The Republican era is over
Today's election is poised to end the Republican era in American politics - an era that began in reaction to Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the Vietnam war and the civil rights revolution, was pioneered by Richard Nixon, consolidated by Ronald Reagan, and wrecked by George W Bush. Almost every aspect of the Republican ascendancy has been discredited and lies in tatters - its policies, politics, and even its version of patriotism - down to the rock-bottom notion that progressive taxation itself is unpatriotic. McCain's own chronic helplessness in establishing rapport, prompting him to latch on to mediums from Sarah Palin to Joe the Plumber, is aggravated by his party's decay. He is an ironic character to make the last stand on behalf of a party he has been at odds with for virtually his whole career. Sidney Blumenthal The Guardian
Full article: McCain is on the verge of a defeat that marks the end of the Republican era 
How the night will unfold
Charisma not seen since JFK
Mr Obama has never run anything, it is said. Not true. He has run arguably the longest, the biggest and the best organised campaign ever, says an Independent leader. Its discipline has been astonishing - in contrast to the campaign of Mrs Clinton that was once supposed to sweep all before it. And he has taken on the Democratic Party establishment as represented by the Clintons. In two years, Mr Obama has not made a major blunder. And then, of course, he has style. Not since JFK will America have had as charismatic and inspirational a leader. Charisma and soaring oratory do not guarantee good government. But America is demoralised, exhausted and broke. It needs to turn the page on its recent past. And for that, it needs words, as well as deeds, to inspire it. Leader The Independent
Full article: Obama may lack experience, but he doesn't lack command
US Election: It could be a long night but Obama is predicted to win
Vote McCain for a third Bush term
These two men have fundamentally different attitudes to the rest of the world, says Jonathan Freedland. Obama urges engagement and dialogue "with our enemies as well as our friends". He stresses the importance of restoring America's standing abroad. McCain does not say so directly, but he casts the rest of the world as an essentially hostile arena, a vast 'Out There', full of menaces that America has to stare down. In a spirited stump speech - "The Mac is back!" - delivered in Springfield, Virginia at the weekend, the only references to the world beyond US shores were to dictators, and to Obama's refusal to use the word 'victory' when discussing American involvement in Iraq. And so McCain inadvertently confirms Obama's presentation of him as the would-be bringer of a third Bush term. Jonathan Freedland The Guardian
Full article: A vote on the future of the US - and so the world
No more excuses for black Americans
Strange as it sounds, many on the extreme Right are licking their lips at the prospect of an Obama victory: they see in his triumph the death of special pleading, writes Matthew Syed. Like most liberals they acknowledge that a black man in the White House would represent a watershed, but they emphasise not what it says about whites but what it says about blacks. If an Obama presidency proves that the American Dream is colour blind, that racism is dying a death and that the civil rights movement is reaching its logical end point, who is left to blame for the chronic underachievement of blacks except blacks themselves? Blacks earn less than 75 per cent as whites, are twice as likely to be in poverty and by the end of eighth grade their score on standardised tests is equivalent to white pupils still in fourth grade. Matthew Syed The Times
Full article: One triumphant example won't solve the chronic failure of blacks
How has Boris done?
Boris Johnson has been mayor of London for six months, writes Tony Travers. It now seems many fears expressed in the Guardian and elsewhere about Johnson were misplaced. In a classic Blairite move, he has leaned to the centre-left, supporting the London Living Wage, giving reasonable prominence to the environment, and extolling a Keynesian boost to the capital's soon-to-be-depressed economy. He has not proved to be the wicked racist foreseen by some. The economic downturn may help him. If there had been no global financial implosion, Labour would have blamed Johnson's administration for every weakness in the capital's economy and any slowdown in development. As it is, the recession can be pinned neatly on either Gordon Brown as chancellor or even the previous mayor's gung-ho policies. Tony Travers The Guardian
Full article: The Borisocracy is settling in - and leaning centre-left
Edward Luttwak: Economic meltdown will hit London worst of all
In Brief
Zombies are slow
The speedy zombie seems implausible to me, even within the fantastic realm it inhabits. A biological agent, I'll buy. Some sort of super-virus? Sure, why not. But death? Death is a disability, not a superpower. It's hard to run with a cold, let alone the most debilitating malady of them all. Simon Pegg The Guardian
Full article: The dead and the quick
Tax exile finishes fifth
Once 'British tax exile finishes fifth in Brazil' became the top news story, our politicians inevitably wanted their taste of the victory champagne. Gordon Brown assured us that "the whole of Britain are proud of the inspirational Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren team". Perhaps he would like to nationalise them. Mick Hume The Times
Full article: Formula One as our new national sport? Please, no
No British Barack
Among 645 MPs, only 15 are non-white. It is a similar story in the workplace, where only 3.5 per cent of police officers, 4 per cent of prison officers and 7 per cent of court staff come from ethnic minorities. The under-representation is stark if we consider that ethnic majorities officially make up 12.7 per cent of the population. Stephen Glover Daily Mail
Full article: Lewis Hamilton is an inspirational figure - but where are the black Britons who could one day be our Obama?
Live forever
Japanese scientists claim to have successfully cloned mice from frozen bodies decades old. You don't have to have seen Jurassic Park to know where this is heading. The first Chinese emperor killed tens of thousands in his search for eternal life and may indeed lie in a bed of ice in his unopened tomb. Only the good die young. Leader The Independent
Full article: Live forever
Courage
The great American economist JK Galbraith once pointed out that, contrary to received wisdom: "It requires no courage nor prescience to predict disaster. Courage is required of the man who, when things are good, says so." David Aaronovitch The Times
Full article: Be patient. Britain is gradually getting fairer
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