I WANNA KNOW IF IT'S GOOD TO YOU

Dear AB,

Well I suppose steal it once (and Hunter Thompson is convinced Jeb wantsta be Prez) they could try again. Only it would be ten times harder this time, and for some reason I'm distrustful of how close the polls claim it is. First off I think people are intimidated by pollsters and give answers they don't fully believe just to "sound smart," second pollsters have always readjusted methods after an election proved them wrong, it's a constantly evolving "science" with variables like the weather, who won the series and all that stuff that's out of anybody's control. Kerry has run a hardcore, disciplined campaign, at least since September, but Bush rebounded by the third debate even if he was lying his ass off and refusing to answer key questions (back-door draft the key example). But everything's broken bad for W. since then, this week being the worst: stolen explosives denied, rebutted, and finally left dangling (Giuliani did the UNTHINKABLE: blamed the TROOPS); it's pretty clear this was a huge fuckup and they're flailing. That COULD be enough to tip it, but Rove is a cunning bastard, and I'm surprised he hasn't pulled even dirtier tricks: my sister-in-law was convinced they had capture Bin Laden and would announce it this weekend. However, the Sox won the series, so we live in EXTRAORDINARY times, and I find myself hopeful against all reason and experience.

Prediction: sore winners will make pitiful losers.

And if Kerry loses, we'll know how they all felt about Adlai Stevenson.

whoosh, Tim

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Dear ML,

I feel as though I've been waiting a long time to meet the person who could put me in touch with "That's Where I Went Wrong" by the Poppy Family. I don't know why this particular song had a hold on me, but it's curious what I remembered most: the voice, the tone, the self-pitying bus trip. I didn't remember the song's hook, the ring image, the phony key change, the minor modulation (which sounds flakey to me now) -- blame it on Canada! But it does capture a certain 70s sensibility that I was immersed in during that period of Top 40, and brings back our family's first few days in Pueblo, Colorado, in September of 1970, like nothing else. What does the rest of the Poppy Family's greatest hits sound like? Are there other hits I would remember?

Manana, Tim