Megan McArdle's "scattered" thoughts on Ms. Palin are, oddly enough, among the most coherent and reasonable I've read. She should write stream-of-consciousness bullet points more often.

I realize you have no way of verifying this, but...if I had been a paid political adviser to McCain, this is exactly who I would have told him to pick as a running mate. (If I had been working for Obama, I would have strongly suggested Ms. Napolitano of Arizona), for many parallel reasons, and because it would have actually put AZ in play for the Dems, which would be quite the coup.)

This is to say I think that McCain is getting (politically) smart advice, or he's smarter than he looks. And Obama is suffering from hubris and/or listening to the wrong people. McCain is looking better and better by sticking to what made him popular in the first place, while Obama is faltering because he's been slowly toning himself down since he clinched the nomination. I think this is a gigantic mistake on Obama's part, and one that it is probably too late to correct.

It's a good show, and I'm glad that I feel relatively ambivalent about the outcome at this point. This must be agonizing for those that feel personally invested in one candidate or the other.

(See you tomorrow, Barry!)