For those who've missed it, Editor and Publisher keeps a running update of newspaper editorial endorsements. Thus far, 33 newspapers that endorsed Bush in 2000 have endorsed Kerry in 2004, while only two that went for Gore in 2000 have urged a vote for Bush this year. Newspapers endorsements don't have the effect that they once did, but in a state such as Florida, where all the major papers have now come out for Kerry, this can make for a very effective campaign ad.

Meanwhile, lest he be bested by Tom Coburn, Alan Keyes returned to his usual peculiar ways in a debate late last week with Barack Obama. Among Keyes' better lines:"the persecution of our Christian citizens,""social self-destruction,""the use of the body in this way is ... an abomination,""no one has the information necessary to avoid incest," and"gun-control mentality is ruth-less-ly absurd." He also compared women who seek abortions to slaveholders. (In Oklahoma, James Dobson is doing what he can to ensure that the Coburn campaign continues to lead the way in bizarre commentary. At a rally for Coburn, Dobson claimed that gay marriage"will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth"; of Vermont senator Patrick Leahy, he remarked,"I don't know if he hates God, but he hates God's people.")

Meanwhile, the year's potentially biggest House upset might occur in Illinois, where longtime GOP representative (and 1980 presidential candidate) Phil Crane appears to be in trouble, despite representing a strongly Republican district. Last week, the normally reliably Republican Chicago Tribune endorsed Crane's Democratic challenger, Melissa Bean, a few days before it issued a truly glowing endorsement of Obama, which was far more enthusiastic than its recommendation of Bush's re-election.

Finally, Oregon has a long tradition of being a bit too goody-goody in the electoral process. Among the first states to adopt the initiative and referendum, most recently it made news when it became the first state to go to all-mail ballots. Secretary of State Bill Bradbury dismissed concerns of fraud--and thus far has not been forced to eat his words.

In the name of providing voters with the maximum amount of information, Bradbury's office also recently instituted a policy of allowing prominent policymakers and organizations to include position statements for or against referenda questions. The"pro" side on the anti-gay marriage referendum makes for interesting reading, since a satirist created a variety of anti-gay marriage organizations and then submitted statements that somehow got by the secretary of state's office and were included in the voters' guide as real positions. I'm not sure, however, that there's anything here with which Alan Keyes would disagree.