Did you hear that sound?  Listen closely.  There it is...

oh wait, there is goes again.  Recognize it?  You should.  It's the sound of ballots being placed into ballot boxes.  Not on November 6th, but today.  Yesterday.  Tomorrow.

Early voting began on September 6th in North Carolina with distribution of absentee ballots.  On Sep 17th, Kentucky and Indiana joined the list of states where absentee balloting was open.  Wisconsin, West Virginia, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Georgia, Arkansas, Idaho, Maryland, South Carolina, New Jersey, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Delaware, Virginia, Louisiana and Missouri were all doing absentee balloting before today, 9/27/2012.  Today, the states of Alabama, Wyoming, North Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois joined them.  Three of the above listed states are allowing early, in-person voting now, which ends on November 5th.

The numbers of voters who vote early or via absentee ballot has been growing by leaps and bounds since the 2000 election.  The trend augurs well for whichever party can do the best job of motivating their members to get out the vote and get those who can't or won't go to the polls on election day to cast absentee ballots.

Because I heard another sound today.  It was the sound of victory for President Barrack Obama.  Mitt Romney is going to lose on November 6th, barring some major gaffe by Obama between now and election day.  Not because his policies are worse or better than those of Obama.  Not because people want four more years of Obama.  Mitt Romney is going to lose because of one word.  "Message".

With all of the flaws of Mitt Romney's campaign and it's been going on in reality for over a decade now, there is no clear, coherent message in what Romney is trying to sell.  Ronald Reagan, who may have been more charismatic, may have been a smarter, better communicator when he ran for office the first time, didn't lack a clear, coherent message.  His message was simple:

1.  Taxes are too high.
2.  The Soviet Union is an evil empire and needs to be dealt with.
3.  We need to restore our military strength.

There was more to his message, but those were the three key points and he hammered them home.  And won a landslide victory.

Let's suppose for a moment that rather than his idiotic statements about 47% of the people thinking themselves entitled and being victims, Mitt Romney had said:

"My message is that I want to lower tax rates while limiting deductions, which if done right will raise revenues.  Because there is a segment of the population who already don't pay any federal income tax, that portion of my message isn't going to resonate with them.  So I have to find another message that will resonate with them, on an issue where what I want to do will make their lives better and it's up to me to find that message."

Any idiot could have thought that up, but apparently there weren't any idiots with a lick of common sense writing for the man.  Someone got him focused on the idea of that 47% and victimization and pretty soon the tasseled loafer was deep down the throat and he's been doing damage control ever since.

Message wins political campaigns.  Oh there are other factors, but the candidate with the clear, coherent message finds it much easier to reach that key pool of undecided voters and gets them to consider hearing his or her message and possibly garnering their support.

I don't think anyone can save Romney's campaign at this point.  People are already voting.  In droves.  For Obama.  It's too late to turn the tide.  Maybe in four years he'll think to ask me my opinion.  Naw, probably not.