• Play The Name Game Blair at Dudette in the Kitchenette brings us "Pretty Please Don't Pick Palin Peach Pie," a dessert she dubs her "very own pie named after an incredibly resilient source of misery." In fairness, Blair also encourages McCain/Palin supporters to try her tasty treat, admitting that "you could change the name of the pie to something Palin positive…I guess…if you absolutely had to."

• Go Blue Laura Weiss of the Huffington Post reports that many Democrats are going blue for their Election Night bashes, stocking up on "blue corn chips, blue potato chips, blueberries, blueberry wine, blue moon beer, blueberry pie, and blueberry ice cream." Joan Knecht of Virginia, however, isn't ready to commit to either side, as far as Election Night meals go: "I'm serving undecided stew,"Knecht says. "It's a little of this, a little of that—and hopefully it will all come out tasting good."

• Get Topical Yum Sugar suggests that you stock up on "Campaign Trail Mix," "Buffalo Chicken Left Wings," and Rachael Ray's "Lipstick Pigs in a Blanket," hors d'oeuvres that feature such elitist ingredients as apple chicken sausage and all-fruit apricot preserves.

• Run With The Meme Looking for an Obama cake? Look no further than YesWeCake.com, a site devoted to bringing you the best in Obama-themed desserts. Whether you'll be eating these sugary sweets in celebration or in shock is yet to be seen, but either way, it's always good to have a few delicious cookies lying around.

• Have a Bipartisan Bash Tanya Steel of Epicurious has designed two separate Election Night menus to please her election night guests, noting that her "campaign strategy to get them to come is to have two menus." To accomplish this, Steel created yummy offerings for both the "Illnois Party" and the "Arizona Party", ensuring that no matter what happens, a solid dinner will be served to guests of both parties. The "Illinois" menu features "Big Green Salad" and "Red Velvet Cupcakes With Creamy Vanilla Icing," and the "Arizona Party" features "Beef and Avocado Fajitas" and "Chile Brownies." And with mojitos and margaritas flowing on both sides of the aisle, it's safe to say that Steel's guests will have a pretty good time.

• 
• Play Favorites The folks at Clever Parties think it's only fitting to celebrate your candidate's big night with one of his or her favorite recipes. For McCain fans, that means a night of "Arizona Baked Beans" and "Sarah Palin's Moose Stew," which is all the more reason to vote Obama/Biden, really, for if nothing else, you'll at least be attending a party with better grub: Barack's favorite chili and Biden's preferred dessert, oatmeal raisin cookies.

Newsweek

Ultimately, the entire Obamamercial was designed to provide voters with a preview of what it will feel like to welcome Obama in their living rooms for the next four years. The presidency is the most personal of America's elective offices, and it is through the TV set, in the privacy of our own homes, that the relationship between the president and the people develops. More than the convention, or the debates, or any 30-second spot, the Obamamercial simulated how the country would interact with Obama if he were elected president—with him on one side of the screen, perched at a large, flag-framed desk, and us on the other, slumped on the couch. It was almost as if the election was already over, Obama was speaking from the Oval Office and the country was still standing. And that was the point.

The Guardian

Given George Bush's disappearing act and his showing up for pressers these days with all the confidence and enthusiasm of day-old toast, and John McCain's seeming less like a competitor and potential leader than a disgruntled spectator, shouting crankily from the sidelines about the wretched unfairness of being denied what he believes he's entitled, Obama is the first person I've seen looking like an American president in quite a long time.

Time

The ordinary-American stories worked very well, emotionally and aesthetically. At times I thought I was watching Friday Night Lights, what with all the plangent Americana music, small-town tableaus and little league football ... But I would have cut every single politician from the piece, with the exception maybe of Joe Biden, and made room for a couple more of the stories. I don't know; to wiser political minds than mine, maybe there was some microtargeting case that X thousand voters in Ohio, New Mexico and Virginia would be moved by seeing their governors get air time. But having a bunch of Democrats tell us how wonderful a figure a fellow Democrat is clashed with the ordinariness of the other stories. (What's so persuasive here? Wow, a bunch of VP short-listers possibly in line for Cabinet positions have nice things to say about him! He must really be special!) They (and the Obama-seated-at-desk segments) seemed like campaign commercials within a commercial.

The New Republic

In between the standard-fare bits, Obama channeled a Katie Couric vibe, gently relating other people's stories exactly like a soft-news anchor does ... the person he presented himself as tonight was a listener, a gatherer of stories, a reporter, somebody who's interested in the pure, gritty texture of his interlocutors' lives, and not merely in the way their lives happen to illustrate his abstract positions. At one juncture, he gave a shout-out to a woman he'd met in Iowa whose son had recently deployed. The reminiscence didn't even entirely have a point. Its goal was to telegraph that he was listening, even to the random people on the trail who — unlike, say, Joe the Plumber — were never destined to become symbols.

The Washington Post

Although McCain was not seen during the half-hour, one could easily summon the contrasting image of the Republican while watching Obama. McCain has come across on television as relatively worried, whiny, fusty and falsely folksy. He brought bad news; he has come to epitomize and personify it. Obama brings you medication along with the list of symptoms; he has developed a great bedside, as well as fireside, manner. It was the easiest thing in the world, watching the skillfully edited hodgepodge put together by his campaign, to picture Obama as president.

