Shocker: Time names Barack Obama Person of the Year

In a piece of news that probably came to a surprise to only those who had their heads in the sand, Time Magazine named President-elect Barack Obama as 2008’s Person of the Year. In all honesty, it would’ve been pretty insulting if he hadn’t been named for the position as I can’t really think of anything more groundbreaking than his election.

The runners up were Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy (essentially the “European Obama” in terms of his popularity and attitudes), Governor Sarah “You Betchya” Palin of Alaska, and Chinese director Zhang Yimou who coordinated the Beijing opening ceremonies. Other contenders were Tina Fey, Michael Phelps, T. Boone Pickens, Nouri al-Maliki, incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Iraq and the United States Sign Status of Forces Agreement

The Washington Post has an article about the newly approved Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) that was just approved by the Iraqi Parliament. Basically, this thing will set a timetable for withdrawal (or is that a “horizon”?) that will begin with US troops pulling out of towns and cities by June 30th 2010 with all US troops out by January 1, 2011. On top of that, all US bases will be kept in place and will be transferred to the Iraqis once the withdrawal is complete. So…what does this mean in the scheme of things?

Interesting Cumulative Polling Site

Five Thirty-Eight's electoral map as of 10/6

Last night on Countdown (w/ Keith Olbermann) he had Nate Silver on, founder of a site called Five Thirty Eight which is similar to pollster.com in that it takes polling date and crunches them in magical ways to predict which states will go which way. Sure, that’s cool and all and when compared to Pollster it’s presentation is pretty basic but they do something that I haven’t seen yet. Election simulations.

No Palin Interviews for A While

Marc Ambinder of theAtlantic.com has just posted that a senior McCain advisors has said that Governor Sarah Palin won’t be taking any interviews from the national media for a while. Stating that:

…until she’s ready — and until she’s comfortable — which might not be for a long while — the media will have to wait. 

And that the only interviews that she’ll conduct will be with local Alaskan news outlets. McCain’s campaign has also laid out a counter to those pressing for her to conduct interviews which will consist of the on the record comment:

“Sarah Palin needs to spend time with the voters.”