IS NEW YORK IN PLAY? That would be big news, but I don’t believe it. On the other hand, with ties in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and leads for McCain in Ohio and Colorado I guess it’s not impossible.

UPDATE: Dan Friedman emails from the Upper West Side in Manhattan:

Even here on the UWS you find people who are wavering or are going with McCain. Not the therapists or the ones who read The Nation, and hardly a majority, but plenty of level-headed professionals and so forth. Now extrapolate that phenomenon to the white ethnic (and Oriental) ‘hoods in the outer boroughs, then further out to the construction worker, cop, and fireman types on Long Island, Rockland County, etc. Then look at the historical voting patterns of upstate. In play? Closer than anyone thinks, that’s for sure.

This may account for the smell of fear emanating from the Democrats.

ELECTION 2008: Your chance to make a historic, bigoted choice — no matter who you vote for!

GREG GUTFELD: Sarah Palin’s Murderous Web of Death. She’s the freakin’ Antichrist, I tell you!

Related item here.

OOPS: “This ad strikes me as a big whine: Hey, no fair. Your ads work better than mine. Quit it. Or I’m telling.”

Plus this: Top Democrats Privately Urging Major Donors To Fund Outside Groups To Attack McCain. I smell fear. But are they really “preparing their excuses for defeat?”

MCCAIN CAMPAIGN jumps on the Obama/Iraq issue.

UPDATE: Dave Schuler doesn’t think Obama has Logan Act problems: “No elected official has ever been indicted under the Logan Act, nearly every time it’s trotted out it’s politically motivated, and it would take a lot more than what’s being alleged here to get the DoJ to act.”

AN ASTROTURF COMMENT CAMPAIGN against McCain/Palin? I’ve noticed some of these myself.

TRAILERS FOR FOUR UPCOMING MOVIES.

CATHY YOUNG: WHY FEMINISTS HATE SARAH PALIN. Plus, some thoughts from Ann Althouse, who comments: “I wouldn’t have titled this piece ‘Why feminists hate Sarah Palin.’ Young never concedes that the feminism that liberals say is the only feminism is, in fact, the only feminism. Nor would I. . . . Women have interests that the parties should have to compete for. I want a vivid debate about what is good for women. Sarah Palin represents one argument, and her feminism will require Democrats to improve their argument and not take women for granted. Sarah Palin brings feminism to a lot of people who’ve been scorning feminism — because feminism has seemed like a strand of Democratic party politics.”

MORE ON Lehman Brothers’ political connections. “The establishment media that sought every opportunity to tie the failure of Enron and its executives to George W. Bush has generally failed to note that Barack Obama is neck deep in money from issuers of subprime loans, even as he crusades against predatory mortgage lenders.”

NEW OBAMA/AYERS/ANNENBERG DEVELOPMENTS: Tom Maguire is on the story. “We know the Times will want to probe this after they resolve open issues about Ms. Palin’s 4-H dues from 1971.”

WEDDING BELLS: “With Chekhov and Uhura at his side, actor George Takei — Mr. Sulu to Trekkies the world over — tied the knot with his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman.” Reportedly, it was a “romantic Buddhist ceremony.”

UPDATE: Reader John Kranz emails: “Happily married with a closet full of phasers. What a country! Congrats Mr. Sulu!” Heh.

PHOTO: How not to protect your car from a hurricane.

BITES FROM THE APPLE: A roundup of Apple computer, iPhone and iPod news from all over.

A COOL PHOTO BY LES JONES:

INTRODUCING THE flex-fuel Hummer.

HURRICANE IKE FALLOUT: NASA could be closed for more than a week.

JILL GREENBERG UPDATE: “The editor of The Atlantic Monthly said Monday he is sending a letter of apology to John McCain after a woman the magazine hired to photograph the Republican presidential nominee posted manipulated pictures from the photo shoot on her Web site. . . . Editor James Bennet said Greenberg behaved improperly and will not be paid for the session. He said the magazine is also considering a lawsuit.”

THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE BUS STOP. The first in a series of grassroots PorkBusters videos hosted by Eyeblast TV. Send ’em yours!

MAKING GPS EASIER TO USE by incorporating online maps.

PROGRESS WITH HOME-BREWED BIODIESEL: “Home-brewed biodiesel may be ready to move from your neighbor’s garage to prime time. No longer is the practice limited to a few mechanically inclined hippies with old converted electric water heaters. Now anyone can order up their own bio-brew kit online. . . . Biodiesel has two distinct faces. Big, young biodiesel companies are rising stars on angel-investor and venture-capital circles’ lists of emerging alt-fuels. Their biodiesel tends to be what home brewers call virgin fuel — made from fresh, new vegetable oil. Most of it is sold to companies and agencies large enough to have their own fleets and pumps. And there’s also the flourishing underground of brewers. From neighbors running reactors in garages, like Jules Dervaes and Hans Huth, to a Piedmont, North Carolina, cooperative that has grown to 500 members in four years and made a million gallons last year, home brewing is well-established.”

Let’s hear it for the flourishing undergrounds!

ADVICE FOR THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN from Mickey Kaus. It’s good advice.

SO PROMISE YOU’LL BUY HER A CHEVY VOLT WHEN THEY FINALLY COME OUT: McCain’s daughter’s Prius causing problems in Michigan.

MAURICE STUCKE: Does the Rule of Reason Violate the Rule of Law?

IN THE MAIL: Jared Sexton’s Amalgamation Schemes: Antiblackness and the Critique of Multiracialism.

CRUDE OIL trading below $100/barrel.

UPDATE: Michael Silence: “Which is falling faster? Crude oil prices? Wall Street? Or Joe Biden’s relevance?” That’s just mean.

Well, there’s similar Biden sentiment at the Huffington Post.