s safe for him (so my vote doesn’t matter) unless he loses big (in which case my vote doesn’t matter). It has nothing to do with inevitability.

Lots of people are telling us McCain’s defeat is inevitable, but bear in mind that they’re mostly people who would prefer that pro-McCain voters stay home. Vote for McCain or not as you choose, but don’t stay home because people are telling you his defeat is inevitable. (The irony, of course, would be if Obama’s voters stayed home as a result of this line, but I assume his well-oiled vote-turnout machine will prevent that). Anyway, here’s what the David Bernstein has to say about inevitability. Wasn’t Hillary inevitable once, too?

Plus this: “Does anyone else have the feeling there’s a good portion of the country simply killing time until Obama’s coronation?” Plus, the Senate. Though in Tennessee that isn’t close, either. Bob Tuke, the Democrat running against Lamar, is a nice guy — I had dinner with him once, years ago — but that would be an upset among upsets.

JOHN TIERNEY: “If the United States really has a critical shortage of scientists and engineers, why didn’t this year’s graduates get showered with lucrative job offers and signing bonuses? . . . The only ‘shortage’ is of American-born scientists and engineers. But with so many talented foreigners competing for positions here in schools and laboratories, it’s entirely rational for American students to head into fields where their skills are in more demand — and harder to replace with foreign labor.”