Friday Funday: Cleaning Up, Counting Down

As we're sure you're aware, the election is two weeks from next Tuesday, and the final presidential debate is next Monday.

While we're not exactly planning on resting and relaxing all weekend, we are hoping to catch up on some reading and catch some time with the family, outdoors - preferably in less windy conditions. We hope to catch a few games on TV too - along with all the hypocritical, lie-filled political ads.

In general, though, right now seems like the calm before the media storm, with no real single story dominating the media. So we're doing a little autumn clean-up today, trying to tackle a few mostly unrelated items that you may want to know about heading into the weekend.

For those of you still screaming at us about polling, the great Nate Silver over at FiveThirtyEight.com has a serious and unquestionable breakdown of why the current Gallup Daily Tracking poll isn't something you should be putting too much stock in. The other six daily tracking polls have now swung back towards the President, as we thought they would. All six say roughly the same thing: that President Obama has a slight lead, overall. The positive trend for Mr. Obama from Tuesday's big debate win is only now really being picked up by the polls, though, so most polling experts - including Nate - seem to think Obama will be doing a bit better again before the weekend is over.

Speaking of politics, if you haven't gotten involved, now is definitely the time. Today - October 19th - is the LAST day to register to vote this year in Nebraska. Registration deadlines are still open in many states, so check websites like GottaRegister.com to see if you still can register, and if you haven't done so yet, make that a priority this weekend too.

Something else we hope that you'll make a priority is fighting cancer. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and we think this weekend is as good a time as any to get out, and get involved in that battle. There are big events scheduled this weekend around the nation, including near our offices in Washington, DC, Nebraska, and South Florida. Cancer sucks. That's something we can all agree on, regardless of our political affiliation.

No matter what you're doing this weekend, whether it's recovering from travel, cleaning up leaves, or just watching the game on TV, we hope that you get some rest. You can guarantee our staff will be getting in as much sleep as we can.

The last two weeks of Election 2012 begin next week - and we have a feeling there won't be very much time for resting again till after the election.