Commentary

[Obama] seemed rather passive. He literally was the narrator. He didn’t tell us what he’s done and why we should think he really can solve these people’s problems. (Sen. Dick Durbin said in passing he was in the state legislature — but did what? Joe Biden recycles Obama’s supposed “leadership” on the nuclear proliferation bill once again.) But you just have to take it on faith, you see, that he is capable of doing things and making good choices. Becasue it’s not what he’s done; it’s what he says that matters. He is not exactly a whirlwind of action and activity.

The National Review

As for the format of the special itself, aesthetically it was a bit nauseating with all the soft focus and generically uplifing music constantly swelling in and out. As for the content: I'm sorry . . . it's not that I don't care about those experiencing hardship — quite the contrary — but the last thing that should be driving America's voting habits is a half-hour of Manipulative Portraits of Downtrodden Victims of Shadowy Governmental Forces. Whatever our problems are right now, America is not one big breadline. To be fair, all politicians exploit these anecdotal cases but I think Obama's special really pushed the boundaries of my bile duct here.

The Weekly Standard

Sitting through the Very Special Episode of Obama for President tonight felt awfully familiar. It's like one of those required assemblies from middle school: hectoring, tedious, and transparently silly. But it did have one unexpected effect on me. Never before have I noticed how wonderful commercials are. It's not until you're forced to go without the Geico cavemen for 30 straight minutes that you realize how much you appreciate them.

Obama's Presidential Dress Rehearsal [Newsweek]
A Half-Hour of Hope [The Guardian]
Getting to Know You (And Him): The O-mercial [Time]
An Infomercial Never Felt So Good (So Good, So Good) [The New Republic]
ObamaVision: An Appeal to the Masses [The Washington Post]
The Info-Bore [Commentary Magazine]
A Very Special Obama [The National Review]
The Infomercial [The Weekly Standard]

According to the Times, Moore and "his Great Schlep co-creator, Ari Wallach, 33, arrived in Boca Raton on Friday…they focused on places like nearby Wynmoor Village, a mostly Jewish retirement community in Coconut Creek. On Saturday, Mr. Moore said they found 10 to 20 people around the pool. Some were undecided, but most were avid Obama supporters, including a darkly tanned older man with a nipple ring and a large Jewish star around his neck. Mr. Moore said he was encouraged but not surprised. 'A large percentage of nipple-ring people are in Obama’s camp.'"

The Venn diagram of nipple ring wearers and senior citizens is pretty small, and a lot of the folks interviewed by the New York Times and several British papers are still not enthused about the Democratic senator from Illinois. "I switched to the Republicans after 9/11. I'm a Jew. Security is important because we've had 2,000 years of insecurity," Robert Aschheim, a lawyer, tells the Times of London. "My kid is pretty liberal — but what the hell, he's 24 years old. I'm trying to change him.”

However, both the Guardian and the Times of London have found anecdotal evidence of Jews who were successful in convincing their grandparents to vote Democratic on November 4. Jonathan Packman made the trek down to Fort Lauderdale to convince his 91-year-old grandparents, Bertha and Julius, to vote for Obama, and his travel paid off. “Jonathan, he's been using all the tactics on us but he doesn't have to try too hard. We've moved down from New York to live the life a little and I really don't like Republicans," Bertha tells the Times of London. “I just want to say how nice it's been to have our family visit us.” Awww!

Laugh at a Campaign Pitch? Sure. Visit the Grandparents? Not So Much. [NY Times]

Related: Young Make 'Great Schlep' To Persuade A Skeptical To Vote Obama [Guardian]
'The Great Schlep' May Seal The Presidency Deal For Barack Obama [Times of London]

Earlier: Waterboarding Apologist Says Sarah Silverman Is "Not A Jew"

• 
  Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?
• Sarah Palin:"In what respect?"
• Peggy Hill: "I'm not sure what this means, but I once heard that when you're stuck in an unpleasant situation, it helps to just lie back and think of England."
• 
  Why do you feel you're the most qualified candidate, in terms of foreign policy experience?
• SP:"You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska."
• PH:"How would we rate me? I'd say, Face: A minus. Body: B... plus. Personality: A plus. Brains: A plus. So with my looks and my brains, and my muchos talentos, I should have an advantage over these bimbos!"
• 
  Do you ever worry that you might not be prepared for this position?
• SP:"I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?
• PH:"I am field-tripping in an hour and I can't remember any good songs for the bus. What does that John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt do again?
• 
  Do you think humans have contributed to global warming?
• SP:""A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one, though, who would attribute it to being man-made."
• PH: "I had no choice. You can't get anything good without chemicals. Chemicals are what keep my hair so high and brown."
• 
  Can you give me any concrete examples of your running mate's economic policies? Or concrete examples of anything, really?
• SP:“I’ll try to find you some, and I’ll bring ‘em to ya."
• PH:" I find that I am too busy being successful so I have trouble remembering all of my bright ideas."
• 
  Why do you think women should vote for you?
• SP: "I was just your average hockey mom in Alaska."
• PH:"As you can see, I do not have testicles."