With one week to go to the elections the amount of political ads on TV is getting spectacular.

Not only are Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama on air all the time (Obama had a special 30 minute add on 7 networks last night), but there are lots of other political races as well.

There's Ms. Dole versus Ms. Hagan, running for the Senate, in a race that is seeing increasingly nasty ads, for example about "godless" Ms. Hagan.

There will be more than 25 votes to cast next Tuesday, for President and Governor of course, but also for Commissioner of Agriculture and Commissioner of Insurance, among others.

Here's a nice movie about the Presidential debates:
Synchronised presidential debating.

This morning I heard on the radio that John McCain will be in North Carolina near Charlotte this Saturday, and I was considering to attend.

However, when I read the announcement I saw that the system is more complicated than with Obama's rally. You have to get tickets in advance, and the only offices that have tickets are in the Charlotte area. Plus, the doors open at 8.00 am on Saturday and that would mean I would have to leave Durham before 5.00 am to get in.

I would have liked to attend a McCain or Palin rally after seeing Obama and Biden three weeks ago, but this one is not for me.

Oh, I loves these debates! The long expected debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin was tonight, and I enjoyed watching it over dinner and a beer (tomorrow is a day off).

Ms. Palin did well, a lot better than in her interviews the last couple of days although she stayed really close to her one-liners and evaded a lot of questions. I'd say that Mr. Biden won the debate, on style and content, but as a blogger of The Economist put it, "Ms. Palin won the expectations game".

I just came back from Greensboro, NC were Vladi and I attended a rally with Barack Obama and Joe Biden. This was the second appearance of Mr. Obama in North Carolina in a week and since last week was not exactly a success for me I decided to try again today. The gates opened at 10.00 am, and Vladi and I were in line around 9.15 am. That turned out to be well on-time and when the event started at 12.15 pm we had a great place in the crowd with a good view of the stage.

Mr. Biden spoke first. It was their first public appearance after last night's debate and Mr. Biden slammed John McCain on things he said in the debate, saying Mr. Obama "owned" the debate yesterday. Mr. Obama spoke for about 30 minutes.

I took some pictures with my phone (see below). It was a lot of fun to attend this event.

Waiting in line. Until 10.15 am or so the line hardly moved so I was getting somewhat nervous. There was a little bit of drizzle but luckily no real rain.

We made it! Around 10.45 am we saw the entrance gate to the event.

The stage was in front of a nice backdrop. Security on the roof of the building.

A very large crowd; estimated at around 20,000 people.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The Washington Post:

'Addressing his supporters, with Biden at his side in a rare joint appearance, Obama sounded more confrontational than he did last night. On stage, he had even agreed with McCain on several points, to the delight of McCain supporters, who cited the references repeatedly afterwards as an example of McCain's command.

But today the gloves came off. Obama ridiculed McCain's sudden decision earlier this week to suspend his campaign amid financial bailout negotiations as "looking for a photo-op." He described his opponent as grasping for a strategy on the economy. "Doesn't really know what to do," Obama said. "Hasn't been clear what to say."'

Tonight we watched the first Presidential Debate of 2008. The topic was foreign policy but obviously the economic crisis got a lot of attention.

A few friends came over and we had a great time watching the debate with beers, chips and chili.

I'd say that the debate was pretty much a tie, something which works to Mr. McCain disadvantage since he's considered to be most well prepared for a debate on foreign policy.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden are scheduled to appear in Greensboro, NC this Saturday. Surprisingly, given that Mr. Obama was in Charlotte last week (and I missed him). Greensboro is only an hour from Durham, so it would be great if I could attend that meeting.

The big question is, will Mr. Obama continue campaigning now Mr. McCain has halted his campaign? Mr. Obama is still saying he wants to debate Mr. McCain, but he has said to stop all campaigning because of the dire economic situation and the slow progress of the bail-out plan through Congress.

So I thought it would be interesting to see Barack Obama, the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, give a speech in Charlotte, NC.

I didn't realize how many other people had that idea, and how slow the lines would move... I arrived in Charlotte at 11.15 am. While I did see Mr. Obama in his car when he arrived, at 1.15 pm when the speech started I was about half way the line to the entrance gate. That was unfortunate, since Charlotte is 2,5 hours away from Durham. At the other hand, I had time for some good phone calls, now I've finally recharged my international calling card.

I'm leaving to Charlotte in a little while.

Barack Obama is holding a public rally there today, and I thought it would be interesting to attend.

The rally is downtown. "For security reasons, do not bring bags and please limit personal items. No signs or banners permitted."

I've always found the emphasis on 'attack ads', political commercials that portray a political opponent in a bad light, a bit silly. How would any serious voter be influenced by a 30 second TV commercial?

I don't know much about North Carolina's politicians, but I've heard about Elizabeth Dole before; she's a senator for North Carolina and has a long history in national politics as well. Now, the first associations that I have with her name are "very ineffective" and "43 years in Washington DC". It may be completely unfair, but the first thoughts I have about Mrs. Dole are pretty negative -- a direct result of this TV ad that has been airing very frequently lately (there are on-line ads against her as well). I like to think I'm rational enough to ignore these associations and thoughts, but who knows?

On my way home from work I listened to the last 15 minutes of a debate between the two major candidates for Governor of North Carolina, Bev Perdue and Pat McCrory. Bev Perdue I know, but again the main thing I "know" about Pat McCrory is that he will "favor Charlotte over the other areas in North Carolina", because of an ad I heard on the radio once. Would it influence my vote? It's hard to tell, but I'm not so certain anymore that attack ads don't work.

On a related topic, Monday night at the Jaycees in Chapel Hill BJ Lawson spoke about why he his running for Congress. I don't think I've ever met an American politician before, and it was an interesting evening.

Since we came back from California it's been politics around the clock.

I watched quite a bit of it: the Democratic convention last week, Mr. McCain's announcement for a running mate and the following review of that surprising choice in the weekend, and this week the Republican convention.

This election year has been incredible so far. So many surprises, so many debates, so much going on. For many years I've enjoyed following the US elections (in 2004 watching the debates online, and watching the election results with friends). It's great to be in the USA and to experience this amazing election cycle from close.